Panpsychism Makes a Comeback (General)

by dhw, Thursday, February 25, 2016, 13:40 (2980 days ago) @ David Turell

dhw: How can materials possibly “become” intelligent/conscious? How can a “universal intelligence/consciousness” possibly just “be” intelligent/conscious? There is of course no answer to this, and please don't say “first cause”, which is just as likely to be unconscious as it is to be conscious. That is why I myself find all three hypotheses (the other being sheer luck) equally difficult to believe in.

DAVID: I understand your problem. First cause, if it is unconscious, then how did consciousness appear on a rocky planet. I strongly feel consciousness had to precede conscious organisms. - I know all about your strong feelings. Just to clarify: the panpsychist hypothesis I am suggesting (also suggested in the article you quoted) is that the materials themselves have a degree of consciousness which, “when aggregated in particular ways...turns into a sense of inner awareness”. Interestingly, there is a similar idea in the article you have offered us on “Theoretical origin”: - QUOTE: “Carl Woese, a renowned biologist who gave us the modern tree of life, believed that the Darwinian era was preceded by an early phase of life governed by very different evolutionary forces. Woese thought it would have been nearly impossible for an individual cell to spontaneously come up with everything it needed for life. So he envisioned a rich diversity of molecules engaged in a communal existence. Rather than competing with each other, primitive cells shared the molecular innovations they invented. Together, the pre-Darwinian pool created the components needed for complex life, priming the early Earth for the emergence of the magnificent menagerie we see today.” - But I'd better repeat that I find all this as difficult to believe as your own theory that consciousness appeared on a rocky planet because a conscious designer never appeared but somehow just existed.