Genome complexity: mechanism stopped evolving (Introduction)

by David Turell , Sunday, May 15, 2016, 20:22 (3114 days ago) @ dhw


> DAVID: If God invented the universe, and I'm sure He did, it is not conscious. If God invented life, and I'm sure He did, He started with bacteria, and they are not conscious.
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> dhw: But if nothing existed except consciousness, what did consciousness make an unconscious universe from? As regards bacteria, their non-consciousness is a matter of opinion not fact.-What is your definition of consciousness? All Shapiro appears to allude to is a possibility of minor conscious reactions, not introspection. Next, energy and matter are interchangeable. God's conscious energy just transformed some of itself into the matter of the universe, and remember, as a panentheist, I view His consciousness is within and without the universe.
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> DAVID: The universe appears to have been created. It is not conscious, except through us. We have been developed from an inorganic universe, all controlled by the universal mind which manages all development.-> dhw: So your universal mind is separate from the unconscious inorganic universe, which it created out of nothing but its consciousness. As a panentheist, you believe this conscious mind is within AND without BBella's ALL THAT IS. So God is/is not within/separate from the inorganic universe, and is/is not conscious/unconscious. I find this a bit confusing. Perhaps theistic panpsychism will play some role in your thinking, but I'll leave you to sort out the convolutions!-> DAVID: Your problem, not mine. The inorganic universe with its lately arrived living portion has a universal consciousness, God.
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> dhw: Ah well, I guess that's one way of ending a discussion.-I'm sorry.In my earlier statement I assumed what you stated above. You have simply fleshed out my thinking more clearly. To review, God is a consciousness within and without the universe, but the early inorganic universe was not in and of itself conscious until conscious living forms appeared. Consciousness at the level of ours, somewhat mimicking God's, finally appeared late.
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