Consciousness; research says insects have it (Introduction)

by dhw, Friday, July 08, 2016, 12:54 (2842 days ago) @ David Turell

dhw:And yet you always insist that such phenomena are too complex for the organisms themselves to design. Please help me. Ant farming = ant intelligence or God's instructions?-DAVID: I am willing to accept that some activities, if simple enough, which I think aphid herding might be, can develop into instincts.-Activities developing into instincts is not the point. The question is whether the activities (farming, raft-building, nest-building etc.) are the result of intelligent design by the organisms themselves. Why are you being so coy? Are ants capable of intelligent design, as in aphid farming, without your God's instructions?-dhw: If the enormous complexities of human consciousness can exist without neurons, it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that much simpler forms of consciousness can exist without neurons. Do you or do you not accept the logic of this argument?
DAVID: Possibly logical. This is where my thought that universal consciousness exists as God comes to play.
dhw: Universal consciousness is a form of panpsychism, with different degrees of consciousness. I find that very feasible when applied to individual living organisms - i.e. all living organisms have a degree of consciousness (not to be confused with human self-awareness). It only gets messy when we try to equate all these different degrees of consciousness with a single being “in full control”.
DAVID: It isn't messy to me if God is everywhere and into everything.-If God's consciousness can split itself up into different levels and degrees, and is everywhere and into everything, then it is “into” us, your beloved doggy, my beloved ants and all other organisms, including those without brains. NB Instructions are not consciousness.