Sheldrake's Morphogenic Field - Innovation (Evolution)

by dhw, Wednesday, September 28, 2016, 12:40 (2976 days ago) @ David Turell

David: My consciousness is a constant stream of thought. That is why it requires a brain as a receiver. Only God does not require a brain since He is not biological. (dhw's bold)
dhw: It is you who are suggesting free-floating consciousness, in the form of pure energy, but in relation to humans once more you are ignoring your own belief, based largely on NDEs, that your own conscious identity with all your memories, thoughts, emotions etc. will survive the death of your brain. However, what memories, thoughts, emotions etc. would you have had without your material life? What life would pure energy have had without matter?
DAVID: God is only consciousness, no matter involved. Of course my life adds to the content of my consciousness, and it can survive my death as it does in NDE's.
-So according to you it is not true that only God does not require a brain, because apparently human consciousness survives without a brain. I don't know what you mean by your life “adds to the content of your consciousness”. Is there ANYTHING in your consciousness that is not in some way connected to your life?-DAVID: Only living brains can receive consciousness. Consciousness appears with life.
dhw: Precisely. That is the alternative to your eternal pure energy: that consciousness/consciousnesses appeared with life after an eternity of energy/matter transforming itself.
DAVID: Of course you are neatly skipping the origin of life, a problem which requires a solution and must be included in a total package of explanation. God does that.-I have skipped nothing. You have skipped the point I explained earlier in my post. The alternative to your first cause conscious energy is first cause energy and matter, which just like your God could produce “an infinite number of universes, thereby increasing the chances of one of them eventually producing life, and life producing consciousness. The second scenario does not need God. I find neither scenario convincing, and so I remain agnostic.”