Simon Conway Morris on animal intelligence (Introduction)

by dhw, Thursday, January 26, 2017, 11:35 (2858 days ago) @ David Turell

dhw: If your dualism is correct, it is consciousness that has enlarged the brain, which responds to its needs. But if retroviruses were the cause (a big IF), i.e. these GAVE RISE to our enhanced awareness through complexification of the brain, we are back on the road to materialism.

DAVID: I'll go back to the radio receiver concept, from the NDE researchers: A material brain without the consciousness mechanism does not produce any conscious thoughts for the owner of the brain. The bigger/more complex brain is the more extensive/advanced use of the consciousness mechanism. It is an intimate relationship. The material brain is a receiver of stimuli, no consciousness needed. Interpretation and action, consciousness needed. If consciousness can exist in NDE's with no functional brain present, they can be separated and therefore can be viewed separately, and understood as two operative agencies.

There is no disagreement here. This is an excellent summary of your dualistic beliefs, removing all the previous anomalies we’ve spent so much time discussing. Having agreed on this concept of dualism, we have now moved on. The retrovirus theory suggests that it was viruses, not enhanced consciousness, that caused the complexification of the brain, which in turn suggests that it is the complexified brain that caused enhanced consciousness. If true, that would help the materialist cause. I am not defending or attacking materialism – merely pointing out the implications. But here is an interesting thought: even if it’s true, it need not exclude God: he could have organized the viruses!