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It's impossible to be sure, but since it seems consciousness follows a spectrum when it comes to living beings, with more complex beings having "more" conscious
by thinkloop 10y ago
It's impossible to be sure, but since it seems consciousness follows a spectrum when it comes to living beings, with more complex beings having "more" consciousness and less complex beings having less, my guess is that all living things have some form of consciousness, including plants and insects.
As soon as anything "prefers" any stimulus over another, I think consciousness becomes an emergent property.
- agumonkey 10y agoAllow my crappy analogy, it takes some space to store debugging symbols and insects are not compiled with -g.
- back_beyond 10y agoDoes this spectrum imply that humans have varying levels of consciousness? If so, I think this presents an interesting moral question.
- simonsquiff 10y agoI'd certainly say there is a spectrum of varying human consciousness from fetus>baby>young child>child
- back_beyond 10y agoDoes it vary within each category?
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- codeulike 10y agoLets say it does. Perhaps a brain damaged person in a coma has less consciousness. Or perhaps someone who is just asleep has less consciousness. Whats your interesting moral question?
- back_beyond 10y agoI seem to have forgotten
- collyw 10y agoI would say so on a more minute to minute basis. Awake, asleep, drunk, daydreaming, hypnosis......
- andybak 10y agoNot only that but you (or I) have varying levels of consciousness minute to minute. We conflate many different states of mind and call them all 'conscious' whereas they differ massively.
- ralfd 10y agoYour stomach prefers some stimulus over another, would you say your guts are conscious? What about other organs like the heart (beating fast, beating slow)?
- otoburb 10y agoThe gut is often called "the second brain" because the 500 million gut neurons that form the enteric nervous system are capable of autonomous function.[1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enteric_nervous_system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enteric_nervous_system