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An Ancient Virus May Be Responsible for Human Consciousness
- jfarlow 8y agoIt's been talked about a few times on HN already, but it's a very interesting protein. It suggests a genetic delivery mechanism that is already in the body - and thus doesn't invoke a lot of the immunogenic properties of using viruses for gene therapies. If you want to play with the Arc protein check it out here: https://serotiny.bio/notes/proteins/arc/ https://serotiny.bio/notes/proteins/arc/
- QueensGambit 8y agoCan you please point me to the earlier HN thread on this?
- thismachine 8y agohttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16326517 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16326517 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16289846 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16289846 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16139798 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16139798
- empath75 8y agoI don't have the slightest idea of whether this is something that's plausible -- but is there any mechanism that this rna could use to go from mother to child during pregnancy or vice versa?
- ahmedfromtunis 8y agoI know this is a huge oversimplification, but the idea that consciousness is but a 'disease' is interesting, to say the least!
- iforgotpassword 8y agoCame here to say that, feels a little eerie. Just like that other reply pondering about a cure to that disease. Definitely makes for a great SciFi plot. :) Going further down that road, it also means that pretty much everything mankind has achieved is just a byproduct of said disease.
- warpten 8y agoi'm surised nobody mentiond Blindsight by Peter Watts that novel is exactly about that :)
- WA 8y agoFurthermore, what if another virus cures that disease? Or what if another virus triggers some other form of consciousness?
- bytefactory 8y agoThe idea of a virus that "cures" consciousness seems to be dangerously close to creating of zombies - or heavens forbid - P-Zombies (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophical_zombie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophical_zombie)!
- Analemma_ 8y agoWith the usual crummy standards of science reporting, this leaves me more confused than when I started. Is Arc in the human genome or not? If it's not, then where does it come from? And if it is, why do neighboring neurons die if they do not get a transmission of the encapsulated Arc RNA? Can't they build it themselves? I'm sure there's a straightforward answer to this that I'm missing, but the article isn't helping.
- slowmovintarget 8y agoFrom the article: Arc was originally a virus and is now encoded as a gene within the human genome. (part of the point of the article) The neurons don't die, the synapses wither, and not for lack of the gene, but for lack of the encoded messages ordered up by the gene within neighboring synapses. The article suggests that synapses are using some sort of chemical notification system, out of band of the synapse-to-synapse firing that permits reorganization. When there is a defect in the notification system, you get autism or worse. All of that was in the article. Maybe slow down a bit?
- luk32 8y agoTo simplify it a bit more (but not to lose correctness) it seems like this molecule is a maintenance signal, meaning the path is in use. If it's not present the channel gets closed. The whole purpose is to make it possible for a synapse to wither, because to reorganize something needs to be tore down.
- parliament32 8y agoEerily similar to the storyline in the sci-fi book Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson -- genetic viruses and all that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Crash https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Crash
- senectus1 8y agohave always thought this idea was bloody scary.
- david-cako 8y agoeternal recurrence, just wait for transhumanism to spawn machine consciousness.
- donclark 8y agoThe Matrix - virus scene https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aezikcoCr4o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aezikcoCr4o “I’d like to share a revelation that I’ve had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species and I realized that you’re not actually mammals.” “Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment. But you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply, until every natural resource is consumed. The only way you can survive is to spread to another area.” “There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease…A cancer of this planet. You are a plague... And we are the cure.”
- ggm 8y agoSo experiment on other species and report back.
- djmips 8y agoFruit flies have Arc genes, I guess they're conscious.