3 ms·

> What if each person on earth simulated one neuron in your brain, communicating by passing little slips of paper around? I do think this kind of group conscio

> What if each person on earth simulated one neuron in your brain, communicating by passing little slips of paper around? I do think this kind of group consciousness or meta consciousness exists, on many layers even. That's how society works.

CamperBob2 5y ago
Yep. Anyone who's spent more than five minutes watching an anthill should understand that more or less intuitively. We're just bigger ants, is all.
science4sail 5y ago
That does raise the question of where group consciousness ends though: * Is my immune system conscious? * Is my family conscious? * Is my community conscious? * Is my country conscious? * Is the universe conscious?
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago
  Panpsychist and pantheist here: yes.
- solipsism 5y ago
  Humans always looking for bright lines of demarcation. Consciousness is not a well defined concept. Any line you draw between conscious and non-conscious is arbitrary. So where do you want to draw the line?
- p1mrx 5y ago
  > Is my immune system conscious? What's all this RNA doing in here? Why am I making so many of these stupid spiky things? Dammit, now I've got to clean up this mess. 3 weeks later: What the fuck, not this shit again.
IIAOPSW 5y ago
For that matter, does it make a difference if neurons are acoustically coupled or electrically coupled? Why do we think of brains as stopping at the skull?
- pontifier 5y ago
  It all boils down to where you draw the border of "self". It's relatively easy to draw a gaussian shell around your brain, but do you also draw it around your physical body? Do you draw your shell around your children? What about your group identity such as your neighborhood, town, sports team, or country. Can you draw this shell around abstract ideas that you consider core to your being? Where you draw that shell might change your level of empathy for other people.

CamperBob2 5y ago

Yep. Anyone who's spent more than five minutes watching an anthill should understand that more or less intuitively. We're just bigger ants, is all.

science4sail 5y ago

That does raise the question of where group consciousness ends though: * Is my immune system conscious? * Is my family conscious? * Is my community conscious? * Is my country conscious? * Is the universe conscious?

AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago
Panpsychist and pantheist here: yes.
solipsism 5y ago
Humans always looking for bright lines of demarcation. Consciousness is not a well defined concept. Any line you draw between conscious and non-conscious is arbitrary. So where do you want to draw the line?
p1mrx 5y ago
> Is my immune system conscious? What's all this RNA doing in here? Why am I making so many of these stupid spiky things? Dammit, now I've got to clean up this mess. 3 weeks later: What the fuck, not this shit again.

IIAOPSW 5y ago

For that matter, does it make a difference if neurons are acoustically coupled or electrically coupled? Why do we think of brains as stopping at the skull?

pontifier 5y ago
It all boils down to where you draw the border of "self". It's relatively easy to draw a gaussian shell around your brain, but do you also draw it around your physical body? Do you draw your shell around your children? What about your group identity such as your neighborhood, town, sports team, or country. Can you draw this shell around abstract ideas that you consider core to your being? Where you draw that shell might change your level of empathy for other people.