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I think where people get caught up is that there’s a lot of confusion on definitions (partly since consciousness is almost certainly a spectrum). But a lot of p
by crazydoggers 5y ago
I think where people get caught up is that there’s a lot of confusion on definitions (partly since consciousness is almost certainly a spectrum). But a lot of people confuse human sapience with a requirement of consciousness which is not really the case. When looked at in that light, conscious fungus makes a lot more intuitive sense.
My favorite description of the difference was from the cognitive scientist Daniel Dennett. He gave the example of a dog sitting in the sun. When we see our dog sitting in the sunshine looking content, it is almost certainly enjoying the warmth, and we are probably correct in assuming the dog is feeling content in a way that we can relate to. The difference with a human, is that we can reflect on that state; we can contemplate the experience itself (sapience) rather than just sensing it (sentience).
So complex mycelial networks probably allow some level of sentience (experience states of sense, awareness of the environment), but we shouldn’t think of it as something that is contemplating it’s existence on a higher level. Would we define that as consciousness? Perhaps the difficulty of that assessment is just in applying a single word to represent reality.
- mathewsanders 5y agoDennett was also influenced by the (controversial) theory from Julian Jaynes that consciousness is possibly something that emerged in humans much more recently in human history. I’ve had a copy of the book on my shelf unread for a couple of years so I probably won’t speak to it accurately, but I find it a fascinating idea. Main idea is that human brain has two halves, abs consciousness arrived from auditory hallucinations formed in one half of the brain, and acted on by the other half. I think one of the arguments here is how humans centuries ago heard voices of gods/angels etc. He argues that this was the bicameral mind in action. I think he has another linguistic analysis that argues that human consciousness emerged around the time the Iliad was composed. If anyone is interested, this afterword where he covers some criticisms of his ideas is a good entry point: https://web.ics.purdue.edu/~drkelly/JaynesOriginsConsciousnessBreakdownBicameralMindPSPPEdit1976.pdf https://web.ics.purdue.edu/~drkelly/JaynesOriginsConsciousne...
- crazydoggers 5y agoI’ve almost read the Julian Jaynes book a couple times. Richard Dawkins once said something along the lines of its either complete genius or complete rubbish. I think that’s always a good type of book to read. :) And thanks for the link!