4 ms·
> panpsychism, the idea that everything possesses a shred of consciousness What I find hard about that is that it would seem that consciousnesses are discrete
by Scarblac 3y ago
> panpsychism, the idea that everything possesses a shred of consciousness
What I find hard about that is that it would seem that consciousnesses are discrete -- mine is distinct from yours. I'm also probably the main consciousness in my body (or I wouldn't be able to type this). But "everything" isn't discrete.
If the sea is conscious, what about every individual liter of water in it? What about every drop? If the drops end up in my body, does it still have consciousness?
- brookst 3y agoI’m not a proponent of this theory, but I don’t see why it’s unreasonable that if the ocean has some sliver of consciousness, then the water in your body has about 1 / 10^-17 that much.
- Workaccount2 3y agoPanpsychism posits that every atom harbors some non-zero level of consciousness, and that by arranging bits of consciousness in certain ways, you can amplify it's effect. Its important to consider that consciousness is likely a scale, with different beings experiencing different levels and types of consciousness.
- InSteady 3y ago>it would seem that consciousnesses are discrete It may seem that way, but that doesn't necessarily mean it is that way. After all, our brains do an incredible amount of filtering and modulating to deliver our conscious experience such as it is, unified and discrete. If it is as fundamental as the panpsychists believe (and I don't count myself firmly among them, but I have to entertain the possibility), it seems possible, if not likely, that there is a good deal of fuzziness and overlap in and among systems of consciousness.