>> We don't know how consciousness comes into being > Consciousness and life are completely different things. Yes, but they have a dependent relationship. We

>> We don't know how consciousness comes into being > Consciousness and life are completely different things. Yes, but they have a dependent relationship. We argue that life doesn't require consciousness, but we also argue that consciousness requires life. IMHO both arguments have issues. > The article doesn't even mention consciousness. Yes, that's true, but it's an identifier of life -- that and the ability to reproduce. If the wind waves a flag, we don't attribute life to the wind. If a person waves a flag, we do. If a robot waves a flag, well, that's an open question at the moment. > ... This process might be deterministic enough that it happens everywhere roughly at the same time (on a cosmological time scale). Ah, I see an issue with that. We now know there are galaxies much older than ours (and younger), and if life is a common property of matter (still not determined) and if it relies on a certain set of preconditions, that would mean life would appear at widely different times, depending on location.