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So, an amoeba has consciousness then, because it moves away from negative stimuli.
by gunapologist99 2y ago
So, an amoeba has consciousness then, because it moves away from negative stimuli.
- DangitBobby 2y agoWe don't know if they actually "experience" the pain any more than a gear feels the teeth of another gear causing it to move.
- epgui 2y agoYou’re just using another slippery term when you invoke “experience” in that way though. We know that experience is just chemistry with higher-order structure, even in humans.
- DangitBobby 2y agoOkay? Does that mean it doesn't exist? Or that we can know whether things have it? Whether a rock has it? Whether you have it? I don't understand what point or concept you're trying to refute. Consciousness isn't having pain receptors, it's experiencing sensations.
- epgui 2y agoAnd I'm saying that "experiencing" is a matter of degree, just as "consciousness" is. It's not there or not there, it's not a boolean. It's a question of "how much complexity is there".
- epgui 2y agoEssentially yes. Seeing consciousness as a boolean “it’s there” or “it’s not there” is just completely unproductive of a mental model. We understand nature better when we think in terms of “how complex an organism’s behaviour is” or “how complex its information processing is”.