08-06-2024, 03:44 PM
Perhaps consciousness is not a concept that actually applies to physics.
One could always maintain that the sensory equipment that comes with the "human" package cannot include within it, the ability to 'consciously' perceive 'how' it exists without actually escaping the perceptional reality in which it presides. Which leads to a corollary idea... namely that our perceptions are captive to physical reality, we can hardly articulate in language that which we don't actually experience perceptually. Proof would necessarily require something that anyone could perceive... if the former is true, the latter cannot be.
There lot's of fiction works that touch on this, and some non-fiction too. But your topic summons up the effort to go past theory.
All I have are a bunch of obtuse questions... but some of them have meaning to me.
Consciousness seems best represented as a structured awareness, such that presents 'reality' to the 'thinker' in a context which can be objectified. It manifests in communication - as would be necessary to process between distinct (multiple) consciousnesses... Language is a means to make a tool of our capacity to generate and refine useful communications. Language seems inextricably linked to consciousness.
Is consciousness a function of life? Could life exists without consciousness of some sort? It seems, at least experimentally, like consciousness is not a prerequisite of life. If it is a simple "data processing" trick, what point does language have... something evolving into hive-mindedness?
Our brains can be muddled by the environment we are in, the physiology of our bodies, even the traumas and events long passed... But somewhen, somewhere, someone decided that consciousness exists in a single organ within us. (That perception is changing to some degree.) If human consciousness exists only within the brain, then a person without one is just meat... not human.
Scientific materialism is what some call a "philosophy." Others consider it existential angst manifesting in fear. Still others call upon spiritual faith for bolstering against the difficult topic... but then "spiritual" is a concept that only makes the topic even MORE difficult.
One could always maintain that the sensory equipment that comes with the "human" package cannot include within it, the ability to 'consciously' perceive 'how' it exists without actually escaping the perceptional reality in which it presides. Which leads to a corollary idea... namely that our perceptions are captive to physical reality, we can hardly articulate in language that which we don't actually experience perceptually. Proof would necessarily require something that anyone could perceive... if the former is true, the latter cannot be.
There lot's of fiction works that touch on this, and some non-fiction too. But your topic summons up the effort to go past theory.
All I have are a bunch of obtuse questions... but some of them have meaning to me.
Consciousness seems best represented as a structured awareness, such that presents 'reality' to the 'thinker' in a context which can be objectified. It manifests in communication - as would be necessary to process between distinct (multiple) consciousnesses... Language is a means to make a tool of our capacity to generate and refine useful communications. Language seems inextricably linked to consciousness.
Is consciousness a function of life? Could life exists without consciousness of some sort? It seems, at least experimentally, like consciousness is not a prerequisite of life. If it is a simple "data processing" trick, what point does language have... something evolving into hive-mindedness?
Our brains can be muddled by the environment we are in, the physiology of our bodies, even the traumas and events long passed... But somewhen, somewhere, someone decided that consciousness exists in a single organ within us. (That perception is changing to some degree.) If human consciousness exists only within the brain, then a person without one is just meat... not human.
Scientific materialism is what some call a "philosophy." Others consider it existential angst manifesting in fear. Still others call upon spiritual faith for bolstering against the difficult topic... but then "spiritual" is a concept that only makes the topic even MORE difficult.
