Evolution

[vulcanlogician]

I think it's interesting to ponder how consciousness might have come about in the evolutionary process. Why would consciousness be selected for? It's a good question.

Would you agree that a bacterium has little or nothing of what we would call consciousness? Consider simple, single-celled organisms. There's no reason to think they are any more conscious than any one of our particular cells, right?

What I'm saying is: evolution does involve consciousness; that's obvious. Whether consciousness is rooted in materialism or not is a debate we can put aside now.

You seem to be suggesting that the "goal" of evolution is consciousness, but if that were true, why would we have variant levels of consciousness in the organisms that currently inhabit the planet? Wouldn't everything become more conscious? After all, we tend to think of an amoeba as a simple organism, but it is as much an evolved organism as any human being. Why isn't every form of life conscious since every other form of life has had as much time to develop consciousness as we have?

To me, the answer is simple: consciousness was selected for in humans and other vertebrates. It serves no purpose for simple life forms and therefore was not selected for.

If by conscience you mean capable of some level of awareness both are in way . I also point out that having a broader palette of senses and cognitive abilities. Thou maybe not needed would be useful .

A bit off the original topic, but it's an interesting question. Does sensation alone lead to consciousness, or are cognitive abilities required too? My first answer is that sensation alone = consciousness, but I could be wrong about that. I haven't really thought about it much. Any thoughts?