(May 9, 2013 at 9:53 pm)FallentoReason Wrote: For us to experience the phenomenon of consciousness, we need to be in the presence of time. This is logically true because for consciousness to work, it needs to actualise so that things such as emotions and thoughts can occur. Our experience of consciousness is quite literally a collective sequence of actions that we perform. All this can only happen if it's subject to time. Therefore, if we are experiencing consciousness, we must be in a temporal environment.
Interesting topic.
It seems as though you have used inductive reasoning to come to your conclusion, as something along the lines of:
1) Human beings exist inside time. (Premise)
2) All human beings are conscious. (Premise)
3) Therefore consciousness cannot exist without the presence of time. (Conclusion)
Although the premises are valid, the conclusion might not necessarily be true. Also, I can imagine that you assume consciousness emerges from human beings. Perhaps you think of it in following manner: consciousness emerges from the human brain, the human brain is a product of the process of evolution by natural selection, which ultimately evolved from the last universal common ancestor (probably something along the lines of a prokaryote cell) and is, thus, purely material in nature.
I think the key issue here is (what I perceive to be your) assumption that consciousness "emerges" from the human brain. I personally view this assumption to be somewhat unfounded. In science, we're not anywhere near close to having a consensus on how to define consciousness, and even Richard Dawkins admitted this in an interview (I could provide a link to it if you wish); he even invoked philosophy, which I found quite surprising and interesting. With this in mind, I believe that you have come to a hasty conclusion by asserting that consciousness cannot exist without the presence of time.
