(October 2, 2013 at 11:13 am)bennyboy Wrote: I see your redundancy and raise you two: maybe it's the ability to monitor the monitoring of the monitoring of the monitoring.
That's required for higher level conceptualization processes.
(October 2, 2013 at 11:13 am)bennyboy Wrote: Okay, so let's take a community of people. Not only does each individual monitor his own process of monitoring: the entire group monitors the ability of each individual to monitor his own process of monitoring. By your terms, this is sufficient to label the community as a singular agent, and to state that it is self-aware.
Nope.
Each individual monitoring his own monitoring is self-awareness. So, we already know at which level self-awareness occurs and any monitoring done is attributed to individual self-awareness.
When regarded as a singular entity, that is, one level above the individual level, the community doesn't behave like a self-aware being. The individuals are aware of each-other and they are aware that they live in a community, but the community as a whole is not aware of itself. Compare the concept of zeitgeist as an illustration of this phenomenon.
(October 2, 2013 at 11:13 am)bennyboy Wrote: This is morality meets Gaia. I didn't take you for such a hippie!
Are you prejudiced against hippies?
