(July 26, 2017 at 12:53 am)Gearbreak Wrote: I guess there's a small possibility that the universe has a consciousness. But I'm not gonna place any bets on it anytime soon.
Um no, no chance at all. If you are to agree with the likes of Hawking, "A God is not required", then why would the universe itself need to be a giant cognition itself?
Yes there is cognition in the universe, IE life on earth, but again, that cannot bet treated the same because biological life is not the collective universe. Atoms in non life are not structured the same way as carbon based life. No reason at all to even consider a giant cognition knowing this.
"So you're saying there's a chance?"
Ok sure, if ifs and buts were candy and nuts, I "might" fart a full sized Lamborghini out of my butt. The idea that the universe collectively is conscious is superfluous and just like the old God claims of antiquity causes excess baggage and would also suffer the problem with infinite regress on top of that.
There are lots of steps between a sub atomic particle, to an atom, to a molecule, to an organ, to a neuron, and the universe outside of evolution does not look the same, the atom structures outside evolution do not function the same way. Consciousness is an outcome of natural processes, not a required starting point. One rain drop isn't the entire cloud or the entire hurricane.
So if you agree that you would not bet on it, and I agree, I would not bet on a consciousness being the cause of all this, then don't feed either the fundies, or the si fi wooers.
Consciousness is a temporary blip, just like a hurricane does not exist prior to existing and has to build up to one, but even then, it has a finite time and will eventually break up and stop being a hurricane.
