RE: Theory number 3.
October 28, 2012 at 7:39 pm
(This post was last modified: October 28, 2012 at 7:45 pm by The Grand Nudger.)
Something that has to be mentioned, all of this talk about neurons immediately rules out anything without a central nervous system (not that we have any reason to do this, just that we seem intent on arbitrarily defining consciousness as the presence and -apparently- number of neurons). Why do this at all? The only way in which we have been able to detect the "consciousness" of these neurons, however many or in whatever configuration it takes is by their effects....effects which can be achieved by organisms with a pronounced lack of neurons. Do the neurons themselves have "neurons" of their own, no. Neurons appear to be only one of many ways to achieve an effect. All that could be said here is that things without neurons are unlikely to have a consciousness much like our own (or are unlikely to be able to express as many effects as those with neurons). Similarly, on the subject of instincts, it's difficult to conceptualize any process of said neurons that could not have their basis in the same. We have evidence of (and explanations for) instincts, but this non-instinctual stuff looks to be a very peculiar and very "human" notion. It always sends up warning flags for me when we attempt to describe some part of biology or behavior by means of setting our own biology and behavior as the standard (on the other hand, just how different are either of those things anyway?). Hehehe, life, a very tangled web.
Not that neurons (and central nervous systems) don't provide a good frame of reference for the discussion, and if you don't mind using them as our starting point Mystic, we could have some fun here.
Not that neurons (and central nervous systems) don't provide a good frame of reference for the discussion, and if you don't mind using them as our starting point Mystic, we could have some fun here.
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