This doesn't make sense. In the case of humans and animals, consciousness is a way to adapt to the environment to protect their lives, fulfill their needs and eventually reproduce. Consciousness is useful for life. But in the case of the sun, what is it adapting to, and what does it have to protect? Nothing. The fact that consciousness appears always in populations might be essential. Consciousness was the result of…
It's protecting us from advanced alien invasions, and doing a great job. Have you seen any recently?
We should throw a virgin into a volcano just to make sure though.
Sheldrake also studied a well-known phenomenon in dogs ['Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home']: https://www.sheldrake.org/books-by-rupert-sheldrake/dogs-tha... I personally witnessed this! https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33295560 It is incredible (in the literal sense), and I don't expect anyone to simply believe me. What is one to do after experiencing something (literally) unbelievable? I'm scient…
>> But I know there's more to physics and Science - an entire field which lies unexplored, with vast implications...
No, that's not what I meant. I'm saying that reasoning from anxiety is not valid.
It is valid, we are talking about what humans thinks, not what is true. If humans thinks animals are conscious then they think animals are conscious, doesn't mean animals actually are conscious. And the fact that I don't get downvoted here is evidence people here also think that animals are conscious, which supports my argument that people think animals are conscious.
Oh, OK. I think that the "because animals are conscious" part is only retro-fitted to the "don't make animals suffer (because I don't like it)" argument. I think it's a somewhat disingenuous post-hoc justification, but people convince themselves of it. So in a sense, yes, they think animals are conscious: most people will readily take this argument out, parade it around, and sometimes they do science that's supposed to relate to it, or refer to that science and think and worry about the argument ... but I still think it arises from mere justification of a feeling and is essentially hollow and therefore (breathe) although people say they see animals as conscious, they aren't really meaningfully looking because they already decided in advance, and it's not really sincere thought that they put into it. But this is just, like, my opinion.
> Alfred Rupert Sheldrake (born 28 June 1942) is an English author and parapsychology researcher. He proposed the concept of morphic resonance,[2][3] a conjecture that lacks mainstream acceptance and has been widely criticized as pseudoscience.
He's a trained scientist. His arguments are conjectural but sound. He's far from a kook.
Ah yes the "smart in one thing - smart in all the other things" fallacy
If you are interested in what the flood was really about, there is an interesting scientific theory about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5Et2jvrY7Y
It’s a lovely story, but given the pre-existing myth of Utnapishtim, the biblical account is basically Babylonian mythology fan fiction.
Why is it brought up as a bad thing that the myths are much older than the compilation book the Bible? That makes the myths more interesting and impressive.
This doesn't make sense. In the case of humans and animals, consciousness is a way to adapt to the environment to protect their lives, fulfill their needs and eventually reproduce. Consciousness is useful for life. But in the case of the sun, what is it adapting to, and what does it have to protect? Nothing. The fact that consciousness appears always in populations might be essential. Consciousness was the result of…
I wonder why we’re not just automatons, behaving the same on the outside, but without the conscious experience.
> Most researchers agree that consciousness is somehow related to the electrical activity of brains. Some go further and propose that brains’ electromagnetic fields actually are conscious. I am not knowledgeable at all here so I'm just going to talk out of my butt for a second but this seems testable. Does disrupting the electromagnetic fields in the brain disrupt consciousness?
Electrical shocks have been used for a long time and are still used to treat mental illness.
To save you a long read - there is not a slightest bit of evidence to suggest that Sun can possibly be conscious. The argument is essentially religious.
The amount of woo in this comment section is just plain baffling. ‘How do you know the Sun isn’t a self aware super genius? And maybe galaxies are people too!’
Yeah, I mean, maybe. If that’s what you want to believe, I can’t stop you- but it all seems pretty silly to speculate about. Seems like there is more compelling evidence for consciousness in manta rays than in a big prolonged nuclear explosion.