Is Matter Conscious? (2017)
nautil.us
Is Matter Conscious? (2017)
1–10 of 280 posts
Re: Is Matter Conscious? (2017)
#2>Is matter conscious
Not gonna read that.
No. No, matter is not conscious. Go home nautil.us, you’re drunk.
Re: Is Matter Conscious? (2017)
#3>Is matter conscious Not gonna read that. No. No, matter is not conscious. Go home nautil.us, you’re drunk.
Are you not made of matter? Or are you not conscious?
Re: Is Matter Conscious? (2017)
#4>Is matter conscious Not gonna read that. No. No, matter is not conscious. Go home nautil.us, you’re drunk.
Well, at least some matter is conscious - i.e. me - and perhaps you...?
Re: Is Matter Conscious? (2017)
#5Not quite all the matter, but self replicating agents under the right circumstances (evolution) can be. Consciousness is fundamentally a function that preserves the agent in its environment. It's a combination of two optimisation processes - massive random search for its architecture, and learning. It's only purpose is to exist, thus it has to protect the needs of its body and make more of itself. If it doesn't take this purpose, then it is replaced by other agents that do.
Re: Is Matter Conscious? (2017)
#6I've hypothesized something very similar on my own. Perhaps we'll discover that consciousness, or rather the experience of consciousness, is either a property of matter in specific complex arrangements. Or not matter but perhaps spacetime in some respect. It doesn't really explain how consciousness works, but could explain why it's been so hard for us to understand, just as we don't really understand the nature of existence.
I don't believe it, but it's a nifty thing to ponder over.
Re: Is Matter Conscious? (2017)
#7>Is matter conscious Not gonna read that. No. No, matter is not conscious. Go home nautil.us, you’re drunk.
Regardless of whether matter is conscious, could you please not post unsubstantive comments to Hacker News?
Re: Is Matter Conscious? (2017)
#8Discussed at the time: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14066341
Re: Is Matter Conscious? (2017)
#9Of course. We are matter.
Re: Is Matter Conscious? (2017)
#10For an entertaining examination of the question of consciousness and its implication for philosophers, I recommend Rupert Sheldrake's lecture here: