Brent . . . it might be helpful to equate the word ‘consciousness’ and ‘awareness.’ If we are conscious or aware of something . . . then it pertains to our viewpoint and lifestyle. Memory is a secondary feature to allow the individual to retain over time . . . otherwise we would have to learn the same thing over and over and over again . . . which we still somewhat do anyway. Observe someone’s interests, passions, habits, etc . . . and one can get a very good idea of their general level or state of consciousness. It is consciousness where we all differ . . . one from the other. We might all be the same . . . we might all be One . . . but individual consciousness differentiates each of us from the other . . . no matter how great or minute the differences are.
On Sunday, February 10, 2019 at 4:24:45 PM UTC-8, Brent wrote: > > > > On 2/10/2019 3:34 PM, Philip Thrift wrote: > > > > > > Two recent books: > > > > The First Minds: Caterpillars, Karyotes, and Consciousness > > Arthur S. Reber > > > https://books.google.com/books/about/The_First_Minds.html?id=RBLEugEACAAJ > > > > Brain-Mind: From Neurons to Consciousness and Creativity > > Paul Thagard > > https://books.google.com/books/about/Brain_Mind.html?id=jJjHvAEACAAJ > > > > via > > When Did Consciousness Begin? > > Paul Thagard > > > https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/hot-thought/201901/when-did-consciousness-begin > > > > > Thagard's 10 hypotheses: > > > > 1. Consciousness has always existed, because God is conscious and > eternal. > > > > 2. Consciousness began when the universe formed, around 13.7 billion > > years ago. > > > > 3. Consciousness began with single-celled life, around 3.7 billion > > years ago (Reber). > > > > 4. Consciousness began with multicellular plants, around 850 million > > years ago. > > > > 5. Consciousness began when animals such as jellyfish got thousands of > > neurons, around 580 million years ago. > > > > 6. Consciousness began when insects and fish developed larger brains > > with about a million neurons (honeybees) or 10 million neurons > > (zebrafish) around 560 million years ago. > > > > 7. Consciousness began when animals such as birds and mammals > > developed much larger brains with hundreds of millions neurons, around > > 200 million years ago. [Thagard] > > > > 8. Consciousness began with humans, homo sapiens, around 200,000 years > > ago. > > > > 9. Consciousness began when human culture became advanced, around 3000 > > years ago (Julian Jaynes). > > > > 10. Consciousness does not exist, as it is just a scientific mistake > > (behaviorism} or a “user illusion” (Daniel Dennett). > > A good exposition, but I wish he had taken some time to consider what is > consciousness. I think he recognizes that there are different kinds and > levels of consciousness, but he doesn't make it clear what they are; how > are they related to memory and communication and planning. It seems > clear to me that different kinds and levels of consciousness appeared at > different times. > > Brent > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
