Russell Standish wrote: > This leads to a speculation that memories are an essential > requirement for consciousness...
I'm sure they are. Awareness with no memory would be complete confusion (you'd have no idea what any of your sense qualia refer to; or of much else, either). That's why consciousness is *not* a binary phenomenon. As babies grow and gain memories and knowledge, they *gradually* become conscious. This is one reason ethicist Peter Singer ascribes a lower intrinic person-ness to infants and the mentally retarded as compared to competant adults. Jonathan Colvin
