On 16 Mar 2015, at 02:29, LizR wrote:
On 16 March 2015 at 06:49, John Clark <[email protected]> wrote:
On Sun, Mar 15, 2015 Telmo Menezes <[email protected]> wrote:
> Organisms apply pressure on surfaces, even if they are dead. This
is just a property of chunks of solid matter. Evolution did not
create this behaviour
I disagree. Evolution didn't select for that behavior but it did
cause it, without Evolution no cadaver would exist and so there
would be no pressure at that spot.
> The question is simple: why can't organisms generated by
evolutionary processes possess properties that are not the result of
evolutionary pressure?
All the properties that an animal has are the result of evolutionary
pressure although sometimes it's indirect, the property may not
confer a reproductive advantage and it might even be invisible to
Evolution but Evolution could still produce it if it's the product
of some other property that does have an evolutionary advantage.
Not every aspect of a building is the result of a decision by an
architect, some features are just the byproduct of other decisions;
if he wants to put a arch in a rectangular enclosure he's going to
get a spandrel whether he wants it or not. It's the same with
evolutionary spandrels, if intelligence confers an Evolutionary
advantage it will be selected for and its byproduct, consciousness,
will come along for the ride even if it has no Evolutionary
advantage whatsoever.
So, consciousness - evolutionary advantage or spandrell?
Both. I would say. Also: a consequence of arithmetic and machine self-
reference.
Consciousness concern some relation between your representation of
yourself, and yourself.
Self-consciousness is when consciousness borrows a body. It is useful
to realize goal, or to try.
Consciousness is the basic measurer of satisfaction. It came with the
smell, and the ability to move oneself. In our local story. Smell is
our oldest language, a molecular language, with emotional
interpretation.
Bruno
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