On Thu, Apr 29, 2021 at 1:04 PM John Clark <[email protected]> wrote:
> > On Thu, Apr 29, 2021 at 12:24 PM Terren Suydam <[email protected]> > wrote: > > >> I proposed a question, "How is it possible that evolution managed to >>> produce consciousness?" and I gave the only answer to that question I could >>> think of. And 3 times I've asked you if you can think of another answer. >>> And three times I received nothing back but evasion. I now asked the same >>> question for a fourth time, given that evolution can't select for what it >>> can't see and natural selection can see intelligent behavior but it can't >>> see consciousness, can you give me an explanation different from my own o >>> n how evolution managed to produce a conscious being such as yourself? >>> >> >> *>No, I can't*. >> > > So I can explain something that you cannot. So which of our ideas are > superior? > > >> * > If you're saying evolution didn't select for consciousness, it >> selected for intelligence, I agree with that. But so what?* >> > > So what?!! If evolution selects for intelligence and you can't have > intelligence without data processing and consciousness is the way data > feels when it is being processed then it's no great mystery as to how > evolution managed to produce consciousness by way of natural selection. > I would phrase this differently. I would say you cannot have intelligence without knowledge, and you cannot have knowledge without consciousness. Under this framing, you can have consciousness without intelligence (as intelligence requires interaction with an environment in accordance with achieving some goal). See the image below that I made to represent this (agent-environment interaction model of intelligence) [image: agent-environment-interaction.png] So while intelligence requires actions, if you have someone with locked-in syndrome, or someone dreaming, you could still say they are conscious, despite not being "intelligent" since they are not performing any intelligent behaviors. Note that in this model, intelligent behavior requires perceptions (consciousness). I think this theory of consciousness can explain more than making an identity between intelligence and consciousness, as it can account for consciousness in dreams, and it can also explain why evolution selected for consciousness (perceptions of the environment are required for intelligent behavior). Jason -- 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 [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/everything-list/CA%2BBCJUhbAb_AOBBA%2BthSH0-QhRKhEQOiJHZ%2BdULhHP5JZs6%3Dug%40mail.gmail.com.
