If it is not dead, then we can bring it to reality. If it is, then time has run out and it's all going down the tube.
On May 14, 11:46 am, Molly Brogan <[email protected]> wrote: > As sentient beings, what keeps us going with a dream of the good life > (which I think was the focus of the thread.) Sure, living things will > recoil from danger, including single cell life that may or may not > have the ability to think. But life is all around us in myriad > forms. What keeps us going in the life? What keeps the life going? > Is the dream dead? Or can we influence it? > > On May 14, 11:02 am, gruff <[email protected]> wrote: > > > " ... On May 13, 7:50 am, Chris Jenkins <[email protected]> > > wrote: ... " > > > > 'Life' has definitely become a tricky word to define these days. A rock > > > is inert, passive, possesses no active systems, is incapable of > > > reproduction, is inorganic, and thus my scientist's brain rules it out. > > > Questioning what is sentient has become a whole new conundrum, as both > > > many species of animals (long thought insentient by many schools of > > > thought), and some complex AI systems are capable of displaying traits of > > > self awareness and subjective perception. Combined with the long running > > > argument of 'What is consciousness?', it tends to make it difficult for a > > > rationalist to come to an easy answer. > > > Tricky indeed. That's what comes of leaving a definition open-ended, > > yet I see no other way given the discoveries of the past six or seven > > decades. Our space explorations, limited though they may be, have > > opened up the possibility of life forms such as we cannot conceive. > > Silicon based life for example? Yes, we have to admit to it's > > possibility even though we could not easily conceive of how that might > > be and the form it would take. > > > Sentience is yet another matter, as you point out. How best to > > describe it, to capture it in a nutshell. I still lean toward my > > earlier description of the ability to feel or perceive subjectively. > > Even the simplest single-celled entity has shown itself to recede or > > draw back from danger and draw closer to that which supports it's > > life. Flowers turn toward the sun. Could sentience be better > > described by example? Anything that purposely tends toward survival, > > for instance? > > > Sentience seems to be not a static trait or characteristic but rather > > possessing various levels of accession which implies a scale of > > sentience from the simplest to the most complex and highest order, the > > latter being human beings until we discover otherwise. Think what > > ye? --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""Minds Eye"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Minds-Eye?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
