Chapter 18 - Mind Consciousness and Matter - Sheet1 Flashcards
Materialist view
Mind is way of viewing electrical and chemical activity of the brain, an epiphenomenon that arises when nervous system reaches certain level of complexity
Mind and consciousness as emergent properties of the brain
Holarchic levels which appear when brain reaches requisite level of complexity, henice mind isn’t distinct but nevertheless different from physical and chemical processes in brain
Consciousness is deeper holon than mind
Mind and consciousness as inherent in all matter
One theory says that there are two parallel realities: matter and consciousness
Second theory says cosmic Consciousness is source of everything, including matter
Amit Goswami
universe remained formless potential of probability waves until collapsed under particular physical reality by consciousness
Supported by interpretation of string theory which holds that all 10e500 solutions to equations exist simultaneouslyÉwe only experience one state we’re in but many states of universe are equally real
If cosmic Consciousness solidified actual universe from sea of potential, conscious beings would have no freedom of choice. Therefore material reality must have remained in potential until sentient beings evolved, and Consciousness was then able to work through agency of individual consciousnesses, leaving us freedom to choose our own reality
Not until conscious beings emerged that space and time was materialized, thus history of cosmis created outisde normal bounds of space and time retrospectively
Freedom to create the world
When particular reality has been materialized, memory of that event biases choice next time
When materialized many times by many individuals, it becomes almost certainty that same relaity will manifest in future and experienced same by all people. In this sense there is an external, objective reality, but there is always the possibility that a powerful, creative mind will break through shell of habit. Only those aware of themselves and what they’re doing can collapse infinite potential of wave function
Individual entity
Can respond to environment as integrated whole, hence has a mind
Aggregate entity
inintegrated collection of individuals such as a rock or chair, which is a collection of molecules
Devoid of mind b/c they can’t do anything of their own volition or creativity, not unified wholes, and don’t have self-defined values and purposes. However, they’re composed of individual entites which do have minds, albeit primitive ones
Charles Birch
Social holons don’t have higher-level mind than individual holons because they don’t integrate them into deeper holon, but at each successive level of hierarchi the mind of shallower holons are integrated into new and higher level of mind, thus increasing holarchic depth is equivalent to increasing mind and consciousness
Artificial intelligence
Robots have minds, but not necessarily consciousness
Planetary mind
Ecosystems don’t integrate component minds into deeper holon, hence are aggregates
For Gaia, several billion individual human brains are interlinked by increasingly dense and complex networks of communication, therefore if each of us is analagous to brain cell, human civilization resembles developing brain; to create planetary mind, need to integrate minds of all living things - those who experience planetary consciousness are connecting with collective consciousness of organisms of which Gaia is composed, rather than Gaian consciousness in sense of higher-level integration of component consciousness
cosmic Consciousness
cosmos is shallowest, most fundamental holon; its Consciousness must be most primitive type
Deeper holons have sprung from cosmos, hence it is cosmic Consciousness transcended and integrated into more complex forms which has head to human mind and leading to global mind
