my consciousness was elevated from commonplace matter — Dogbert
There is a point at which someone must consider if their luck can be more rationally explained by something other than coincidence, and I think becoming human far exceeds it. — Dogbert
I've tried to "solve" this problem, and the idea I've come up with is that each stream of consciousness perceives the world branch in which they reach a "highest" state of being. — Dogbert
Most people generally don't believe 'commonplace matter' is conscious of itself. It responds to other matter, like any other matter does. But I would wait just a minute before we go around making friends with the magnets on our refrigerator and pondering what rights they should or should not have.
I'm happy you consider yourself living a fortunate, privileged life. However, one nitpick. If that's alright. Isn't your argument better phrased as "what are the odds of human life developing from non-life" or perhaps something along the lines of how Earth seems to be perfectly suited for life and such seems to be something of a rarity as far as the known observable universe is concerned? :chin:
Sounds interesting and to concern things I know very little about. Could you expand on this point?
I'm a panpsychist, so I think that everything possesses some degree of experience. When I say that my consciousness was elevated from commonplace matter into sapience, I literally mean that. — Dogbert
Sapient life is incredibly rare, so naturally, me becoming human is an unlikely event. — Dogbert
Streams are discrete, meaning that they aren't all experiencing one another at the same time. They have a subjective point of view, hence they have an identity. At one point I was an atom, experiencing the world as an atom, and then I was merged with other atoms to form a nervous system. — Dogbert
What unique properties do you have such that it makes sense to distinguish you from the rest of the universe? In other words, what makes it your stream of consciousness? — frank
Streams are discrete, meaning that they aren't all experiencing one another at the same time. They have a subjective point of view, hence they have an identity. At one point I was an atom, experiencing the world as an atom, and then I was merged with other atoms to form a nervous system. — Dogbert
If you think about all the ways in which the universe could have unfolded, the percentage of those timelines in which my consciousness was elevated from commonplace matter into sapience is practically zero. — Dogbert
The randomness introduced by quantum mechanical processes means that the Earth itself didn't even form in the vast majority of hypothetical timelines, nevermind all the variables and choices that led to my specific birth, or the coincidence that I was among the matter that formed a rare habitable planet in the first place. — Dogbert
Get involved in philosophical discussions about knowledge, truth, language, consciousness, science, politics, religion, logic and mathematics, art, history, and lots more. No ads, no clutter, and very little agreement — just fascinating conversations.