In a message dated 8/31/2004 10:15:20 PM Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
But my point was that in distinguishing oneself from the world, one has already defined the existence of a place called "the world" from which one is distinct, and any decisions one takes will have that in the account. So purely genetics-delimited behavioral definitions do not wash with me, especially where high intellect (primate, cetacian, possibly mollusccan) is present But the consciousness you have just described is a purely animal one possessed by many animals that we would not consider sensient. The ability to differentiatte self from non-self is critical to most (but not all animals). Even a frog won't eat its own tail. Consciousness is really what Damaso calls "The feeling of what happens', the ability to monitor the internal state of the organism and see how it changes when exposed to things in the environment or its own actions (eating moving seeiong). One does not need to be sensient to have this facility. Emotions are some of the things that the the proto-consciousness reads. All of these things are complete biological. As we have become more intelligent we come to believe that somehow our internal reality is dependent on self-awareness but this is bogus. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
