I'm most with Dennett. I see consciousness as having several different
levels, which are also different levels of self-reference. At the
lowest level even bacteria recognize (in the functional/operational
sense) a distinction between "me" and "everything else". A little above
that, some that are motile also sense chemical gradients and can move
toward food. So they distinguish "better else" from "worse else". At a
higher level, animals and plants with sensors know more about their
surroundings. Animals know a certain amount of geometry and are aware of
their place in the world. How close or far things are. Some animals,
mostly those with eyes, employ foresight and planning in which they
forsee outcomes for themselves. They can think of themselves in
relation to other animals. More advanced social animals are aware of
their social status. Humans, perhaps thru the medium of language, have
a theory of mind, i.e. they can think about what other people think and
attribute agency to them (and to other things) as part of their
planning. The conscious part of all this awareness is essentially that
which is processed as language and image; ultimately only a small part.
Brent
On 6/18/2021 11:46 AM, Jason Resch wrote:
In your opinion who has offered the best theory of consciousness to
date, or who do you agree with most? Would you say you agree with them
wholeheartedly or do you find points if disagreement?
I am seeing several related thoughts commonly expressed, but not sure
which one or which combination is right. For example:
Hofstadter/Marchal: self-reference is key
Tononi/Tegmark: information is key
Dennett/Chalmers: function is key
To me all seem potentially valid, and perhaps all three are needed in
some combination. I'm curious to hear what other viewpoints exist or
if there are other candidates for the "secret sauce" behind
consciousness I might have missed.
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 everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com
<mailto:everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com>.
To view this discussion on the web visit
https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/everything-list/CA%2BBCJUik%3Du724L6JxAKi0gq-rPfV%3DXwGd7nS2kmZ_znLd7MT1g%40mail.gmail.com
<https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/everything-list/CA%2BBCJUik%3Du724L6JxAKi0gq-rPfV%3DXwGd7nS2kmZ_znLd7MT1g%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>.
--
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 everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit
https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/everything-list/cdc372c6-2579-fa64-2a26-bf8c1ce33c56%40verizon.net.
