virus: Consciousness Revisited (was: Un-natural De-selection)

Tim Rhodes (proftim@speakeasy.org)
Fri, 22 Aug 1997 11:10:01 -0700 (PDT)


> How about consciousness. IMHO, intent arises out of consciousness.
> Without consciousness there are mechanisms that function and outcomes, but
> no "intent". Only form and function. (Prof.Tim)

> > What is intent? Is it will to live, is it desire for desire,
> > is it cooperative effort, is it a memetic pattern which "prefers" one
> > adaptation over another? Or, do humans not have intent? (Brett)

> What I was asking is at what level does "conscienciousness" (intent, choice,
> complexity, etc.) arrise? If at the level of humanity, then why not at the
> level of genetics? (Brett)

Well, we can approach this two ways:

1) We can /assume/ that consciousness is something humans have that genes
don't and then go about looking at the differences between a human and a
gene (brain size, meme use, etc).

2) Or we can look at what "consciousness" is and try to see what would be
necessary for it to exist in a given environment (a brain or a DNA
chain).

Which route suits you? Or should we branch this thread into two and
explore both simultaneuosly?

-Prof. Tim