What defines a conscious being?

[Dean Mullen]

I am finding it very paradoxical in working out what makes one conscious

 

is it a certain atomic configuration in the state of alive?

yet I find that hard to get my mind around because then if all my atoms reconfigured after I died and formed a baby panda would that be me? I cannot see how that can be, yet if that is not me then I am not just a certain atomic configuration.

 

are we just information?

well if that was true then we would never die because information cannot be created nor destroyed just like energy.

 

I think we need to define what a conscious being is, I think the main possibilities are as follows:

 

1. A certain atomic configuration forming a biological body in the state of conscious

2. Information produced by the brain

3. A brain

4. an energetic being connected to the brain via electrical impulses hence the energetic being just experiences what the brain does

5. all of reality is a dream or something alike

 

and I favor the 5th one as a possibility as a Buddhist monk once quoted "If we explore the world we cannot find the source of illusion because the illusion comes from within our mind" and by that quote I refer to how we cannot find the source of consciousness or how a conscious being is truly made aware of reality by performing experiments on external bases for maybe in reality the way we are conscious is not possible and that reality is all some sort of a sub-conscious created world.

Edited February 14, 2011 by Dean Mullen

[Schrödinger's hat]

I think we first need to find some evidence that we are conscious. In what way are we distinct from machines?

In every discussion I've seen so far the definitions have been vague or circular.

 

 

[lemur]

Consciousness is strange in that it is self-evident from the perspective of the conscious subject but it can only be inferred through identification with others. So you can made associations between your own experience of consciousness and behaviors you observe in others. When you talk, for example, you know you are conscious of wanting to say something. However, when a computer talks, you know it is just synthesizing sounds from a code sequence that it is reading mechanically. You assume it is not conscious of what it is doing because you know it doesn't require consciousness for the computer to do what it does - but what if the computer or other 'non-living' objects were conscious but in a way that didn't permit them to express themselves in any way? You can assume that consciousness is a function that can only emerge from a living nervous system, but what if consciousness just uses the nervous system to orient itself to its surroundings in a certain way? Who knows, maybe you could lose all your senses and your ability to think and still experience some form of consciousness that is completely different from anything you're familiar with and impossible to communicate to beings whose conscious perception is completely oriented toward sensation, emotion, and cognition.

[Mr Skeptic]

5. all of reality is a dream or something alike

 

Consciousness is how we manufacture our own reality. Not everything that we see happening actually does (or did), but we reconstruct things into a sensible narrative to fill in any gaps in what we know.

 

As for what we are, I'd say it would be best described as a combination of information and processing power. We are built from a biological body but there is no reason I can see why we couldn't trade for a silicon one. We're not just information because otherwise we'd be frozen in time.

[lemur]

Consciousness is how we manufacture our own reality. Not everything that we see happening actually does (or did), but we reconstruct things into a sensible narrative to fill in any gaps in what we know.

Consciousness doesn't just fill in gaps. It is the interface through which all sensory impulses are translated into perceptions and cognitively processed. I'm not sure if there are other processes that are sub-conscious or unconscious that process parts of our knowledge and perception without our being aware of it but there probably are.

 

As for what we are, I'd say it would be best described as a combination of information and processing power. We are built from a biological body but there is no reason I can see why we couldn't trade for a silicon one. We're not just information because otherwise we'd be frozen in time.

It is a really interesting question whether consciousness could be transplanted into electronic circuitry. If it could, how would it change the way it functions from being housed in a flesh body + nervous system? It would be interesting if you could transplant to an electronic machine and then to different animals, etc. to study the difference between the way different hardwares affect the functioning of the software.

 

 

[36grit]

What defines consciousness?

Perhaps, that which is born of subconsciousness.

I saw a show one time and they were talking about" babies see everything as connected and one. As they grow older they begin to realize individuality". I think at the "everyting is one level", they are almost completely submerged in subconsciousness.

They soon learn to control their individual entity as an individual concieousness emerges and begins investigating. I think most people beleive that every one kind of thinks like them but this is far from the truth. Sure we all have similar experiences and feelings but we all pretty much pick and choose our thoughts more and more. A teenager or young adult will start trying to "find him/her self" and who wouldn't know just how litteral the phrase is. I think at some point we all start looking for truth and some kind of understancing.

I think we are all connected at some deep and subconsious level. And on deeper levels connected to beings in and out of our own universe. I've seen all kinds of creatures on this earth. Amazing and unbelievable things alive in places that seem impossible. I see no reason to discount the idea of a being without flesh, or that the universe itself isn't a living and breeding organism.

If our race endures, I see no reason why we couldn't learn how to create conscious beings and we probably already do. What is an attitude and in who or what will it land?

I guess the next logical question is: Can a conscious mind cease to exist once it's created. I like to think they resinate in the subconcsious and sometimes become reborn for further investigation or to carry out some sentence, judgment, or cause. I create. Therefore I believe that I am a child of the creator. In time he will teach us to create all things. Being concious is the ability to choose the thoughts you keep and be the spirit ("or ghosts") of those thoughts. Those that glorify the Father in the face of great adversary will be of great value through out all of time and eternity. Those who enjoy walking with God learn not to throw stones at him.

Edited March 9, 2011 by 36grit

[Kturbo]

There is a difference between being conscious and being self aware.Humans are both conscious and self aware.It is self awareness that separates us from animals and plants.Animals and plants are conscious in that they are alive,but there is no meaning to being alive for them except to carry out biological functions.Human beings are self aware and they not only carry out their biological functions of being conscious,but they ponder their existence and how they fit into the scheme of things.They try to relate to other life forms around them and learn from them.

[ZhangA]

The only thing I am certain of is that I exist.

For everything else could be a dream or a figment of my imagination.

Consciousness is defined by being awake, or being observing and changing, being alive.

A person who dies is not alive anymore and not conscious. You have to be able to be functioning to be conscious.

Yes computers can be conscious as well, but there consciousness is not as complex as ours as they are only inventions of our limited imagination.

Plants and animals are all conscious, they're alive. If you're alive then you are conscious. Humans, animals and plants and even computers are self aware. It's just they have difference variations of self awareness.

[imnobodyx]

I had the same question and it plagued my mind for days. Instead of telling you go read a book called "A Guide for The Perplexed" by E.F. Shumacher It helped alot just read it and it answers everything.

[jspsfx]

Consciousness is an abstraction inherent of the identity assuming itself to be real. In essence it is a function of energy so successful in its process of regeneration that it uses ego(also abstract but the greatest terminology i can use) to perpetuate its physical energetic process. In fact I believe that defining consciousness objectively is impossible as it is a creation of that which validates consciousness to exist.

[GateOfRain]

I am finding it very paradoxical in working out what makes one conscious

 

is it a certain atomic configuration in the state of alive?

yet I find that hard to get my mind around because then if all my atoms reconfigured after I died and formed a baby panda would that be me? I cannot see how that can be, yet if that is not me then I am not just a certain atomic configuration.

 

are we just information?

well if that was true then we would never die because information cannot be created nor destroyed just like energy.

 

I think we need to define what a conscious being is, I think the main possibilities are as follows:

 

1. A certain atomic configuration forming a biological body in the state of conscious

2. Information produced by the brain

3. A brain

4. an energetic being connected to the brain via electrical impulses hence the energetic being just experiences what the brain does

5. all of reality is a dream or something alike

 

and I favor the 5th one as a possibility as a Buddhist monk once quoted "If we explore the world we cannot find the source of illusion because the illusion comes from within our mind" and by that quote I refer to how we cannot find the source of consciousness or how a conscious being is truly made aware of reality by performing experiments on external bases for maybe in reality the way we are conscious is not possible and that reality is all some sort of a sub-conscious created world.

 

 

What defines a conscious being? If you are to believe what most people say, it is infact a very rare constallation of particles that dies from one hundred degrees celcius, and they are very stubborn sir, very stubborn. But it is really particles of a certain entity in space. That can stand many, many things. Heat, for instance. And an entity is basically a congruent mathematical unit that takes a physical shape in the universe. Else I fear that only a very sensitive being called a human, nearly undetecteable by radar would be conscious.