Re: Evolution of Self Awareness

In article <hdg17b01ci1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, William Morse
<wdNOSPAMMorse@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

John Wilkins wrote:
In article
<d0b8f128-3857-4794-9296-15b0efb9e512@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
PaulC <cheeky.chilvers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On 10 Nov, 21:37, John Wilkins <j...@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
In article
<3dcf0caa-6710-4b1b-a0b6-d73ba140a...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,

PaulC <cheeky.chilv...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I was just wondering about the evolution of self awareness, I'm sure
it has been discussed before (everything has of course) but what makes
you, you and not somebody else?

I'm responding to John's post but the comments are directed to Paul. If
you are seriously interested, you could do worse than start with
Hofstadter's "I am a strange loop".

I've never read it. Must do that one day.

My camera routinely only ever photographs the world from its own place
and perspective. What makes that perspective my camera's perspective,
and not some other camera's perspective?

And (echoing Hofstadter) what happens when that camera photographs
itself taking a photograph. Which of the infinite regressions of the
perspective is the correct one?

The one you hold in your hand when you ask the question, of course.

Which really just reinforces the rest of what the Good Doctor has told
you. Biological machines are not just "just". They are potentially
capable of infinite complexity.

Not infinite. There are no infinities in biology.

Am I really just a biological
machine?
You are at least a biological machine. Whether that is all you are is
open to debate, although I happen to think the evidence is on the side
of those who say it is. This is not a "just", though. That's a hell of
a thing to be.

Is there really no meaning to life?
Why would you think there is not? If you are a machine, you are a
purpose-constructing machine, and so your life will have the meaning
you construct for it. Also, if there is no meaning to life of the kind
you seek (an imposed meaning, although I am entirely unclear on why
that is supposed to be a better and more significant a form of meaning
than the self-constructed kind), life remains what it is, and is as
worthwhile a thing as anything else.

Dr. John has stated the matter correctly. I just want to throw this in,
and it is because I don't yet have any grandchildren. When people ask
me, "why are we here", I tell them we are here because all of our
parents, back to the beginning of life. had children. The philosopher
Wilkins can tell you which of Aristotles causes I am confusing with this
statement.

Aristotle had only one cause - the efficient cause. The rest are better
thought of as "accounts" or "explanations". You are not confusing
anything, by the way; Aristotle's interpreters are.


Does it matter whether
one blob of brain activity argues with another, since both will fade
into non-existance in a few years.
Why wouldn't the *current* existence of brain activity matter? Do you
matter the less for not having existed for all but a tiny piece of the
universe's existence *before* you were born?

Are we really just dust that blows
around a huge empty void?
There's that "just" again. I think it is very cool to be part of the
universe. I certainly prefer it to the alternatives...

The human condition in twenty-five words or less:

So you are saying that I may define my own meaning?

You already do. Now you just have to recognise this fact.



.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Evolution of Self Awareness
    ... John Wilkins wrote: ... PaulC wrote: ... if there is no meaning to life of the kind ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: Evolution of Self Awareness
    ... Which of the infinite regressions of the ... Biological machines are not just "just". ... if there is no meaning to life of the kind ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: Evolution of Self Awareness
    ... PaulC wrote: ... if there is no meaning to life of the kind ... Why wouldn't the *current* existence of brain activity matter? ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: (IVAN): EL LEVANTAMIENTO AL PARAISO DE LA IGLESIA FIEL A JESUCRISTO
    ... paradise, for example, to begin to live the infinite life. ... The new celestial life of the Tree of the life, ... before the foundation of the sky and the Earth. ... because Mr. Jesus Christ lives in his perfect light, ...
    (uk.rec.pets.misc)
  • Re: Way forward for West is religion of non-religion
    ... a substance as crucial to human life as oxygen ... The bombs were made of meaning. ... > of the West can offer me with its expensive gewgaws, watered-down religions, ... > The bombers are lying to themselves, just as we are, but they are ...
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