Lent 2018: Day 22
“If panpsychism is real, then life can have started with some form of
consciousness that must have evolved very much from electrons to E.
coli and Stentor, a single-celled organism with no neurons, to us.”
This is an
almost incredible statement coming from Stuart A. Kauffman, a
renowned scientist with a lifetime's work to draw observations from.
Many of his peers will sneer dismissively, convinced
that consciousness can only exist within the brain of living
creatures – and nowhere else. In their conviction, they have cut
themselves off from considering other alternatives.
Why trust
one scientist and not another? At the end of the twelfth chapter of
Humanity in a Creative Universe, I've pencilled the words “Kauffman
is right/wrong.” It's binary. Kauffman's theory (not just his, I must
add) is itself in superposition, like an electron in a quantum experiment. He
is neither right nor wrong until such time as a conscious observer
can peer into a box to view the result of a putative experiment
designed to test subatomic matter for such properties as
consciousness and will. As of time of writing, science has not
unravelled these mysteries. Therefore it is as wrong to say that
Kauffman is wrong as it is to say that he is right.
But could
he be part right/part wrong? Kauffman talks about Aristotle's
philosophical notion of the excluded middle, the answer to which,
like the result of a quantum measurement, cannot be anything other
than 'yes' or 'no'. The electron's spin, on measurement by a
conscious observer, is either 'up' or 'down'. Before measurement, it is both. But ideas are not
subatomic particles. Many philosophical, political or economic
constructs are right up to a point. Some, being far from perfect, are just about good enough to stand the test of time – existentialism, social
democracy, capitalism, quantitative easing. But this is not sufficient for Science.
Sceptics
refer to the 'God of the Gaps' – what we humans don't understand,
we tend to ascribe to the workings of a supernatural being, whether
it's lightning or floods. Kauffman is careful to avoid talk of a
supreme deity. When covering the history of science and philosophy,
however, he describes how the notions of deism (a non-interfering God) and theism (an omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent God) competed
with one another. He notes that Newton's worldview had the effect of relegating God from an
omnipresent deity to the watchmaker that once made, and wound up the
clock, and then stood back to let its motion unravel across the
fullness of time. Rather, Kauffman's God is consciousness,
distributed across space and time, continually evolving from electron
to single-celled organism to us. This of course begs the question –
what next?
Before
moving on, some thoughts from my brother, who emailed me the
following comments about Humanity in a Creative Universe (which he
bought me, before buying a copy for himself).
“There
are questions with unknown answers; then there are problems where we
don't know the right questions to ask; and then there are the
problems where we don't know or even have the language with which to
formulate the questions. Kauffman has spent many years trying to
formulate such a new language.
"Prior to the Enlightenment, nearly all
debate about heat and fire was couched in nouns rather than verbs; we
now know that fire is a process. Science too is also a process -
not simply a body of knowledge. Orthodox religions have become bodies
of knowledge rather than emerging constructs; perhaps this is where
the conflict between science and religions lies.”
This time two years ago:
This time four years ago:
Getting ul. Karczunkowska ready for Biedronka opening
This time five years ago:
Getting ul. Karczunkowska ready for Biedronka opening
This time five years ago:
God's own risk
This time six years ago:
A third of the way through Lent
This time seven years ago:
Balancing surfeit and shortage
This time eight years ago:
Congruent consciousness
This time six years ago:
A third of the way through Lent
This time seven years ago:
Balancing surfeit and shortage
This time eight years ago:
Congruent consciousness
No comments:
Post a Comment