It began to make more sense to me that the chemicals of cellular and multicellular life may have come together in that environment, but that essence "life" was not some magic that suddenly appeared. It is there.
I’m somewhat familiar with the heat-vent theory and it’s a good one. The idea that life in some form is somehow endemic to matter just won’t leave me alone.
Sounds like a great podcast. Thanks to the work I do, I get to contemplate the nature of consciousness (and the nature of reality) on a daily basis. And by daily, I mean check out Deepak Chopra's Instagram and the daily videos there. A lot of people are studying the "Hard Problem of Consciousness" for many years and not just biologists but neuroscientists, quantum physicists and philosophers, there are so many rabbit holes. I've also seen research that uses plants like a thumb drive, allowing us to store data in the plant cells for as long as the plant has living cells.
Yes. Agree. Seems to me that consciousness is integral to everything--atoms, molecules and biochemistry--at a base level, and exists in proportion to the complexity of the information system. A mouse is more complex than a spider so has a richer awareness. A dog more complex than a mouse, hence emotions and human-like awareness. Etcetera. David Chalmers (and others) call this "the hard problem of consciousness". How can we, using all of the science that we know, explain why consciousness arises. We can't. Why? It's "built-in". Like electromagnetism and gravity. It's a property of the universe. Not a phenomenon that arises when the biochemistry is "right". Many Hindus and Buddhists were on to this thousands of years ago, read about chit, atman, ahamkara.
We humans are very arrogant to assume that only we have consciousness. Think of what we could learn from the rest of creation.
agree entirely
Just read this, Jeff. I recently heard a podcast on archaea and the possibility that life on earth first appeared in deep water heat vents. https://www.npr.org/2024/12/11/1218506683/microbes-archaea-immune-system
It began to make more sense to me that the chemicals of cellular and multicellular life may have come together in that environment, but that essence "life" was not some magic that suddenly appeared. It is there.
I’m somewhat familiar with the heat-vent theory and it’s a good one. The idea that life in some form is somehow endemic to matter just won’t leave me alone.
Sounds like a great podcast. Thanks to the work I do, I get to contemplate the nature of consciousness (and the nature of reality) on a daily basis. And by daily, I mean check out Deepak Chopra's Instagram and the daily videos there. A lot of people are studying the "Hard Problem of Consciousness" for many years and not just biologists but neuroscientists, quantum physicists and philosophers, there are so many rabbit holes. I've also seen research that uses plants like a thumb drive, allowing us to store data in the plant cells for as long as the plant has living cells.
Good piece on this topic.
https://substack.com/home/post/p-160144625
Yes. Agree. Seems to me that consciousness is integral to everything--atoms, molecules and biochemistry--at a base level, and exists in proportion to the complexity of the information system. A mouse is more complex than a spider so has a richer awareness. A dog more complex than a mouse, hence emotions and human-like awareness. Etcetera. David Chalmers (and others) call this "the hard problem of consciousness". How can we, using all of the science that we know, explain why consciousness arises. We can't. Why? It's "built-in". Like electromagnetism and gravity. It's a property of the universe. Not a phenomenon that arises when the biochemistry is "right". Many Hindus and Buddhists were on to this thousands of years ago, read about chit, atman, ahamkara.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/then-i-am-myself-the-world-conscious