This is both my personal learning project and my contribution in the struggle to confront the ongoing Republican/ libertarian assault on rational science and constructive learning, as manifested in their malicious strategic Attacks on Science ~ A collection of articles, scientific resources, plus my own essays and indepth critique of various presentations from unidirectional-skeptics ~ Hopefully a resource for the busy, yet discerning, student who's concerned about the health of our Earth
Let’s be honest with ourselves and start at the beginning.
For us and many other animals it starts with a unique egg and sperm and not so much a plan as an imperative.
Grow, survive, prosper.
The imperative within me came out of the momentum of half a billion years’ worth of 100% successful generations building upon each preceding generation. Always learning and refining.
“Self” begins with your biology interacting with the physical world around us. Senses + body + brain, constantly interacting with the real world, exterior and interior.
Let’s be realistic, how could any creature possibly feel like anything other than what it is? How can any creature not feel itself, since itself, and its own needs, are all that it knows?
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Can Other Things Be Conscious?
Panpsychism makes no sense.
What is the point of consciousness, when there aren’t any decisions to be made? Which is the case out in the cosmic realm of particles and energy and gravity.
If one is not aware, one gets eaten and never makes babies.
Think about this — you exist within an evolved incarnation of a body/brain that has gone through some half a billion years worth of development, each new generation building upon the previous one. Not one single miss during all that time, or you would not be here.
It gets wilder, the cells that make up your body — their history goes back over four billion years’ worth of successful reproductive cycles — all within a harsh and unforgiving biosphere. (see Nick Lane)
Awareness was required for single cells to succeed, even before the eukaryotic cells took it to a whole new level with their nucleus, organelles and complex insides. Science shows us that awareness, drifting into consciousness was one of biology’s first hurdles on the way to creating life. (see Arthur Reber)
Even single celled creatures require awareness, communication, command and control, along with a vessel to navigate.
The rest is Evolution.
This Pageant of Evolution forces us to realize our body started as something very simple. With each generation modeled by the trials and tribulations dished out during its, one day at a time, life cycle, before getting passed along to the next generation. Always building upon what was there before. Striving to do better.
"Without deeply, personally appreciating the Pageant of Evolution, trying to ask, and answer, these deep existential questions is like playing basketball in zero gravity."
"Dr. Mark Solms makes it clear: … Modern science shows us that our mind is best understood as “a reflection of your body communicating with itself.” "
"Consider that momentous invention some four billion years ago of the Krebs cycle. Here on Earth, when geology and chemistry learned how to harness electricity, thereby giving birth to this Krebs cycle, which in turn gave birth to biology. There you’ll find the difference between a rock and living creature."
(I'm happy to report that I have exchanged emails with professor Nick Lane, and he gives me a supportive thumbs up for this effort.)
Here Dr. Nick Lane describes the source; where the metaphorical spark; that starts the cascade; that makes us, us; is to be found.
I share extensive quotes from Dr. Nick Lane’s recent book Transformer, specifically its epilogue, “Self” — which seems to me the best, most up to date, street level summary of current scientific understanding regarding our physical body, as the ultimate source of our thoughts and feelings, in short our mind & soul.
Why do I believe this is important? Because, Evolution and biological realities receive too much hollow lip service, and too little detailed attention. Philosophers tend to keep it within the bubble of their thoughts. Seemingly valuing dialogue more than getting into the weeds of evolutionary biology to find out what nature & evolution has to teach us about the source of consciousness.
What follows is offered as food for thought. An invitation to explore Nick Lane’s report. To gain a deeper understanding of how the interaction between body, brain, and life itself gives rise to our consciousness — and while all the details aren’t filled in, an internally consistent outline is becoming clear enough — backed by the consilience of scientific evidence. We should start taking it seriously.
Professor Nick Lane PhD writes in his epilogue to the book “Transformer”
I claim fair use, to justify this reprinting and sharing
¶1 “ ‘I think therefore I am’ said Descartes, in one of the most celebrated lines ever written. But what am I, exactly? … What is a quantum of solace?”
¶2 “In this book, we’ve explored the dynamic side of biochemistry, the continuous flow of energy and matter that makes us alive. …”
Then they go on to talk about studying “consciousness” by focusing on neurons and the brain. While the body gets lost like some kind of externality, an irrelevance to minimize and avoid.
Now please consider for a moment, your brain is intimately connected down to every cubic millimeter of your body. Your living body is about a nonstop exchange of information and resources between itself and the outside world. (Same as all other animals, down to single celled creatures.)
It is your body that experiences the bike ride, it is your mouth, nose, fingers, etc. who are experiencing the food being eaten, same with the child or lover being touched — it is not your brain.
Everything your brain has to work with, must be processed and communicated via our individual living body, (with its unique perceptual filters — product ofnature via nurture.)
Nick Lane uses the metaphor of our body’s biology and organs, as a full set of orchestra instruments, the physical biology scientists have been studying. Nick suggests it’s time to listen to the music they make. The bioelectrical rhythms and fluctuating fields that convey what those biological instruments are performing.
The brain? That’s the conductor, and the music that’s the thoughts and feeling surging through our bodies. At the end of this article I’ve added a 266 word quote from Dr. Lane, who does a superb job of conveying the concept.
Prof. Reber's insightful Cellular Basis of Consciousness presents a key understanding regarding the actual physical facts surrounding the origins of our human consciousness. Metaphysics-enthusiasts will sniff & resent & ignore til the cows come home. Still, here it is. The answers are in Evolution!
If you "believe" in Science., you'll want to learn about Prof Reber's suggestions.
Professor Arthur Reber's Question and Answer Session
I’m posting this transcript of highlights from Professor Reber's talk, because I’m stunned at how little attention Reber’s "Cellular Basis of Consciousness" conception has received since Reber started sharing this with the academic community over seven years ago.
I believe the profoundly insightful Cellular Basis of Consciousness holds the key to understanding the actual physical facts regarding the source of our human consciousness.
Recently I finished listening to Nick Lane’s “Transformer,” with its significant molecular and mitochondrial insights, and its superb epilogue titled “Self.”Then, someone at medium.com suggested Arthur Reber, and I was amazed by Dr. Reber's 2018 presentation at Institut des sciences cognitives – UQAM. It seems to me to dovetail with Professor Lane's exposition and it feels to me like I've found the last major missing piece of the puzzle that I've been putting together for myself.
Where, Nick Lane took me down into our physiology and beyond—into chemistry, then into physics, and the Kreb’s cycle—before bringing it around to mitochondria and some mind-blowing new insights. Finishing with an elegant, most informed deconstruction of the so-called Hard Problem.
Arthur Reber took me back into deep time, origins, and to first functional cells.
Why did only one type of genetic structure succeed, out of what must have been bazillions of reactions over three billion years? Reber’s “Cellular Basis of Consciousness (CBC)” points the way to where to look for answers. I find it is consilient with the treasure trove of scientific information I’ve already accumulated. It’s harmonious with my perceptions as a lifelong deep time Evolution enthusiast. Then Reber finished with an impassioned, spot-on deconstruction, and a resolution, to Philosophy’s misguided meta-physical “Hard Problem”—What’s not to love, I ask?
How we formulate our questions often says more about our own expectations, than about the topic.
I want to state that I believe Arthur Reber’s (who died a couple months ago) presentation deserves to be in the public domain and receive a hell of a lot more exposure than it has received!
