https://thephilosophyforum.com/discussi ... nscious/p2
I'm not sure I agree. But want to extend the discussion to you. If you think living things are "conscious" or aware or have a "me" from which they reference the world, does this apply to all living things? Or where is the cutoff point? And why? — Benj96
As others have noted, a philosophical discussion of Consciousness needs to be more narrowly defined than just basic chemical or neural Sentience : for example the sensory ability to distinguish light from dark is an evolutionary advantage for many sub-conscious organisms. Hence, the emergence of light-sensing organs, mostly based on light activated chemicals such as Rhodopsin and Chlorophyll. Those sensations are the foundation of Feelings, but don't amount to Awareness-of-feelings until centralized by a brain. In that case, electrical neurons are necessary to channel sensations to the central processor, for sorting into Good or Bad For Me.
Sapience is sentience developed into Intelligence, as in homo sapiens. But sapience requires some degree of Self-Awareness (a sense of Me) : a reference point upon which to base decisions that are in self-interest. For organisms with a physical Brain and metaphysical Self-Awareness, the next step is to develop a functional Mind. Mind is the basis of Intelligence, and according to Michael Levin : "all intelligence is really collective intelligence". That's because the brain merely coordinates the sentience of multiple sensory cells. And Evolution, since the emergence of single cell living organisms, seems to have been working for eons toward the sophisticated ability to know-what-you-know (Self-Consciousness).
Scientific American magazine (Feb 2024) has an article entitled Minds Everywhere, which reports on recent research into cellular Cognition. The first example is a flatworm with no centralized brain, but with cells that can regenerate a head with eye-spots for light sensing. It can find food and avoid danger automatically, with no apparent sense-of-self. Although most plants have no eye-spots, they have leaves with chlorophyll-filled cells that perform a similar function --- in some cases to even move toward the light. A distributed-nucleus single-cell Slime Mold is not even as sophisticated as a plant, but without a brain or neurons, it can coordinate its oozing cells to move toward food, and to avoid danger. The article even reports an experiment in which a slime mold navigates a maze {image below}, requiring not just sensation, but learning. So, the emergence of Consciousness is a continuum, with no obvious cut-off point, such as homo sapiens.
Based on such discoveries, Levin has concluded that "everything that's alive is doing this amazing thing" : Cognition. Which appears to answer the thread question in the affirmative. But it also indicates that just sensation & coordination & self-control does not amount to what we philosophers experience as Intelligent Consciousness. Which is a recent innovation of evolution, after billions of sol-years of groping in the dark, for slight advantages of fitness --- toward some future state that seems to require coordinated Complexity & Self-Awareness & Intelligence : a Person, not a Thing.
SLIME MOLD NAVIGATING A MAZE and avoiding a hazardous obstacle
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