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d2jsp Forums > Off-Topic > General Chat > Science, Technology & Nature > Dr. Neil Theise On Panpsychism / Complexity Theory
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Feb 25 2015 12:44pm
I thought this was an interesting perspective on the interaction of matter and the nature of consciousness.

Let me know what you think!

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Feb 26 2015 01:46am
He's on the right track, however he doesn't mention the combination problem which is the biggest obstacle to his view: http://consc.net/papers/combination.pdf

Also I don't like his inclusion of randomness in his theory as it rests on a particular interpretation of QM that is at best unlikely.

I am also a panpsychist (or more accurately, a Strawsonian physicalist) so indeed I agree with him that the universal wave-function fundamentally and exclusively describes the experiential in the world.

So I mostly think he's correct, and much more correct than most "science-minded" dogmatic materialists, but I think he has a few details wrong (such as mere aggregation and systematized perception and feedback being enough for phenomenal binding). I don't think that cells are conscious any more than the United States is conscious or a rock is conscious. Only animals with a particular type of nervous system are capable of phenomenal binding (and therefore of what we call consciousness).

This post was edited by Voyaging on Feb 26 2015 01:48am
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