Conscious Nature

The following is the intro from a 'work in progress', a piece that is far from complete, i just want to get a general feel for how people will react to this idea. I know some will shout 'God' did it, or will say that there is no basis for this claim, but in any event it will be interesting to hear other peoples opinions. If i get enough 'interest' i will get into the nitty gritty, so to speak.

[MY THEORY]
Over the last few years, I have began to consider the possibility of nature [herself] being conscious to some degree or other. That nature is some how able to understand the environment, and has the ability to record and process information accordingly. This i believe is the mechanism that has given rise to the vast complexity we see before us, compared to what we have been able to see of our very distant past (through fossils records).

-That sounds quite 'out there' I know, but let me put forward my argument in more detail:-

Some of the points raised in the argument:

Clear Progression seen in fossil records (Simple to complex and not static).

Mass extinction (eg. Permian-Triassic extinction 95% of all species, Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction)

Instinct to consciousness (Organisms pre-programmed with instinct).

Organisms clearly equipped to cope with environment/habitat (an ever changing world).

Mutual Relationships (bacteria, plants, insects, animals) and the food chain.

Mimicry (of separate species); camouflage (mimicry of environment); and colouration (warning signs etc).

Reproduction (Asexual; Sexual).

Is DNA the source of this 'consciousness'?

The above list has been shortened for this post, it also has many sub categories included where i try to explain my reasoning using scientific data.

So let me know if youre interested in hearing more

sorry to be blunt but arnt you describing evolution and natural selection. These processes if you look at them in a compressed timline do look remarkably like consciousness but are in fact the result of random mutation.

reply to post by Anonymous ATS

sorry to be blunt but arnt you describing evolution and natural selection. These processes if you look at them in a compressed timline do look remarkably like consciousness but are in fact the result of random mutation.

Id be interested to know how natural selection allowed for species to mimic unrelated species, or how a plant knew how to protect its seeds from being digested by other organisms. To me there seems to be more to it than just natural selection and mutation.

difine consciousness. Is a dog conscious fo anything other than it's own existence. Is a single cell organism even conscious of it's existence?
At what point doest an organism become self-aware, and at what point does it become aware of something outside itself?

sorry. double post

[edit on 30-10-2008 by kettlebellysmith]

reply to post by kettlebellysmith


Hey, i did remove the definitions to shorten the post so i apologise for that .

Conscious: perceiving, apprehending, or noticing with a degree of controlled thought or observation.

Consciousness is an alert cognitive state in which you are aware of yourself and your situation; "he lost consciousness"
But you can knock a dog unconscious

Self-consciousness is the reflexive state or act of being aware of being aware.

Self -awareness is the awareness of your own individuality.

I hope that helps
[edit to add] I think the main difference between a dog and a single cell is that a dog acts or takes action, whereas a single cell simply reacts. You can argue that a dog also simply reacts, but based on more variables. But my argument isnt about the consciousness of organisms, or lack of, its the argument that nature itself through some means (and not through DNA) is able to at least store and compile data. It may not even be conscious (thats just my interpretation at this time), but there is definitely some other mechanism influencing evolution, imho.

[edit on 30-10-2008 by enduser]

Systems Theory

All systems of sufficient size and complexity behave as if conscious. It's not such a stretch to suggest that this is what consciousness is.