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Waves · 02-18-2010, 08:41 PM

So did our consciousness evolve out of organic matter and the interaction of attention (in that case what exactly IS attention?) with environment or did our bodies evolve to the point where our consciousness could inhabit them?

what caused our priority to change from being survival-orientated to beings influenced to do different things with our time, like art? when did the animal become a self conscious choosing entity?

could it have been the introduction of some kind of different consciousness altogether? that would imply that our primitive ancestors were sort of soul-less machinations and at some point we evolved the ability to choose what to do other than follow our instincts, i think. could that be that far from the truth?

i lean towards the idea that all consciousness works the same, so to speak. in other words, the consciousness of a dog and the consciousness of a human both work the same way. its just been programmed differently. like two computers who both run on electricity, but have two entirely different operating system.

so consciousness is like a function/facet of existence or reality much like electricity is a function/facet of energy. to experience reality there must be some awareness of that reality. as we were primitive our awareness of that reality is limited, limited to basic ideas like survival and stuff. maybe over time as we gain experience and knowledge our intellect can expand in different ways to encapsulate more aspects of our existence. like art. or even the fact that we exist at all. maybe that self awareness is a point of evolution, like a tipping point of some sorts. if an organism can reach that point all bets are off, survival is no longer the main factor, and free will and choice become the main factor. we are still influenced by our genes to carry out basic animalstic instincts, like mating and eating, and even breathing, but our awareness of ourselves and what it means to be ourselves is greater.

02-18-2010, 08:41 PM	#5 (permalink)
Waves Duderino Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: chiburbs Posts: 15,405 Thanks: 991 Thanked 4,036 Times in 2,224 Posts	So did our consciousness evolve out of organic matter and the interaction of attention (in that case what exactly IS attention?) with environment or did our bodies evolve to the point where our consciousness could inhabit them? what caused our priority to change from being survival-orientated to beings influenced to do different things with our time, like art? when did the animal become a self conscious choosing entity? could it have been the introduction of some kind of different consciousness altogether? that would imply that our primitive ancestors were sort of soul-less machinations and at some point we evolved the ability to choose what to do other than follow our instincts, i think. could that be that far from the truth? i lean towards the idea that all consciousness works the same, so to speak. in other words, the consciousness of a dog and the consciousness of a human both work the same way. its just been programmed differently. like two computers who both run on electricity, but have two entirely different operating system. so consciousness is like a function/facet of existence or reality much like electricity is a function/facet of energy. to experience reality there must be some awareness of that reality. as we were primitive our awareness of that reality is limited, limited to basic ideas like survival and stuff. maybe over time as we gain experience and knowledge our intellect can expand in different ways to encapsulate more aspects of our existence. like art. or even the fact that we exist at all. maybe that self awareness is a point of evolution, like a tipping point of some sorts. if an organism can reach that point all bets are off, survival is no longer the main factor, and free will and choice become the main factor. we are still influenced by our genes to carry out basic animalstic instincts, like mating and eating, and even breathing, but our awareness of ourselves and what it means to be ourselves is greater. __________________ On this life that we call home The years go fast and the days go so slow Last edited by Waves; 02-18-2010 at 08:55 PM.