this post was submitted on 17 Dec 2025
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philosophy
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Other philosophy communities have only interpreted the world in various ways. The point, however, is to change it. [ x ]
"I thunk it so I dunk it." - Descartes
Short Attention Span Reading Group: summary, list of previous discussions, schedule
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Neurons have a specific electrical function and interconnection that we can demonstrate experimentally.
Yes but that specific mechanism has never been demonstrated to have anything to do with consciousness beyond the fact that interrupting them also interrupts consciousness. If we're positing that consciousness is something that belongs to each individual part of the biological system, but then a singular consciousness that corresponds to the whole being can arise out of their interaction, why should that part of the process be limited purely to electrical connections between neurons?
I'm not saying it has to be limited to only neurons, but until there's a way to test whether or not entire ecosystems can have a consciousness like ours then I am skeptical of these claims