How Did Consciousness Originate? (evolution)

[PureX]

Originally Posted by Sunstone

That's a very interesting point, but I'm not sure it's the topic of this thread.

How do you suppose our limited self awareness originated? How did it evolve? What were the advantages of it?

It evolved from the simple to the more complex, I suppose. It began because the ability to perceive the surrounding environment is a distinct advantage to any life form. So any mutation that advanced the ability to perceive the environment was more "successful" and was passed on the succeeding generations. The ability to sense light eventually develops into an eye. The ability to sense light directionally is even better, and so we develop more than one eye. As the eyes develop complexity, they develop the ability to focus, and having two of them allows for the development of depth perception. We are hunters, and so depth perception is very important to us, and a lot of our brain gets devoted to it.

Sensing in stereo allows us to pinpoint the focus of our seeing and hearing, which in turn makes us much more successful predators. These traits get passed on and further developed. And our brains expand their capacity for "stereo perception" as a result. This advancing capacity for stereo perception causes our brains to develop a thought process dominated by the ability to compare and contrast incoming sensory information very quickly and accurately. And genetic modifications that enhance this ability make the carrier more successful, and so tend to be passed on more often.

So now we have a brain that thinks in dualities: that can compare and contrast incoming information sets and can then compare and contrast these information sets to other information sets it has held in it's memory. And the eventual result of all this lightening-speed comparing and contrasting is the ability to identify information sets very quickly, and to make value judgments regarding them. We can perceive, label, and judge aspects of our environment very quickly and mostly automatically.

And somewhere in all this we also develop the capacity for imagination. I suppose it came from the ability to make value assessments of information sets. For example, we encounter an information set that is very similar to a previous information set that we valued highly, but this time produced negative results when acted upon (whereas last time we acted in this information set we got positive results). We immediately compare and contrast the two similar experiences, that have given us different outcomes, to find the identifying variant (so we don't make this mistake again). Recognizing the slight difference between an information set that give a positive outcome, and one that gives us a negative outcome, allows us to "imagine" the variant there, and then not there, and the different resulting values.

So next time we encounter a similar information set, we immediately check for the variant, and when we don't find the variant that leads to the positive result, we think about "if it were there", we "imagine" the other option (because we wanted the positive result) and it's a small step from this to then trying to make that variant happen. And our imagination leads us to using "tools" to try and make an environment that is not conforming to our desired ideal information set, conform to it.

And that's about as far as we've gotten. The next big step is to begin comparing and contrasting aspects of the way we think, and making value assessments regarding these, and perhaps even acting consciously to change the way we think. And in this we will begin to become self-aware.

There, so that's my very quick and sketchy explanation of how we came to be vaguely self-aware.

[Random]

Consciousness is what we are conscious of. Thus, it is a natural part of reality realization: as soon as there is something, created or otherwise, to be conscious of, someone or something becomes conscious of it.

[painted wolf]

the more aware you are of the world around you and your place in it, the better you will be at responding to changes in that world.

as for what "consciousness" intails... it is far to vague to use IMHO.

wa:do

[Willamena]

Originally Posted by Sunstone

OOOPS! I should have said "self recognition" when referring to the capabilities of some apes and dolphins. Consciousness is self awareness, for the purposes of this thread. It's not conclusively demonstrated that apes and dolphins have a fully human sense of self awareness, although they do recognize themselves in mirrors and such.

What is the difference between self-recognition and self-awareness (for the purposes of this thread)?

[Sunstone]

Originally Posted by Willamena

What is the difference between self-recognition and self-awareness (for the purposes of this thread)?

Self recognition merely implies that an animal looking at itself in a mirror can discern that it is looking at itself. Self awareness, on the other hand, implies a whole host of behaviors and beliefs, such as an awareness that one has voted Republican or an awareness that one is a husband, or an awareness that one is reasonably well educated, and so forth.

[Willamena]

Originally Posted by Sunstone

Self recognition merely implies that an animal looking at itself in a mirror can discern that it is looking at itself. Self awareness, on the other hand, implies a whole host of behaviors and beliefs, such as an awareness that one has voted Republican or an awareness that one is a husband, or an awareness that one is reasonably well educated, and so forth.

Thank you. So it combines 'symbolic' thinking and learning with self-recognition... okay. I can see that.

Originally Posted by Sunstone

How did consciouness originate? In what way did consciousness have an evolutionary advantage over nonconsciousness? Why are we conscious animals today?

I don't have an answer for these "why" questions, but the evolutionary advantage that 'consciousness' provides --the ability to manipulate symbols to create language and myth --has shaped us into who we are mentally.

Originally Posted by Sunstone

Did consciousness help further our ability to communicate?

Absolutely, in my opinion. Communicating non-literal things is one of the best ways to communicate (the other being communicating literally).

Originally Posted by Sunstone

Did it make us a craftier, willier, more deceptive predator?

I don't know; it's been so long since I've been a predator... (baahhhh)

Originally Posted by Sunstone

Did it allow us to gain advantage of others through lies and deceits?

Sure; especially those of our fellow humans who haven't learned to distinguish between the non-literal and the untrue.

Originally Posted by Sunstone

What were the survival advantages that resulted in the natural selection of conscious individuals?

I have no idea.

[painted wolf]

I think our test for 'self-recognition' is a bit flawed.

if animals couldn't reccognize themselves, they would drown a lot more often.
"Hey who is that guy is the water!" *splash, glub, glub*

Perhaps a mirror is just not thrilling.... maybe the animals just arn't that intrested in how they look.

Most animals are able to think abstractly to some degree... just look at play.

wa:do

[Hema]

I can only give you my perception of Consciousness according to my Hindu faith. Other than that I have no idea. In Hinduism, God is one and is neither male nor female but rather, has male and female aspects. The male aspect of God is Shiva or the consciousness of the universe whereas Shakti is the female aspect of God and is the power and creative energy of the universe. Shiva or consciousness is the observer. The human body is a miniature of the universe. We also have consciousness and energy within us. To me, consciousness is part of God and has no beginning and no end. Animals also have consciousness because they are aware of their surroundings and their actions. As for predatory instincts I think it is based on the body of the animal. A lion is designed to be a better predator than a human but our consciousness, our awareness of self can be higher than an animal’s because we can perceive God. Someone who is spiritually conscious will not want to gain advantage over others through lies and deceit. As for the ability to communicate, it also depends on the body of the animal. Whales can communicate with each other but humans were designed for speech.