Intelligence, plasticity of behavior, free will,
memory, memory recall, all have zero to do
with consciousness.
I would say it is possible, but dubious that
worms and bees are conscious. We know we
are conscious. We don't believe our spine
is conscious even though it reacts to stimuli.
We don't believe our eyes, feet, fingers or nerves
are conscious eventhough they are living,
reproducing cells. Obviously, consciousness is
produced by some part of our brain. ***We don't
believe our autonomic brain is conscious.*** We
don't believe we are concious during non-REM
sleep. So the part of our brain that is off
during non-REM sleep is the part of our brain
that is responsible for consciousness. If
we saw a human that did not have this part
of the brain we would say this human is
not conscious and not even alive. We
consider a human to be dead and not
alive when the conscious part of the brain
dies. We take humans off life support even
if they can breath on their own, if there is
no hope the conscious part of the brain
will ever turn on again. It is entirely possible
that worms and bees are organic robots that
possess no more consciousness than a
vegetable. I would say it is even likely that
this is the case. In order for a creature
to be conscious they must possess some
specialized organ to create it. And we
know from ourselves that a working brain is
not enough to produce consciousness. If
bacteria and trees are conscious then so
is the autonomic part of our brain, our spine
and our spleen .
Sincerely yours,
Orf Nugen
