Self-creating Universe 4: Emergence of Consciousness

Although we take it for granted, the "conscious human mind" is "perhaps the most complex of emergent phenomena": our "conscious inner self." And the "origin and nature of consciousness" has been continually debated in the modern world. Materialism and positivism tend to want to marginalize consciousness as "an epiphenomenon, a rather odd by-product of the brain."

Whatever it is, human consciousness includes awareness of the external world of "colors, sounds, smells," shapes, pleasures and pains. And the inner world of "sensations and images." Then arises "the world of mind and thought and spirit, the sense of self".

William James introduced the notion of "stream of consciousness," the constant flow of "thought, feeling, sensation". And he pointed out that our "rational consciousness" is but one form of consciousness. We now understand "altered states of consciousness, including visions, hallucinations, trances, lucid dreams, and mystical and near-death experiences" that were once thought of as manifestations of God or the devil or madness.

Yet we think of ourselves as a "unitary self," the whole universe of experience that we reduce to "I am." William James called this the "essential unity" of consciousness, and Kant wrote of "a transcendental unity of apperception."

[W]hile the doors of ours senses open up to a plural world of sights, sounds, and feelings, our minds make sense of these by drawing them together and synthesizing them into a unified whole.

This sense of unity is linked to the notion of "agency", the capacity we seem to have to "steer and direct our actions." At the same time we tell a story about ourselves and seem to be "self-creating."

We need a "natural history of consciousness" to link the "unique qualities of consciousness... with its origins in the womb of nature."  But meanwhile, we seem unable to connect the fact of our material selves with the experience of our conscious selves. Why do we have consciousness? In other words, what role does consciousness have in evolution?

Clarke proposes four characteristics of consciousness:

1. Although it's not material, it is still a natural phenomenon.
2. Animals have consciousness, not just humans.
3. The brain and consciousness are connected.
4. But brain and consciousness are not identical.

The question then arises: where did consciousness come from? Does everything have a "mind-like quality" be it ever so primitive. Clarke finds the idea hard to square with the notion of creation in the Big Bang. Still, it certainly seems that consciousness emerges out of something less developed, as vision is present in some animals as "light-sensitive cells," and then develops into more improved and specific vision. Perhaps consciousness is like that. 

Clarke divide consciousness into two: sensibility, the "power of sensation" of the world and also "the internal world of the body." For instance, pain, for pain is not "one of life's misfortunes" but the way that we avoid and minimize injury. And then there is the sensation of sex.

But consciousness is also integrative.

[V]arious primitive sensations are collected and integrated into the faculty of extended awareness in a way that is beneficial to the whole organism.

One obvious advantage of integrated consciousness is the ability of an animal to deal with "hostile threats". And it is self-organizing. 

But how does consciousness evolve? Clarke looks at "typically human forms of consciousness" and how they evolve as "self-organizing phenomena" and how there seems to be a "growing autonomy of consciousness."

First, there is creativity. Karl Popper calls this the ability to deal with new and unexpected situations: flexibility.

Then there is language. And we are not just talking about human language, but the ways in which other animals, such as ants and bees, communicate to one another.

Then there is self-awareness. And humans seem to have a radically different kind than animals, and involves the ability to construct a narrative about ourselves, past, present, and future.

And then the question arises: how far can consciousness go? Clarke proposes the idea of an extended mind that reaches out and makes contact with the rest of the world out there. He means "altered states of consciousness" and out-of-body experiences: "a sense of being at home in the universe." Can this extension of consciousness be comprehended by science? We shall see.

Next: Acts of Creation