Comments on: The unnatural selection of consciousness http://darwiniana.com/2009/11/10/the-unnatural-selection-of-consciousness/ History, Evolution, and the Darwin Debate Thu, 24 May 2012 17:56:56 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: nemo http://darwiniana.com/2009/11/10/the-unnatural-selection-of-consciousness/comment-page-1/#comment-341660 nemo Wed, 11 Nov 2009 02:13:19 +0000 http://darwiniana.com/?p=35886#comment-341660 Good post. We can shift it to a post tommorrow. I have referred to J. G. Bennett a number of times here. While I am reluctant to expound on his flawed views, he nonetheless gave a clear rationale for the change in direction in human evolution: the realm of human consciousness is the interaction with a different order of cosmos, and doesn't exist in the sequences of the origins of life and its law of evolution. The realm of mind and consciousness is the impingement on a new dimension beyond the life realm. If so, it would be obvious that consciousness doesn't evolve at all in the normal meaning of the word. Good post. We can shift it to a post tommorrow.

I have referred to J. G. Bennett a number of times here. While I am reluctant to expound on his flawed views, he nonetheless gave a clear rationale for the change in direction in human evolution: the realm of human consciousness is the interaction with a different order of cosmos, and doesn’t exist in the sequences of the origins of life and its law of evolution. The realm of mind and consciousness is the impingement on a new dimension beyond the life realm.
If so, it would be obvious that consciousness doesn’t evolve at all in the normal meaning of the word.

]]> By: Stephen P. Smith http://darwiniana.com/2009/11/10/the-unnatural-selection-of-consciousness/comment-page-1/#comment-341659 Stephen P. Smith Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:43:49 +0000 http://darwiniana.com/?p=35886#comment-341659 Natural selection is only a one-dimensional view. And if that view was complete, then evolution could have stopped with the most simple one-dimensional creations: the bacteria would be fittest. If natural selection was complete there would be little evolution in direction of complexity and consciousness. The grand complexity tends to an infinite-dimensional directive, however, and it is consciousness that becomes aware of this richness. Woe is he who tries to collapse the grand richness into a one-dimensional world, which is worse than the flat-land offered by two dimensions. Nevertheless, advocates of natural selection encourage the one-dimensional affection while stupefying its believers making them less intellectually fit compared to those that have a wider outlook. Therefore, it is consciousness that can override natural selection, and it is something that underwrites consciousness that does the selection thereby turning Darwin`s blind watchmaker into an oxymoron. Consciousness could not become aware of the infinitude if it were not a fact that consciousness is also found related to the fundamental. What consciousness discovers is self-evident. It becomes necessary to tame emotionality to find a more comprehensive view, lest we fall into flat-land and below. Natural selection is only a one-dimensional view. And if that view was complete, then evolution could have stopped with the most simple one-dimensional creations: the bacteria would be fittest. If natural selection was complete there would be little evolution in direction of complexity and consciousness. The grand complexity tends to an infinite-dimensional directive, however, and it is consciousness that becomes aware of this richness. Woe is he who tries to collapse the grand richness into a one-dimensional world, which is worse than the flat-land offered by two dimensions. Nevertheless, advocates of natural selection encourage the one-dimensional affection while stupefying its believers making them less intellectually fit compared to those that have a wider outlook. Therefore, it is consciousness that can override natural selection, and it is something that underwrites consciousness that does the selection thereby turning Darwin`s blind watchmaker into an oxymoron. Consciousness could not become aware of the infinitude if it were not a fact that consciousness is also found related to the fundamental. What consciousness discovers is self-evident. It becomes necessary to tame emotionality to find a more comprehensive view, lest we fall into flat-land and below.

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