Is the Universe a Conscious Mind?

[sandy whitelinger]

Is the Universe a conscious mind?

I'm not terribly fond of the notion that the universe is conscious, but I think Philip Goff makes a much more interesting than average case for that notion -- even though, in my opinion, his case suffers from some weaknesses.

But what do you think? Is the universe a conscious mind? Why or why not?

And if the universe is indeed a conscious mind, what does the universe think of @SalixIncendium's fashion sense, which some folks have perhaps justly likened to a black hole capable of sucking the very will to live out of nearly anyone. Lime green spandex pants and fire engine red socks, Salix? Really?

BONUS QUESTION: Supposing the universe were in some sense "conscious", what traits of human consciousness would it most assuredly NOT have?

Bonus answer: any love for liver.

 

[PureX]

Is the Universe a conscious mind?

Reading this article, it seems to me that the universe is an expression of a purpose. A 'coming into being' of something. And that something specifically required the transcendence of energy to matter, and matter to life, and life to consciousness. And from consciousness to ... what? Perhaps further transcendence has already occurred, and we simply are unable to cognate it. Or perhaps we are the "base" from which it springs, or will spring, into a new realm of being.

The mystery is great, and we are only a small part of it.

 

[sandy whitelinger]

Is the Universe a conscious mind?

I'm not terribly fond of the notion that the universe is conscious, but I think Philip Goff makes a much more interesting than average case for that notion -- even though, in my opinion, his case suffers from some weaknesses.

But what do you think? Is the universe a conscious mind? Why or why not?

And if the universe is indeed a conscious mind, what does the universe think of @SalixIncendium's fashion sense, which some folks have perhaps justly likened to a black hole capable of sucking the very will to live out of nearly anyone. Lime green spandex pants and fire engine red socks, Salix? Really?

BONUS QUESTION: Supposing the universe were in some sense "conscious", what traits of human consciousness would it most assuredly NOT have?

There could be a universal consciousness if you subscribe to a current one wave theory existence of the universe.

 

[ThePainefulTruth]

BONUS QUESTION: Supposing the universe were in some sense "conscious", what traits of human consciousness would it most assuredly NOT have?

Ostensibly, we would not have omniscience.

But the real question is what mental trait(s) would we share. One, and probably only one, would be full self-awareness. Some ancient wise man figured that out and labeled us as being created in the image of God. Unfortunately, people since that was first communicated, have interpreted it as meaning in the physical image of God, instead of the spiritual image. Deliver me from literal materialists.

 

[A Vestigial Mote]

the chance of life existing in the Universe is 1 in 10^229

What I don't understand about any of this is the supposition that those values - like the strength of the force of gravity or the "value" (seems strange that they gave no units on this) of the strong nuclear force - are able to take other values. Who says they are? Who says that is even possible? To the point that, supposing the likelihood of life to be some astronomically small number because of a the data-universe of all the other possible values those forces could take makes absolutely no sense. Who says they COULD HAVE TAKEN ON any other values? What evidence have we seen that the possibility of other values for those forces existing is even a thing? Umm... none. Absolutely none. Nada... zip... zilch. There is no evidence that those values aren't what they are for the same reason you can't take the value PI out of the nature of a circle. I realize there is also no evidence that points to the positive corollary of that either, except for the fact that our universe DOES operate on those values. It doesn't operate with any other parameters. Until someone has evidence that it CAN operate under some other parameters/values, this is all just an interesting thing to ponder... and not much more.

 

[robocop (actually)]

I have written about this topic but it is copyright.

 

[ChristineM]

Is the Universe a conscious mind?

I'm not terribly fond of the notion that the universe is conscious, but I think Philip Goff makes a much more interesting than average case for that notion -- even though, in my opinion, his case suffers from some weaknesses.

But what do you think? Is the universe a conscious mind? Why or why not?

And if the universe is indeed a conscious mind, what does the universe think of @SalixIncendium's fashion sense, which some folks have perhaps justly likened to a black hole capable of sucking the very will to live out of nearly anyone. Lime green spandex pants and fire engine red socks, Salix? Really?

BONUS QUESTION: Supposing the universe were in some sense "conscious", what traits of human consciousness would it most assuredly NOT have?

My guess is that although the universe clusters into filaments which make a brain like structure

Universe

3d representation of the brain

The scales involved of light years between apparent neurons is to far to pass an efficient electrical signal so no, consciousness is just too far away, or universally slow.

As to the hypothetical bonus question. A thinking universe wouldn't want one of its neurons located in the western spiral arm of the milky way to be infested with parasites.

 

[idav]

Is the Universe a conscious mind?

I'm not terribly fond of the notion that the universe is conscious, but I think Philip Goff makes a much more interesting than average case for that notion -- even though, in my opinion, his case suffers from some weaknesses.

But what do you think? Is the universe a conscious mind? Why or why not?

And if the universe is indeed a conscious mind, what does the universe think of @SalixIncendium's fashion sense, which some folks have perhaps justly likened to a black hole capable of sucking the very will to live out of nearly anyone. Lime green spandex pants and fire engine red socks, Salix? Really?

BONUS QUESTION: Supposing the universe were in some sense "conscious", what traits of human consciousness would it most assuredly NOT have?

In my extremely humble opinion the universe is one and life and the brain are aspects of matter replicating this fundamental aspect. Consider that the brain is really a oneness matrix of several million maybe billions of neurons with one central awareness of the many. What physics shows us, particularly quantum, is that space and time are still one while being many. I see the brain similar to the mechanics of the very universe it comes from. I’m not sure that really answers the question, as the article suggests it’s impossible to know but a conscious universe I put in the realm of extremely likely.

 

[Quiddity]

We haven't even been able to figure out human conscious. So I don't even know what is meant by this.

 

[Araceli Cianna]

I don't think it is really conscious... I used to but I'm not a big fan of the idea these days.

 

[idav]

I don't think it is really conscious... I used to but I'm not a big fan of the idea these days.

I have the opinion that the universe is conscious but I am not really a fan of the idea either. Whether or not I like the idea has little to do with what I have come to believe. In fact I think the whole oneness aspect is sort of much, illusion or not I really appreciate individuality.

 

[atanu]

Is the Universe a conscious mind?

I'm not terribly fond of the notion that the universe is conscious, but I think Philip Goff makes a much more interesting than average case for that notion -- even though, in my opinion, his case suffers from some weaknesses.

But what do you think? Is the universe a conscious mind? Why or why not?

And if the universe is indeed a conscious mind, what does the universe think of @SalixIncendium's fashion sense, which some folks have perhaps justly likened to a black hole capable of sucking the very will to live out of nearly anyone. Lime green spandex pants and fire engine red socks, Salix? Really?

BONUS QUESTION: Supposing the universe were in some sense "conscious", what traits of human consciousness would it most assuredly NOT have?

From point of view of Vedanta that holds the three states of waking, dreaming, and sleeping as three forms of one unitive consciousness that joins these states and is the very essence of their awareness, the following can be said.

“Our waking state is an unbounded state of consciousness that we call the universe.”​

In this paradigm, the question whether the universe is conscious does not arise because universe is a state of consciousness.

The concept of cosmopsychism that the linked aeon article suggests is comes nearest to this.

 

[Etritonakin]

Is the Universe a conscious mind?

I'm not terribly fond of the notion that the universe is conscious, but I think Philip Goff makes a much more interesting than average case for that notion -- even though, in my opinion, his case suffers from some weaknesses.

But what do you think? Is the universe a conscious mind? Why or why not?

And if the universe is indeed a conscious mind, what does the universe think of @SalixIncendium's fashion sense, which some folks have perhaps justly likened to a black hole capable of sucking the very will to live out of nearly anyone. Lime green spandex pants and fire engine red socks, Salix? Really?

BONUS QUESTION: Supposing the universe were in some sense "conscious", what traits of human consciousness would it most assuredly NOT have?

There is no reason "everything" could not have/have developed a mind.

In fact, certain things are not possible prior to the existence/development of a mind -certain things become possible with each stage of development, etc. -and the universe is far more complex and indicative of intelligence than anything man has developed within it.

 

[Nous]

Is the Universe a conscious mind?

I'm not terribly fond of the notion that the universe is conscious, but I think Philip Goff makes a much more interesting than average case for that notion -- even though, in my opinion, his case suffers from some weaknesses.

But what do you think? Is the universe a conscious mind? Why or why not?

This is an excellent article that is eye-opening to me. Thank you for it, Sunstone.

I had not really realized that the two "standard" explanations for the astounding facts of the fine-tuning of fundamental constants are either "theism" or the multiverse hypothesis. There is, by implication, something dissatisfying to me about both of those explanations, and, further, in my mind there is a sense in which those are not really two different explanations. For these reasons, I much prefer the panpsychist argument that professor Goff makes here.

And if the universe is indeed a conscious mind, what does the universe think of @SalixIncendium's fashion sense, which some folks have perhaps justly likened to a black hole capable of sucking the very will to live out of nearly anyone. Lime green spandex pants and fire engine red socks, Salix? Really?

I love @SalixIncendium's fashion sense. It's ground-breaking. I think he should be exalted as one of the geniuses of our time.

BONUS QUESTION: Supposing the universe were in some sense "conscious", what traits of human consciousness would it most assuredly NOT have?

I usually go directly to the bonus question because we get extra money for answering them. But Goff's argument here makes me unsure how to answer--it makes me unsure that there most assuredly is a difference between cosmic consciousness and human consciousness.