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Richard Dawkins Facepalms at Deepak Chopra

godnotgod

Thou art That
What? Conscious subatomic particles? I can only imagine the drama of those virtual particles appearing and disappearing all the time into the vacuum.

Subatomic particle: I think therefore I am ... Boom... Gone

Are we committing murder by annihilating subatomic particles in experiments like we do at the CERN?

Your'e conceiving of it incorrectly: it's not the individual particle that 'has' consciousness; it's consciousness manifesting as the particle, indeed, manifesting as this entire Universe, even as you.

Besides, we now know that all those 'particles' bubbling up out of the Quantum and Higgs fields have no real mass. It is virtual mass, rendering all of reality as being virtual. This dovetails perfectly with what Eastern mystics have said all along: that the 'physical' world is illusory (ie; 'maya') and/or empty (Buddhism).
 

Gambit

Well-Known Member
A rock can't have an experience other than the physical because it doesn't have a cognitive ability to 'know" anything. There is no secret unseen non-physical cognitive awareness that could somehow provide knowledge to a rock. The "experience" or consciousness of a rock would best be described much in the same way the term "observe" is defined within QM.

This is a straw man argument. No one is ascribing conscious experience to a rock.
 

Monk Of Reason

༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ
This is a straw man argument. No one is ascribing conscious experience to a rock.
Some are. If your not or don't feel that there is any kind of special "consciousness" beyond cognition then it doesn't apply to you. But in other threads there have been those that claimed just that.
 

Gambit

Well-Known Member
Some are. If your not or don't feel that there is any kind of special "consciousness" beyond cognition then it doesn't apply to you. But in other threads there have been those that claimed just that.

I am proposing that subatomic particles, molecules, macromolecules, the first replicators, cells, etc. exhibit some form of subjective experience. I am not proposing that rocks do.
 

Monk Of Reason

༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ
I am proposing that subatomic particles, molecules, macromolecules, the first replicators, cells, etc. exhibit some form of subjective experience. I am not proposing that rocks do.
And what do you mean by "subjective experience"? Do you mean that they had some sort of awareness and cognition?
 

Nietzsche

The Last Prussian
Premium Member
If we see the word 'HELP' spelled in rocks on a deserted island beach, we know it is possible that the waves did it, we have plenty evidence of this possibility, and none of human activity. Yet still we assume somebody somehow arranged them, unless we can utterly rule that possibility out. Can we be this sure God can't possibly exist?
I've never quite understood this analogy. Language is a construct, by humans. It's something we agree on, more or less. Why would your "HELP" thing be in English? That sounds pedantic, but follow me on this;

If we assume that a God will indeed speak to us, why would he communicate through such esoteric means? This analogy rests on the idea that both the creator of the "HELP" message and the person who views it understands English. Obviously, God(I hope) would not be so limited. So the question remains, why make it so convoluted and reliant on such precise parameters? What I'm trying to reach here is, why does he hide? It would be extremely simple for God to alert everyone to his presence. There are people who have and will go their entire lives, through no fault of their own, without ever even hearing about *insert deity of choice here*. It's not a question of numbers & chance, or at least, it's not entirely a question of numbers & chance. It's a question of why make it so Byzantine.
 

Nietzsche

The Last Prussian
Premium Member
I am proposing that subatomic particles, molecules, macromolecules, the first replicators, cells, etc. exhibit some form of subjective experience. I am not proposing that rocks do.
But rocks are made up of those things just as much as we are.
 

Nietzsche

The Last Prussian
Premium Member
It matters because I am not proposing that nonliving objects exhibit subjective experiences.
Then I must have missed something.

You are claiming that sub-atomic particles have subjective experiences, yes? Those particles, by definition, are non-living.
 

Monk Of Reason

༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ
By whose definition?

"Biology is the study of larger organisms, whereas physics is the study of smaller organisms." - Alfred North Whitehead
On what grounds do you claim them to be life as the definition of life does not apply to molecules much less atoms or even smaller particles. Though after re-reading some of your comments do you feel there is some kind of evidence that points to there being some underlain communication or knowledge with these particles?
 

godnotgod

Thou art That
Part of the problem with this whole concept is that there is a strong need by some to have this "consciousness" be something totally separate and that the experience itself be different than our cognitive awareness of the experience. However there isn't any evidence of that being the case. A rock can't have an experience other than the physical because it doesn't have a cognitive ability to 'know" anything. There is no secret unseen non-physical cognitive awareness that could somehow provide knowledge to a rock. The "experience" or consciousness of a rock would best be described much in the same way the term "observe" is defined within QM.

As I said, it's not the individual rock or any other form that has consciousness; consciousness is manifesting itself as all forms.

Universal Consciousness cannot be 'separate' from you and I any more than we can be separated from the Universe.

The mystical experience is outside of cognition. In Zen, for example, the rational mind is short-circuited, as when sudden realization occurs when the solution to a koan is spontaneously seen and understood. Here, there is no time for the thinking mind to operate.

The reason mystical experiences cannot be proven is simply because they are outside of the sphere of Reason, Logic, and Analysis. For you to have even a glimpse of this 'other' reality of which you haven't even a clue, the constant machinations of your thinking mind (ie; 'monkey mind') must be suspended, even if for a brief moment, or otherwise tricked into self-implosion, as via koan or other device. People who have experienced such glimpses behind the facade of everyday 'reality', will never be the same afterwards.
 
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