Another we are apes story (Introduction)

by dhw, Sunday, May 19, 2013, 17:40 (4014 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: If our frontal lobes are no better than described we are really apes. We know that is not so, and the author does try to explain how the parts of the brain interact:-http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/beautiful-minds/2013/05/16/gorillas-agree-human-fro...-With all this research, the basic assumption always seems to be that the source of intelligence/consciousness is the physical brain. Of course it may well be, but since we are so totally ignorant in these matters, and since we are not bound by the materialistic assumptions of science, we can speculate on the reverse being true. Theists and panpsychists can both argue that intelligence is energy which directs the brain. The implication here would be that the unique interactions are not the cause but the result of our extra intelligence. Just as muscles may grow through exercise, the brain may increase the complexity of its networks through the energy that is applied to it. In my panpsychist hypothesis, this is how intelligence may have evolved from the beginning ... through energy initially experiencing change from within matter until it gains enough awareness and experience to change matter itself. Weird, of course, but is there any explanation of consciousness that isn't weird?