> > So you would say that a thermostat (which process information > about itself, ie its set temperature) is self-aware. (The > term self-aware is more usual, and I take it to be what you > mean by self-concsious). for me, no, not at all. Consciousness in some primitive sense might not be 'self-consciousness'. Is an ant self conscious? Doubtful. Does it have an awareness of some kind, and act as a whole as it's awareness responds to events? Maybe not for every definition of the terms but then that would leave you without terms for what kind of unity of behavior an ant has.
> There is some evidence that a few of the higher species of > animals have this ability - apes, dolphins, maybe macaques - > have this ability, but that is about it. It is an extremely > rare ability in the animal world. Dogs too. Some are emotional ditzes, and some real crafty. You can see a whole range of their awarenesses and levels of intention on any street corner, well maybe if you let what they do be a little suggestive. How else are you supposed to know what's going on inside other things that obviously are not controlled from the outside? Some pull the dodge that there's really nothing with an inside since we can't make rules about anything except information and we have none. QED? (but maybe it's ambiguous which way) Phil Henshaw ¸¸¸¸.·´ ¯ `·.¸¸¸¸ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 680 Ft. Washington Ave NY NY 10040 tel: 212-795-4844 e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] explorations: www.synapse9.com ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
