What would it be like to be "more" or "less" conscious?

[sinnerdexter]

I think consciusness is on a continuum and that brings up some questions. I think everyone would agree that in some way lower lifeforms, while conscious, are “less” conscious than we are. A dog is less conscious than you. A flea is less conscious than a dog. A microbe is less conscious than a flea. At each level they have less introspection, less analysis, a smaller range of thoughts, less “smartitude”.

In what others ways might they be less conscious? What would it feel like if you were less conscious?

More interestingly to me, what would it feel like if you were more conscious? What does that mean? Perhaps more access to the functions of your brain that are normally unconscious? Maybe like the ability to control your own heartbeat, or conscious access to the processes occuring while asleep.

Are autistic savants more conscious since they seem to have access to things that perhaps are hidden from the rest of us?

 

[awatkins69]

That’s a good question. I don’t think we can grasp what consciousness is like for something of a different nature than us. I sometimes wonder whether we can even completely grasp what consciousness is like for somebody else. When I’m petting my dogs I ask this question all the time. I try to imagine if I were having their conscious experience. And yet I can’t, because the whole time I’m thinking sentences in my head, and trying to comprehend it with my intellect, which they don’t even have. Thomas Nagel famously asked it in his article, “What is it like to be a bat?” which you may find interesting.

You also raise a good question about what it would be like to be “more conscious”. Angels, I suppose, are more conscious in a sense. At least, they have different consciousness. Since we are by nature tied to the senses and our bodies, it’s hard to imagine being a pure intellect with absolutely no senses at all ever. I suppose you sort of can do it when you get really into a math problem or theoretical book and you forget about everything. Interesting stuff though.

 

[Just_Lurking]

I wonder about the people like those in 50 First Dates, who keep forgetting and starting over fresh every day (or every 10 seconds). It almost seems as though their consciousness dies every day, and a new consciousness starts over again in the morning.

 

[Robert_Sock]

That’s a good question. I don’t think we can grasp what consciousness is like for something of a different nature than us. I sometimes wonder whether we can even completely grasp what consciousness is like for somebody else. When I’m petting my dogs I ask this question all the time. I try to imagine if I were having their conscious experience. And yet I can’t, because the whole time I’m thinking sentences in my head, and trying to comprehend it with my intellect, which they don’t even have. Thomas Nagel famously asked it in his article, “What is it like to be a bat?” which you may find interesting.

You also raise a good question about what it would be like to be “more conscious”. Angels, I suppose, are more conscious in a sense. At least, they have different consciousness. Since we are by nature tied to the senses and our bodies, it’s hard to imagine being a pure intellect with absolutely no senses at all ever. I suppose you sort of can do it when you get really into a math problem or theoretical book and you forget about everything. Interesting stuff though.

Great question! I think about this a lot.

To be less conscious would be like having Alzheimer’s. To be more conscious would be to increase immediate memory from 5-9 bytes of information to some higher number.

Immediate or working memory is the memory we work with at any point in time, like being able to remember a phone number without any mnemonics techniques. Again our immediate memory is 5-9 bytes of information. Compare that with the working memory of a computer and you will see how limited we are consciously.

Awareness is another aspect of consciousness. This is also measured in a continuum, with computers having zero awareness to a person with Alzheimer’s to a person with a “normal” sense of awareness. Self-awareness would be a sub category of our total awareness. To have less awareness would be like sleep. To have more awareness would be like???

This is a starting point to your question. People may want to add or subtract from it.

 

[sinnerdexter]

That’s a good question. I don’t think we can grasp what consciousness is like for something of a different nature than us. I sometimes wonder whether we can even completely grasp what consciousness is like for somebody else. When I’m petting my dogs I ask this question all the time. I try to imagine if I were having their conscious experience. And yet I can’t, because the whole time I’m thinking sentences in my head, and trying to comprehend it with my intellect, which they don’t even have. Thomas Nagel famously asked it in his article, “What is it like to be a bat?” which you may find interesting.

I can sort of imagine it. Try to think back to when you were very very young and your reactions to things were intensely emotional. There may be some level of “thought” but it’s probably only on the level of an immediate short term visualization, no words. Ever been on a rollercoaster ride when you were young that you were quite frightened of? I imagine being a dog is somewhat similar.