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Re:Is the Universe Conscious? by danielam on Monday October 23, 2017 @02:39PM (#15535742)
In the same way a room becomes conscious the moment a person walks into it.
Re:Is the Universe Conscious? by runeks on Monday October 23, 2017 @02:43PM (#15535776)
A room and a person in it can be considered separate. But nothing in existence can be considered separate from the universe, since the universe is everything in existence.

So, to use your example, a room with a conscious person in it, considered as one whole, is at the very least partially conscious, since the person in it is conscious. Whether the room itself is conscious we don't quite know.

But this leads to the question: does the notion of "partially conscious" make sense?

Re:Is the Universe Conscious? by danielam on Monday October 23, 2017 @02:47PM (#15535817)
So,

1. a room and a person in it are separate

2. nothing is separate from the universe

Therefore, there are two things that are not separate from the universe but separate from each other.

Re:Is the Universe Conscious? by runeks on Monday October 23, 2017 @03:36PM (#15536277)
Separation is a matter of perspective. A room with a person in it can be viewed as one whole, and saying that this room-person is only partially conscious is equivalent to saying that, because my teeth are not conscious and my teeth are part of me, I’m only partially conscious.
Re:Is the Universe Conscious? by JackFr on Monday October 23, 2017 @04:17PM (#15536599)
> Separation is a matter of perspective.

Indeed separation is matter of consciousness. If we believe that the universe is more or less a frothing foam of energetic particles, the only thing that differentiates my teeth from my gums and me from the room is my recognition and identification of them. There is matter with or with out me, but there is no room, no tooth, no me without my consciousness.

Re:Is the Universe Conscious? by danielam on Saturday October 28, 2017 @04:46PM (#15576706)
"[...] the universe is more or less a frothing foam of energetic particles [...]"

"Particles" is plural, implying separation. It that, too, a "matter of consciousness"? Sounds a lot like "consciousness" is being used to do a lot of passing of the proverbial buck.

Re:Is the Universe Conscious? by johndoe489 on Monday October 23, 2017 @03:02PM (#15535977)
Here is a similar argument from Alan Watts illustrated by Matt Stone and Trey Parker

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vA3NLyQNDBQ

Another way to look at it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEunth9YCgo (You are the Big Bang)

Re:Is the Universe Conscious? by mannykannot on Monday October 23, 2017 @03:33PM (#15536249)
This appears to be extreme anti-reductionism: the determined refusal to acknowledge that a property of a compound entity could be wholly explained by part of it.

Why does the presence of a person in a room make a difference, as opposed to any other relationship between the two things?

Re:Is the Universe Conscious? by andrewla on Monday October 23, 2017 @02:46PM (#15535809)
And how a body becomes non-conscious the moment the brain is removed.
Re:Is the Universe Conscious? by mr_overalls on Monday October 23, 2017 @02:49PM (#15535849)
I would argue that the room (or the space enclosed by it) _does_ become capable of satisfying certain definitions of consciousness.