Consciousness as a factor in evolution

Authors

Kenneth A. Augustyn, Michigan Technological UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2020

Department

Department of Physics

Abstract

What I call the mind began as a non-conscious robotic biochemical process control system in the very earliest forms of life. As life evolved, problems in control became more difficult and exceeded the computational capabilities of the organisms. Nature discovered a means of transcending computable physical processes resulting in non-computational subjective mental capabilities that, while still not conscious, had a degree of genuine autonomy from the physical world. These autonomous subjective wants and goals now affected the course of (but not the mechanism of) evolution. The integrated amalgam of robotic and transrobotic unconscious capabilities eventually gave rise to consciousness, which became an even more important factor in the course of evolution.

The processes responsible for transrobotic mentality are conjectured to leave evidence in the physical world in the form of violations of conservation laws, evidence that future experiments may be able to detect.

Publisher's Statement

©2020 Institute for Cognitive Science, Seoul National University

Publication Title

Journal of Cognitive Science

Recommended Citation

Augustyn, K. A. (2020). Consciousness as a factor in evolution. Journal of Cognitive Science, 21(3), 489-506. http://doi.org/10.17791/jcs.2020.21.3.489
Retrieved from: https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/michigantech-p/14324

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 License

Version

Publisher's PDF