IPFS News Link • Science
Consciousness Isn't a Mystery. It's Matter.
• arcleinThe German philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz made the point vividly in 1714. Perception or consciousness, he wrote, is "inexplicable on mechanical principles, i.e. by shapes and movements. If we imagine a machine whose structure makes it think, sense, and be conscious, we can conceive of it being enlarged in such a way that we can go inside it like a mill" - think of the 1966 movie "Fantastic Voyage," or imagine the ultimate brain scanner. Leibniz continued, "Suppose we do: visiting its insides, we will never find anything but parts pushing each other - never anything that could explain a conscious state."