Political: Radical Progressive Spiritual: Transhumanism / Spiritual Evolutionism Personal: Do whatever you want (as long as you don't harm another consciousness)
b_b, the word on the street is that you can be one "bad mamma-jamma" with a hockey stick and skates. How do you reconcile, or any of us for that matter, the fact that we've taken extreme pleasure in a nicely applied hip-check to an opponent caught off guard? I've likely hurt someone else's consciousness, as well as my own, in similar sports-related situations. Dammit, though, it felt pretty good. Is it likely that as a person engages in sport, typical ideologies are set aside?
Well, I think that when we play sports that there's an assumed risk, and everyone is participating willingly. Getting hurt goes with the territory. But yes, I did once put a man in the hospital for an extended stay with 5 broken ribs and a collapsed lung. It was an ugly time, and felt terrible because that was crossing the line. On the other hand it's hard not to feel like a bad motherfucker when you nearly kill someone with your shoulder.
I definitely agree - and thought someone would bring that up. Although no one can tell for sure, I'm convinced by the idea that consciousness is a gradient and that all organisms have a degree of consciousness. This would support the idea that mind and life are connected. Unfortunately, my current personal philosophy cannot account for all consciousness until we 3D print all of our meat. So for now, there is an asterisk of sorts next to this statement.
I would say no, but it's definitely a matter of perspective and definition. I would argue that all animals with a nervous system at the very least have something that we could recognize as consciousness. not harming any of them would be a difficult proposition. Especially for a pantheist, not harming any of God's creatures id likely not possible. Rocks come from the same stuff as you and me. Consciousness is an idea, a matter of language. That's where the problem lay.
I'd say that if they're made of the same stuff, and if we say we have consciousness, then so does anything made up of the same stuff.
Tough question. I would say that it's an undeniable fact that the universe is aware of itself (at least insofar as we're aware that the universe exists, and we're certainly a part of it). Whether this extends to things we don't understand, well, who can say. I think we should never be so bold as to say X doesn't happen solely on the basis that we have never observed X. Scientists do that all the time, and it's really annoying. The correct statement is, "We've never observed X." My point is that it sounds weird to ascribe consciousness to individual inanimate objects, but in some sense the universe itself can be said to be conscious. That said, I don't think anyone should feel bad for grinding up rock to make concrete.