Consciousness

What is consciousness?

Is it something physical or is it merely a construct of the human brain. Many great thinkers have pondered over this same question, my own reflections on the topic is something I feel like sharing with the world.

I think that to answer any question, one must first define the scope of the question. What defines that something is conscious? Easy! Some might exclaim, “Let’s look up the definition of the word and you will have your answer”. In the Oxford dictionary, consciousness is defined as “The state or fact of being mentally conscious or aware of anything.” Now this I feel, doesn’t quite give a satisfactional answer, at least not for me. Would this mean that any life form is by definition conscious?

In his last book “Brief answers to the big questions” the late Stephen Hawking discusses how a computer virus, something that is human made, is in fact a form of life due to it having all the elements we except life to made up of. That is: a set of instructions that tell the system how to keep going and reproduce itself, a blueprint of sorts and a mechanism to carry out those instructions. Us humans call these systems genes and metabolism. Now critics might say that Hawking’s rant is full of flaws, but humor me for a moment.

Considering our earlier definition of the word consciousness and Hawking’s mentioned rant, wouldn’t this also imply a computer virus is in fact also conscious. The sharper reader might point out a fatal flaw in my questioner, it holds true only if we make a chain of assumptions about all the surrounding aspects. This is the point i’m trying to make, the question is itself not a valid question. It is merely a result of us being conscious in the first place, it is only due to us being able to ask the question that we are in need of an answer. A Raven, a squid or a Dolphin might be smarter than other animals on this planet. They seem to be able to grasp concepts on a level comparable to most human children, they express emotion, they are individuals that act different from each other, they are able to pass information between generations and they are to some degree aware of the world around them. Would not mean that they are conscious? The curios human mind is constantly seeking to answer a dozen questions, that is what has brought us to where we are today and what will continue to drive innovation forward. I would argue that the sole feature that sets humans apart from the other species of animals on earth, is the ability to ask the question Why.