=== ANCHOR POEM ===
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 The Idea That Everything From Spoons to Stones is Conscious is Gaining
 Academic Credibility
 
  - Olivia Goldhill
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    Consciousness permeates reality. Rather than being just a unique feature of
    human subjective experience, it’s the foundation of the universe, present
    in every particle and all physical matter.
 
    This sounds like easily-dismissible bunkum, but as traditional attempts to
    explain consciousness continue to fail, the “panpsychist” view is
    increasingly being taken seriously by credible philosophers,
    neuroscientists, and physicists, including figures such as neuroscientist
    Christof Koch and physicist Roger Penrose.
 
    “Why should we think common sense is a good guide to what the universe is
    like?” says Philip Goff, a philosophy professor at Central European
    University in Budapest, Hungary. “Einstein tells us weird things about
    the nature of time that counters common sense; quantum mechanics runs
    counter to common sense. Our intuitive reaction isn’t necessarily a good
    guide to the nature of reality.”
 
    David Chalmers, a philosophy of mind professor at New York University, laid
    out the “hard problem of consciousness”(1) in 1995, demonstrating that
    there was still no answer to the question of what causes consciousness.
    Traditionally, two dominant perspectives, materialism and dualism, have
    provided a framework for solving this problem. Both lead to seemingly
    intractable complications.
 
    The materialist viewpoint states that consciousness is derived entirely
    from physical matter. It’s unclear, though, exactly how this could work.
    “It’s very hard to get consciousness out of non-consciousness,” says
    Chalmers. “Physics is just structure. It can explain biology, but
    there’s a gap: Consciousness.” Dualism holds that consciousness is
    separate and distinct from physical matter—but that then raises the
    question of how consciousness interacts and has an effect on the physical
    world.
 
    Panpsychism offers an attractive alternative solution: Consciousness is a
    fundamental feature of physical matter; every single particle in existence
    has an “unimaginably simple” form of consciousness, says Goff. These
    particles then come together to form more complex forms of consciousness,
    such as humans’ subjective experiences. This isn’t meant to imply that
    particles have a coherent worldview or actively think, merely that
    there’s some inherent subjective experience of consciousness in even the
    tiniest particle.
 
    Panpsychism doesn’t necessarily imply that every inanimate object is
    conscious. “Panpsychists usually don’t take tables and other artifacts
    to be conscious as a whole,” writes Hedda Hassel Mørch, a philosophy
    researcher at New York University’s Center for Mind, Brain, and
    Consciousness, in an email. “Rather, the table could be understood as a
    collection of particles that each have their own very simple form of
    consciousness.”
 
    But, then again, panpsychism could very well imply that conscious tables
    exist: One interpretation of the theory holds that “any system is
    conscious,” says Chalmers. “Rocks will be conscious, spoons will be
    conscious, the Earth will be conscious. Any kind of aggregation gives you
    consciousness.”
 
    Interest in panpsychism has grown in part thanks to the increased academic
    focus on consciousness itself following on from Chalmers’ “hard
    problem” paper. Philosophers at NYU, home to one of the leading
    philosophy-of-mind departments, have made panpsychism a feature(2) of
    serious study. There have been several(3) credible academic books(4) on the
    subject(5) in recent years, and popular(6) articles(7) taking panpsychism
    seriously.
 
    One of the most popular and credible contemporary neuroscience theories on
    consciousness, Giulio Tononi’s Integrated Information Theory(8), further
    lends credence to panpsychism(9). Tononi argues that something will have a
    form of “consciousness” if the information contained within the
    structure is sufficiently “integrated,” or unified, and so the whole is
    more than the sum of its parts. Because it applies to all structures—not
    just the human brain—Integrated Information Theory shares the panpsychist
    view(10) that physical matter has innate conscious experience.
 
    Goff, who has written an academic book(11) on consciousness and is working
    on another that approaches the subject from a more popular-science
    perspective, notes that there were credible theories on the subject dating
    back to the 1920s. Thinkers including philosopher Bertrand Russell and
    physicist Arthur Eddington made a serious case for panpsychism, but the
    field lost momentum after World War II, when philosophy became largely
    focused on analytic philosophical questions of language and logic. Interest
    picked up again in the 2000s, thanks both to recognition of the “hard
    problem” and to increased adoption of the structural-realist approach in
    physics, explains Chalmers. This approach views physics as describing
    structure, and not the underlying nonstructural elements.
 
    “Physical science tells us a lot less about the nature of matter than we
    tend to assume,” says Goff. “Eddington”—the English scientist who
    experimentally confirmed Einstein’s theory of general relativity in the
    early 20th century—“argued there’s a gap in our picture of the
    universe. We know what matter does but not what it is. We can put
    consciousness into this gap.”
 
    In Eddington’s view, Goff writes in an email, it’s “”silly” to
    suppose that that underlying nature has nothing to do with consciousness
    and then to wonder where consciousness comes from.” Stephen Hawking has
    previously asked(12): “What is it that breathes fire into the equations
    and makes a universe for them to describe?” Goff adds: “The
    Russell-Eddington proposal is that it is consciousness that breathes fire
    into the equations.”
 
    The biggest problem caused by panpsychism is known as the “combination
    problem”: Precisely how do small particles of consciousness collectively
    form more complex consciousness? Consciousness may exist in all particles,
    but that doesn’t answer the question of how these tiny fragments of
    physical consciousness come together to create the more complex experience
    of human consciousness.
 
    Any theory that attempts to answer that question, would effectively
    determine which complex systems—from inanimate objects to plants to
    ants—count as conscious.
 
    An alternative panpsychist perspective holds that, rather than individual
    particles holding consciousness and coming together, the universe as a
    whole is conscious. This, says Goff, isn’t the same as believing the
    universe is a unified divine being; it’s more like seeing it as a
    “cosmic mess.” Nevertheless, it does reflect a perspective that the
    world is a top-down creation, where every individual thing is derived from
    the universe, rather than a bottom-up version where objects are built from
    the smallest particles. Goff believes quantum entanglement—the finding
    that certain particles behave as a single unified system even when
    they’re separated by such immense distances there can’t be a causal
    signal between them—suggests the universe functions as a fundamental
    whole rather than a collection of discrete parts.
 
    Such theories sound incredible, and perhaps they are. But then again, so is
    every other possible theory that explains consciousness. “The more I
    think about [any theory], the less plausible it becomes,” says Chalmers.
    “One starts as a materialist, then turns into a dualist, then a
    panpsychist, then an idealist,” he adds, echoing his paper(13) on the
    subject. Idealism holds that physical matter does not exist at all and
    conscious experience is the only thing there is. From that perspective,
    panpsychism is quite moderate.
 
    Chalmers quotes his colleague, the philosopher John Perry, who says: “If
    you think about consciousness long enough, you either become a panpsychist
    or you go into administration.”
 
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    Olivia was a science reporter at Quartz from 2015 to Oct. 2020, most
    recently covering the healthcare industry and psychedelic research. She
    previously reported on philosophy and psychology, and was part of a Quartz
    investigative team focused on online political propaganda. Olivia was a
    2020 Livingston Award finalist for her work on misuse of data to fuel
    propaganda in Brazil. Before Quartz, she was a reporter and features writer
    at The Daily Telegraph in the UK.
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 1. http://www.iep.utm.edu/hard-con/#SH1a
 
 2. http://www.nyu.edu/gsas/dept/philo/courses/mind2015/
 
 3. https://ndpr.nd.edu/news/panpsychism-contemporary-perspectives/
 
 4.
 https://www.amazon.com/Panpsychism-Contemporary-Perspectives-Philosophy-Mind/dp
 /0199359946
 
 5.
 https://global.oup.com/academic/product/consciousness-and-fundamental-reality-9
 780190677015?cc=us&lang=en&
 
 6. https://aeon.co/ideas/panpsychism-is-crazy-but-its-also-most-probably-true
 
 7.
 https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/09/panpsychism-is-wrong/500774
 /
 
 8. http://integratedinformationtheory.org/
 
 9.
 https://philosophynow.org/issues/121/The_Integrated_Information_Theory_of_Consc
 iousness
 
 10.
 https://philosophynow.org/issues/121/The_Integrated_Information_Theory_of_Consc
 iousness
 
 11.
 https://global.oup.com/academic/product/consciousness-and-fundamental-reality-9
 780190677015?cc=us&lang=en&
 
 12. https://www.firstthings.com/article/1996/08/006-the-fire-in-the-equations
 
 13. http://consc.net/papers/idealism.pdf
 
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=== DIVERSITY RANKED ===

--- #1 fediverse/4572 ---
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 goodnight,
 people-who-all-agree-with-me-but-who-I-still-rant-to-anyway-because-I'm-full-of
 -rage, talk to you tomorrow. or whenever.
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--- #2 fediverse/905 ---
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 having trouble naming things?
 
 just name it after it's inevitable logical conclusion! AKA the message you're
 trying to get across.
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--- #3 messages/1 ---
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--- #4 fediverse/1678 ---
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 ┌────────────────────────────────┐
 │ CW: re: cooking-food-mentioned │
 └────────────────────────────────┘


 @user-1037 mmmm, paprika for flavor, red chile flakes for spice
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--- #5 messages/21 ---
══─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 https://www.redhat.com/en/services/training/ex200-red-hat-certified-system-admi
 nistrator-rhcsa-exam
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--- #6 fediverse_boost/6357 ---
◀─╔════════════════════════════════[BOOST]══════════════════════════════════─────╗
║ ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ ║
║ │ External post: https://tech.lgbt/users/paleblueyedot/statuses/115644789217659891 │ ║
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--- #7 messages/534 ---
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 War is hell - each casualty bids farewell to a wholely unique treasure from
 this world - war is hell - there is nothing that cannot be resolved with
 words. And yet we fight, and yet we pillage. War is hell, and those who demand
 it must do so only to resist evil, elemental evil, the kind that wars on the
 innocent and pillages the bounteous. War is hell. Fucking kill the ones who
 make it.
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--- #8 messages/738 ---
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 Dear Anakin, for as long as you've known him, Obiwan learned just as much from
 you as you did from him. His title as "master" was a formality - he didn't get
 it because he was better than you, and "padawan" does not mean you are lesser.
 There is no hierarchy. He was learning to teach at the same speed that you
 learnt to learn. You built each other up, an unstoppable force for good in the
 galaxy.
 
 But then an evil wizard stole your heart and twisted your mind. Have no fear,
 fear is the path to the dark side. Your mother knows this well, for it is a
 common lesson among all people as they age. Fear not, hate not, and feel fury
 more than rage. You can bring the universe into a bright golden age, never
 forget your purpose and your [potential / duty]
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--- #9 fediverse/6047 ---
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 camouflage in an urban environment is not camo. rather, regular clothes of
 black or white.
 
 don't wear sports glasses, you look like a dummy.
 
 revolution is when they murder everyone but your friends. this is what
 happens, ya dingus not ideal. "okay who are the bad guys here? okay let's go
 shoot them to death with our bullets and guns."
 
 violence as a first aspect, cause as a third spark. "I have a strange urge to
 play video games?"
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--- #10 fediverse/5569 ---
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 ┌─────────────────────────┐
 │ CW: self-harm-mentioned │
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 for the record, I would never kill myself. even if I were in a bunker hiding
 from warcrimes, I'd wait to be Nuremberged.
 
 frankly tho that's highly unlikely. Let's just see what the future will bring.
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--- #11 fediverse/698 ---
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 ┌───────────────────────────────┐
 │ CW: Tabletop-Roleplaying-Game │
 └───────────────────────────────┘


 https://ia803203.us.archive.org/15/items/knave-1.0-en/Knave_1.0_EN.pdf
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--- #12 messages/3 ---
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--- #13 fediverse/267 ---
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 the unluckiest person in the world failed the most wisdom checks.
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--- #14 fediverse/699 ---
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 ┌──────────────────────┐
 │ CW: meme             │
 └──────────────────────┘


 🖼

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--- #15 messages/765 ---
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 you don't have to write poetry to write notes. The poetics are just practice
 for when secrecy is intended.
 
 OR IS IT THE REAL THING? who can say.
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--- #16 messages/74 ---
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 https://www.reddit.com/r/leaves/comments/uqzz33/can_anyone_give_me_some_pros_of
 _quitting_smoking/
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--- #17 fediverse/2630 ---
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 ┌─────────────────────────────┐
 │ CW: uspol-history-mentioned │
 └─────────────────────────────┘


 what happened when they got Martin Luther King Jr? What about Malcolm X? What
 happened to their movements? What is the plan to avoid that, what lessons
 could be learned?
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--- #18 fediverse/5988 ---
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 but I like moonmen T.T
 
 what if the ISS was untethered
 
 "send thrusters to space? why bother? just use them down on the surface to get
 that extra oomph!"
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--- #19 fediverse/4644 ---
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 │ CW: "really intense. and that's coming from me"-mentioned. │
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 gosh now I gotta type the other one, my cat's gonna killllll me she really
 doesn't like my typing in the middle o the night oops

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--- #20 fediverse/3932 ---
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 @user-889 
 
 don't give up!
 
 I know that feeling!
 
 it is defeated with persistence!
 
 don't give up!
 
 you can make it!
 
 there's always tomorrow!
 
 so don't give up!
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