On Monday, we looked at an evolutionary biologist from Cornell University who — with Cornell’s apparent support — argued that goldenrod is intelligent. This indicates the growth of panpsychism (everything is conscious*) in mainstream science.
The current shift to panpsychism was probably inevitable. A few other recent scientific reports offer a bit of background.
Dr. Chimp is In
Last week we were told that wild chimpanzees seek out medicinal plants to treat illness and injury:
The results suggest that chimpanzees seek out specific plants for their medicinal effects. The study is one of the first to provide both behavioral and pharmacological evidence of the medicinal benefits for wild chimpanzees of feeding on bark and dead wood…
In this paper, we show how watching and learning from our primate cousins ​​can accelerate the discovery of new drugs, while highlighting the importance of protecting our forest pharmacies.
PLOS. “Free-ranging chimpanzees seek out medicinal plants to treat illness and injury.” ScienceDaily, 20 June 2024. The document is freely accessible.
In fact, it is the tendency of animals to seek relief from pain (zoopharmacognosy) it has been known since ancient times, and we humans have since added this knowledge to our own repertoire.
Butterflies and ants do it too
However, our ancestors probably No Know that butterflies also heal themselves. In principle, this probably wouldn’t surprise them, but outside of concentrated research labs, we learn more from life forms that are more like us.
But the question arises: If chimpanzees heal themselves because they are sentient and conscious (and long-lived), how do butterflies get to self-heal?
On Tuesday, we also learned that ants treat each other’s wounds:
Saving lives through surgery is no longer just about humans. Now scientists are detailing how Florida carpenter ants, the common brown species from their namesake, selectively treat the injured limbs of their mates – either by cleaning the wounds or by amputation. When testing the effectiveness of these “treatments” experimentally, not only did they help with recovery, but the research team found that the ants’ care choices suited the type of injury they were presented with.
Cell Press. (2024, July 2). An ant that selectively amputates the infected limbs of wounded nurses. ScienceDaily. The paper is freely accessible.
The same question arises as with butterflies: Ants probably benefit from a hive mind, but is there evidence that this hive mind is conscious as opposed to computerized? If not, how is knowledge of healing techniques acquired, retained and transmitted?
Also no eyelashes?
On Tuesday, we also learned that algae — photosynthetic life forms that aren’t plants — “listen” to their environment:
Plants have long been known to release chemicals to respond to stress and relay information to their neighbors. A team of Bigelow Laboratory scientists has shown that glaucophytes, a small group of single-celled algae distantly related to plants, appear to have the same penchant for chemical communication. This suggests that the ability to use chemical cues in this way may not be unique to complex life, as once thought, but rather evolved further up the tree of life.”
Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences. “Study sheds light on cues algae use to ‘listen’ to their environment,” ScienceDaily, 2 July 2024. Document freely available.
So no, algae have not been found to heal themselves or others – but they do they were found listening and reporting. Again, is this a form of consciousness?
The “illusion” phase is over
No wonder science writer John Horgan thinks Tufts University philosopher Daniel Dennett (1942–2024) could be the end of an era, an era characterized by his insistence that human the mind is an illusion—and also, in Horgan’s words, “ultra-materialistic, ultra-Darwinian, suspenseful, omniscient.”
Today we can hardly keep up with all the “minds” that can be claimed. No questions are answered by saying they are all illusions.
Panpsychism is, as mentioned in previous posts, a form of naturalism (nature is all that exists). But unlike Dennett’s eliminative naturalism, he treats consciousness throughout nature as real, not illusory.
A key weakness of panpsychism
But panpsychists encounter difficulties when they try to bring human consciousness into a simple continuum with animal consciousness, as every naturalist must do. An indication of the problem can be gleaned from the passage above about ant mediciners: “Saving lives through surgery is no longer exclusive to humans.”
Well, amputation was never exclusive to humans! What Yippee Unique to humans is the faculty of reason, which allows us to explore the world around us and choose methods that work, whether it’s reattaching limbs or a moon base. Panpsychism will face the same problem as eliminative naturalism if it looks for a continuum where there is actually a gap. More on that later.
- Note: Some panpsychists believe that consciousness pervades the entire universe; others believe it is only found in life forms.