Goading the Consciousness

I’ve always been fascinated about the topic of consciousness. Especially because, even to this day, nobody has the first concrete clue what it truly is. All we know is that it feels like one point of view, like being placed in a driver’s seat. Is it a small and tangible part of the brain that calls the conscious shots? Or is it the result of multiple collaborating brain cells, emerging it like hydrogen and oxygen combines into water?

We don’t know.

But I have been thinking about the consequences of having a consciousness, and how evolution has built life around it. And I believe there are some interesting conclusions to derive here.

Unconscious parts of the body constantly goads your consciousness, like herding sheep into a fold. Every time there’s an itch on your body, it tickles. It’s an annoyance that you, your consciousness, wants to get rid of. So you reach and scratch it. Not only does this remove the itch, the area also feels good for a short while afterwards. You were just tricked into performing a task for the benefit of your body.

There are a multitude of similar events taking place that serves the purpose of goading or making you understand the consequences of your actions. Pain, like hitting your toe on the table, serves to inform you this is bad for your body. Have you noticed how long the pain lingers after hitting your toe? I have a feeling it doesn’t really need to. But it’s lingering because you really need to understand how bad this is.

I could go on with taste, smell, coughing, sneezing, being hungry, sex…

Now comes the fascinating part. Have you noticed how all other animals react in the same way? And not just dogs scratching its ears or the mouse avoiding danger. I have seen insects react to pain as well. To me, this is clear evidence that they all have some level of consciousness too. Maybe it’s not as profound in insects as it is in primates, but I’m willing to bet there is something there.

It’s also fascinating to think how evolution has built up complex organisms taking this into account. The animal needs to have these sensations to force the macro being into protecting its shell at all times. Not reacting to pain would mean certain death in no time. Because of the size of complexity of the animal body, it’s not unreasonable to think that it needs to have a consciousness in order to maintain itself. If this is true, it would mean that complex life would not be able to exist without consciousness.

So, let’s say for a moment that it’s true that consciousness was invented by evolution to make complex life possible. This also has an impact on our spiritual beliefs about consciousness. Whether we have a soul or we are a simulation avatar driving its vessel for fun (or punishment – it could be a sentence) now doesn’t really seem to make much sense anymore. It’s Occam’s razor.

As a side note, there’s one thing about the stability of the consciousness I have often pondered about. Know the theory about 98% of atoms being replaced in a human every year? How come this doesn’t affect who’s in the driver’s seat? It always feels like it’s really you, just like the first memory you had as a small child. Something tells me that memory is an important clue here.

What if memory is deeply connected to consciousness? Perhaps a certain level of accumulated memory is needed to form the sensation of being self aware?