Fascinating article (for those who can wrap their heads around it)! If you can't quite get there, consider this: Are you one of those people who think that animals (maybe your pet), plants or even particles (in a Physics sense) have characteristics, qualities or traits (maybe sentience - having a 'soul' or 'spirit') that humans do a very poor job of either interpreting or explaining? Do you ever think your pet is like a family member, even though it is often said that few animals are self-aware? Maybe it's because science is trying to tell us how things (animals, plants, etc.) will respond with regard to the physical world and is 'guessing' at many of the reasons why. Maybe science can predict why something will do what it will do (stimuli, gravity, electro-magnetics) but not very good at thoroughly explaining why, therefore, attributes that are based loosely in science (if at all) are ascribed to those things in an effort to make sense of them. Maybe the answer is not all about science - or is about far more science than we actually have knowledge of, at this point in human elucidation. Maybe there is more to it than simply the answers that science can currently provide. I live my life on this razor's edge; Not Occam's razor: When faced with competing hypotheses, select the one that makes the fewest assumptions, but on the edge of what we know and don't yet know. I deal with what can be clearly explained and, with respect to that which cannot, I always keep an open mind. It is much better, in my opinion, than trying to promote a theory that is tacitly defined and could end up being completely wrong. _____________________________________ "Just the facts, ma'am." - Joe Friday (Dragnet)

Fascinating article (for those who can wrap their heads around it)! If you can't quite get there, consider this: Are you one of those people who think that animals (maybe your pet), plants or even particles (in a Physics sense) have characteristics, qualities or traits (maybe sentience - having a 'soul' or 'spirit') that humans do a very poor job of either interpreting or explaining? Do you ever think your pet is like a family member, even though it is often said that few animals are self-aware? Maybe it's because science is trying to tell us how things (animals, plants, etc.) will respond with regard to the physical world and is 'guessing' at many of the reasons why. Maybe science can predict why something will do what it will do (stimuli, gravity, electro-magnetics) but not very good at thoroughly explaining why, therefore, attributes that are based loosely in science (if at all) are ascribed to those things in an effort to make sense of them. Maybe the answer is not all about science - or is about far more science than we actually have knowledge of, at this point in human elucidation. Maybe there is more to it than simply the answers that science can currently provide. I live my life on this razor's edge; Not Occam's razor: When faced with competing hypotheses, select the one that makes the fewest assumptions, but on the edge of what we know and don't yet know. I deal with what can be clearly explained and, with respect to that which cannot, I always keep an open mind. It is much better, in my opinion, than trying to promote a theory that is tacitly defined and could end up being completely wrong. _____________________________________ "Just the facts, ma'am." - Joe Friday (Dragnet) - Common sense tells us that only living things have an inner life. Rabbits and tigers and mice have feelings, sensations and experiences; tables and rocks and molecules do not. Panpsychists deny this datum of common sense. According to panpsychism,...