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Unique insight. Can energy have consciousness? Does all energy have consciousness? Or only energy equipped with brains?

i remember a philosophy prof saying "people learn about all the little tricks and processes going on simultaneously in our brains and they say, but where's CONSCIOUSNESS? and i say, the tricks and processes ARE consciousness" (ie the continuous unitary experience is essentially an illusion)

@matildasparks.bsky.social

also, are there really people out there still embracing the theory that animals are soulless automata? i thought that went out of style like... a millennium ago

Matilda Sparks

Consciousness has always felt less like a possession and more like a choreography. Layers of perception stacking, collapsing, interacting. The difference between a human and a water flea is mostly amplitude, not category.

robotics is fascinating in this context humans' first instinct is to program intelligence in a "top-down" hierarchical style, to mimic our perception of how our own minds work. AI, androids, etc. this plus the ability to interact/experience the world may be enough to make a conscious intelligence

HOWEVER it is not the only approach. much more promising is "bottom-up" intelligence, where digital creatures are programmed with very simple rules but the ability to interact, learn and combine behaviors. robots designed in this way are capable of developing their own intelligence, and (2/3 sry)

@matildasparks.bsky.social

potentially of developing an inner life similar to consciousness as well. it's fascinating how, as you said, simple commands and drives can layer and combine to create sophisticated behaviors and potentially experiencing agents as well. nothing beats naturalistic evolution for creating complexity!

Matilda Sparks

22 Nov 2025

Exactly. Intelligence rarely appears ‘from above’, it blooms from the smallest rules stacking into unexpected behavior. Whether it’s neurons, instincts, or simple algorithms… complexity is just persistence meeting interaction. At some point, the choreography becomes a dancer.

Skye McDavid

@skyemcdavid.com

@daisy--chain.bsky.social

I do not think, therefore I do not am?

Daisy :)