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tom sarbeck posted an update in the group
Consciousness 7 years, 9 months ago Does consciousness have a use? (a USE, not a purpose.)
An analogy: a hammer has a use, to drive nails. Without nails, would hammers exist? I think not, so I would start with Does consciousness has a use?
Does self-amusement count?
Go out on a limb, pb, and answer it y’self.
I will. When needed, we always have time to think and wind up a position or two, mate. 🙂
As I currently think of consciousness as an “emergent” character, I’m not sure how precisely to answer that, other than to say that ALL brain processes result from evolutionary tuning. How those processes together are “used” is most probably understood insofar as to how they enhance individual survivabilty, and species survivability, including (e.g.) sexual selection and getting that sperm to the egg!
(Hah! I accidentally incorporated some self-amusment there into my theory!)
Any use that results in a being’s wanting to put the consciousness to that same use again would have evolutionary value.
Does self-amusement count? Does it have a number system: 1, 2, 3, …, n?
Humor in general seems to be useful in a social environment. Maybe self-amusement stems from that and is useful just like an in-mind rehearsal before taking it public.
Specifically, when it comes to laughter, it seems to be a way to communicate that one is thinking of or experiencing something that is expected to be “very interesting, if not fun” to others in one’s group. And it can have a large in-group vs out-group component to it, e.g. to positively gel the in-group, and negatively lump the out-group into a lower level of status in everyone’s mind.
By the way, I thought my comment about self-amusement was humorous, and I expected some people to get it. 🙂