Philosophical Dialogues, What is Consciousness?, Hunter and Bain, Jake Jackson

Dialogues | What is Consciousness?

Hunter and Bain sit with their eyes half closed. The coffee in front of them is untouched, but the aroma teases at the early morning silence of a cafe in the 798 district of Beijing on old Earth. They have just returned from a distant asteroid and now wrestle with exhaustion. Bain fiddles abstractedly with his titanium arm, half watching the flow of life outside the cafe, his eye caught by the occasional reflection of light on a drifting metal skull.

The time does not matter, nor the year.

Bain, nodding at the crowd: Is that consciousness?

Hunter, his right hand agitating on the table, as though it had a life of its own: Does it matter?

Bain huffs: You don’t know what I’m talking about.

Hunter: I’m sure you’re about to enlighten me.

Bain: I don’t want to now.

Hunter, pushes his long hair from from his eyes and raises an eyebrow: Come now, what is it?

Bain: You’re just humouring me.

Hunter: I’m proving a point.

Bain: What?

Hunter: About this consciousness thing.

Bain: Oh, so you were listening then.

Hunter: Always. Just not always engaged. But consciousness is curious. And we’ve seen it in many forms across the universe.

Bain: Have we? Surely there’s only one type?

Hunter: So you do know what consciousness is?

Bain: Well, it’s a state of being, and thinking.

Hunter: Animals can think. Androids can think. Insects can think. Does that make them all conscious?

Bain: Hm. A rock does not think. But a living, moving thing does, so it has consciousness.

Hunter: So if it moves, then it thinks, and so it’s conscious?

Bain: Yes.

Hunter, pointing in the distance to a digital painting of a beautiful old forest: So are trees conscious? Or flowers?

Bain: Uh, maybe? Not sure they think exactly.

Hunter: But they grow, they move upwards, and outwards, very slowly.

Bain: Yes, but they don’t interact.

Hunter: So is that a component of consciousness? Interaction?

Bain: I suppose so. Trees don’t exactly talk to each other, unless they have spirits in them. Then they definitely do.

Hunter: Spirits, that’s another story altogether. What about insects though, they definitely interact.

Bain: Oh, yes, ants could conquer the world! They work together, move large objects, create buildings and caverns, protect their queen. Just like bees. And we’ve encountered bigger species who act in the same way, on other planets.

Hunter: But do they act on their own?

Bain:  No, no, they act together, so they have a sort of collective consciousness at least.

Hunter: Is that what you mean though?

Bain: Well it’s awareness of necessary action, the need to operate in a particular way to the benefit of all.

Hunter: Could you not say the same of robots?

Bain: Well, mostly, they’ve been programmed to function in a particular way. So their software routines define their actions.

Hunter: We’ve met androids who think for themselves, who go beyond their programming.

Bain: Yes, but their origins are synthetic, they still work within given parameters, they have pre-defined rules which stops them behaving recklessly, or randomly.

Hunter: So is that a necessary component? The ability to act randomly?

Bain: No, I don’t mean it like that. It’s a very human trait to behave illogically, or strangely, to be affected by emotions, or exhaustion.

Hunter: But are these innate qualities of consciousness?

Bain: Well, perhaps it’s about the a sense of unplanned-ness. The rocks, the trees, the ants even, the robots, they proceed according to a plan, a path laid out for them.

Hunter: A prime directive. You believe in a god now?

Bain: No, no! But the motivation in all things, as we’ve discussed many times before, at a species level is to move forward, to grow, to expand.

Hunter: Perhaps consciousness is just part of the bigger plan, it defines the actions at a macro level to ensure survival of life, in all its forms, any form in the universe.

Bain: Oh, but there is a difference between that, and the individual consciousness, one is about the everything, or a group, tribe, species, the other is about the identity of the individual element.

Hunter: Ah, identity.

Bain: Yes, perhaps that’s it. Consciousness is about self-identity. The ability, or liability to act in an individual way, that self-defines, could change, is not determined by others by its nature, may be affected by circumstances or the actions of the others, but has some element of choice.

Hunter: So a robot, whose software is designed to allow self-development, to grow beyond its programming, can be conscious?

Bain sits up, studying the mix of life, creature and android that passes by the cafe: Yes. We’ve passed the point where metal life is determined only by the creator, many of the androids here have consciousness because they have an identity, they exercise a degree of choice, at least no less so than any human with a particular upbringing, or set of physical characteristics.

Hunter: So what is consciousness?

Bain nods definitively: Self-identity.

Hunter and Bain lapse into silence and close their eyes once more. Between them a quiet communion of experience passes as they both remember the various species they’ve met across the universe. Bain taps the metal fingers on the fake wooden table, while Hunter gently pats the surface with his palm, and together they create a subtle rhythm, and smile at their collective motion.

Links