Does consciousness have an 'Ultimate Unit' like matter and energy do?

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   LewSethicsposted 12 years ago

   We have your 'Quanta' of energy and your 'Quarks' of matter, is there a 'Q' word for the ultimate unit of consciousness?  Does it permeate the Universe, or is it confined to 'complex' living things?  Or do only 'people' have 'consciousness'?

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      couturepopcafeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Yes.  The word is Quietude.  In ultimate consciousness, the theory is that there is nothingness; awareness resolves into dormancy and pure consciousness is.

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         LewSethicsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         nice

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      kessposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Conciousness is of such that it must posess full understanding of itself...thus it is I.
      
      Conciousness is of such that it must understand fully that it is or exist...thus it is Am.
      
      Conciousness is again must fully understand that it can only be one, and to not be one means it doesnot exist neither knows exactly who or what it is.
      
      So 'I Am' is  the single and only unit of conciousness and it embodies everything that pertains to itself.

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   knolyourselfposted 12 years ago

   I call it essentia, interdimensional to all things.

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   psycheskinnerposted 12 years ago

   We have units of measurement for stuff (matter) and action (energy) about which there can be objective agreement of observers.
   
   Consciousness is the experience of being awake.  It does not have a unit of objective measurement anymore than happiness or itchiness. Also it is subjective and can only be observed by the being experiencing.
   
   So... no.

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      couturepopcafeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Excellent clinical definition of consciousness with regard to the attributes of thought and cognition.  I disagree with it as applied to consciousness with regard to the substratum of nothingness.  This is akin to deep sleep where we are not aware of forms of cognition but instead reach a point of alert mental suspension where only subtle impressions remain.

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   knolyourselfposted 12 years ago

   Possibly units of knowledge.

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   psycheskinnerposted 12 years ago

   To have a unit of measurement something does need to be clinically defined.  And I used the medical definition as the most widely agreed one.  In more detail it requires a sentient subject able to integrate experience at the level of the cortex (or equivalent structure for other species)--that is at the level of conscious/not conscious.
   
   I didn't really follow what else you were trying to say.  I am sure consciousness has many degrees and types of state.  We are conscious more or less or many different domains of experience.  But what is does not have is a unit of measurement that is objective such as the units we use for force and spatial dimension.

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      couturepopcafeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Yes.

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   knolyourselfposted 12 years ago

   What you think is of consequence determines how aware you are. You don't notice what is not of consequence.

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   paradigmsearchposted 12 years ago

   I put the odds at 50:50 that we are an electrical feedback loop affected by chemicals.

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   paradigmsearchposted 12 years ago

   And just like with a burning candle, no oxygen means cessation of existence.

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   paradigmsearchposted 12 years ago

   Could consciousness be a form of combustion?

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      psycheskinnerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Only if you are talking about something other than what most people are when using the word consciousness, or you mean metaphorically.

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         paradigmsearchposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Actually, I mean it literally. As in odds are 50:50 we cease to exist upon death.

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            psycheskinnerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            If you mean it literally, then not combustion.  Combustion is a fuel and an oxidant creating heat.
            
            The odds that we exist after death are not calculable.

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               paradigmsearchposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               Oxygen is the oxidant. Oxygen goes in; carbon dioxide comes out. That is combustion. All we have to do is figure out what the fuel is.

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                  psycheskinnerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  Um, no.  We know exactly what life processes in our bodies use oxygen, and combustion is not one of them.

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            Eranofuposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            We still exist after death. Though not as humans, of course. The matter changes its form.

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               psycheskinnerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               So, who exactly came back from the dead to let you know about this first hand?

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