Definition of Consciousness

One common dictionary definition of consciousness is "the ability to be aware of and to be able to perceive the relationship between oneself and one's environment". The most basic definition, however, is simply "awareness". Another definition suitable for more complex organizations of matter such as animals with a brain includes a description which contains some of the following ideas: "thoughts, sensations, perceptions, moods, emotions, dreams, and awareness of self". Just like life itself, consciousness is one of those things that is easy to recognize but very difficult to define. It has been debated by philosophers in the West since the time of ancient Greek civilization over twenty five hundred years ago.

Eastern traditions have been wrestling with the concept of consciousness for Milena and seem to have a much better handle on it although still not nearly complete. In the West, explanations of consciousness have been mostly ignored or left to our religious traditions. This is certainly true since the time of Descartes and the philosophy of Cartesian duality. It has only been in very recent times that a serious effort to understand mind or consciousness has been undertaken by the scientific community. Much of the effort now underway is based on the assumption of epiphenomenalism, that consciousness, or mind if you prefer, is a byproduct of the functioning of underlying physical structures of the brain and that mind is confined entirely within the brain’s processes. However, there is a considerable amount of accumulating experimental and anecdotal evidence suggesting that this interpretation is not correct (Chalmers 1996; Penrose 1994).

At a basic level consciousness seems to be associated with a sense of separation and awareness of the surrounding environment from the conscious entity. It also seems to be associated with the ability to process, store and / or act on information gathered from that external environment. But is consciousness restricted to a functioning brain? Are microscopic organisms such as viruses, amoeba, and algae conscious in some primitive sense? Clearly they do not have brains let alone a nervous system or even neurons. And yet they demonstrate purposeful behavior and are aware of their environment. Amoeba, for example, search for food by moving on pseudo pods toward prey that they eventually surround, engulf and digest. Several types of algae are so versatile that they change the process how they obtain food based on available sunlight. When light is plentiful, they gravitate towards it, which they sense through a photoreceptor at one end of the cell. If the light is too bright, they will swim away toward more suitable lighting conditions.

At a more primitive level viruses are considered by many scientists as non-living because they do not meet all the criteria commonly used in the definition of life. They do, however exhibit some aspects of consciousness or at least some rudimentary form of an awareness of their surroundings. Unlike most organisms, viruses are not made of complete cells. They reproduce by invading and taking over the machinery of their target host cell. When a virus comes into contact with a potential host, it inserts itself into the genetic material of the host’s cell. The infected cell is then instructed to produce more viral protein and genetic material instead of performing its normal functions. Is that purposeful behavior or intentionality by the invading virus?

It would seem that based on our first definition, even simple living entities are conscious to some degree, since they display a level of awareness and intentionality to, in some way, manipulate their environment. And, it’s not just restricted to living entities. We find certain properties all the way down to the subatomic level, particles in some sense aware of their environment. How is this possible? At the molecular, atomic and subatomic levels it is through the quantum phenomenon of entanglement and non-locality that particles act and react to other particles with which they have become entangled.