Are fruits and vegetables conscious?

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The discussion centers on the nature of consciousness and the possibility of its re-emergence after death. It questions how consciousness can be defined and whether it is merely an illusion created by complex brain chemistry. The conversation highlights the uncertainty surrounding the continuity of consciousness and the implications of potentially being reborn as non-human entities, such as vegetables or fruits. It emphasizes that definitive answers about consciousness and its persistence or transformation after death remain elusive, suggesting that inquiries into the consciousness of other entities, like coconuts, veer into philosophical territory that is not typically addressed in the forum.
etotheipi
If, after you die, your consciousness disappears from existence, then how can we be certain that we're not just going to re-spawn as vegetables, or grapes, or something? Like, if your consciousness didn't exist for 13.8 billion years, but then suddenly popped into existence, what's to stop it from happening again, except this time you're born as a coconut? At what point does an inter-connected system of organic molecules, then cells, etc. become defined as being "conscious"? Is consciousness just a compelling illusion, due to complex not-well-understood chemical mechanisms in the brain, or is it more complicated and mysterious than that?
 
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etotheipi said:
how can we be certain
We can't be certain about any of these ideas.
 
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gmax137 said:
We can't be certain about any of these ideas.
Exactly, and a discussion about "are coconuts conscious?" would fall under philosophy, and we don't do that anymore.
 
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