Schrodinger's theory of Negentropy

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Erwin Schrödinger's theory of negentropy posits that negative entropy is the defining characteristic of life, offering a more coherent explanation of consciousness than conventional materialism. This traditional view asserts that consciousness is linked to particles in the brain, a claim that lacks empirical support. Schrödinger's perspective emphasizes processes over matter, suggesting that mental processes, which are endothermic, correlate with low entropy conditions. This approach aligns consciousness with information processing rather than mere physical constituents.

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  • Understanding of Schrödinger's theory of negentropy
  • Familiarity with concepts of entropy and thermodynamics
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Philosophers, cognitive scientists, and anyone interested in the intersection of consciousness, thermodynamics, and information theory will benefit from this discussion.

mustang19
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Erwin Schrödinger argued that negative entropy is the distinctive characteristic of life. Does this provide a simpler explanation of life and consciousness than conventional materialism?

Conventional materialism holds that consciousness is tied to particles in the brain. This requires the assumption that there are particles constituting your body (A) and your consciousness (B), and A and B are the same. This theory, though widely accepted, is actually unsupported. It is also unlikely because A and B are small random subsets of the universe.

Schrödinger's approach is more rigorous. If life is due to a process rather than simply matter, then we should be able to tie this process to other characteristics of life such as information processing. This is the case because mental processes are strongly endothermic (eg, ATP production) and the greatest information processing takes place when T is low in the entropy equation, dQ/T.

Right?
 
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mustang19 said:
Conventional materialism holds that consciousness is tied to particles in the brain. This requires the assumption that there are particles constituting your body (A) and your consciousness (B), and A and B are the same. This theory, though widely accepted, is actually unsupported.
What authors assert this?
 
Science certainly observes that consciousness arises from the activity of the brain. The way you phrase it, though, erroneously implies science asserts something like a 'consciousness particle'.
 
Science certainly observes that consciousness arises from the activity of the brain. The way you phrase it, though, erroneously implies science asserts something like a 'consciousness particle'.

Science doesn't assert that, no, only people who believe that the mind is the particles in the brain.

What I'm saying is that consciousness has nothing to do with the particles, only processes. Because every process reoccurs infinitely with different particles, this means your consciousness reoccurs infinitely.
 
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Sorry, we do not allow philosophy.
 
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