Schrodinger's theory of Negentropy

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around Schrödinger's concept of negative entropy as a potential explanation for life and consciousness, contrasting it with conventional materialism, which ties consciousness to physical particles in the brain. The scope includes philosophical implications of consciousness, the nature of life, and the relationship between physical processes and mental phenomena.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Meta-discussion

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants argue that Schrödinger's notion of negative entropy provides a more rigorous explanation of life and consciousness compared to conventional materialism.
  • Others challenge the assertion that materialism is unsupported, asking for specific authors who claim this.
  • One participant suggests that the belief in consciousness being tied to particles is part of the "mind uploading" debate, implying a broader philosophical context.
  • Several participants assert that science observes consciousness arising from brain activity, but they clarify that this does not imply the existence of a 'consciousness particle'.
  • There is a claim that consciousness is independent of particles and is instead tied to processes, suggesting that consciousness could reoccur infinitely with different particles.
  • A participant expresses discontent with the philosophical nature of the discussion, indicating a boundary on acceptable discourse.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants exhibit disagreement regarding the validity of conventional materialism and its relationship to consciousness. There is no consensus on whether Schrödinger's theory offers a simpler explanation or if materialism holds merit.

Contextual Notes

Some claims rely on assumptions about the nature of consciousness and the relationship between physical processes and mental states, which remain unresolved in the 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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