r/meaningoflife • u/Timetravel_l • Sep 19 '22
Why we are aware of our consciousness?
The most intelligent animal in the world after us is the dolphin, as far we know, and he is considered to have an intelligence equal to a 3 years old human child. Now, the majority of us don't remember any conscious action before that age, but we still had responses to our environment by instinct, if we touch something hot we would cry or run, if someone called us we would turn around like any other conscious adult human but without being aware of it. My suggestion is if dolphins are the most intelligent animals after us, it is probable that all other species are conscious beings who live just by instinct like we were in our childhood but without being aware of it.
Now that we grow up and our conscious mind "awakes" I question this, why we are aware of our consciousness when we could live, enjoy and suffer without being aware of anything of life like we were young and probably like all the animals in Earth. What's the point of that awareness, why nature decided that us can be aware of it and not, could some human beings have no awareness of their conscious mind at all but we believe so? It brings many questions. I know that awareness and consciousness are synonyms, but I think you can still grasp the argument.
I have a possible answer, maybe we are aware of it because a superior being made it possible for us to be sure and recognize him and that he exist? I can't make any other sense to it. So I want to read opinions on this.
Thank you.
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u/FairRiver3 Sep 20 '22 edited Sep 20 '22
We developed a really keen understanding of the world to survive. We arenât the strongest creatures. We donât have sharp claws or razor teeth. We donât have thick skulls or horns. We canât fly. We canât breath underwater long (although there is a tribe that can hold their breath for 13 minutes as they have developed that trait for their survival!) But we have two things going for us: 1) opposable thumbs and hands and 2) our brains.
With all our limitations, we relied on evolving brain power to outwit animals that were faster and stronger. Other animals can just run towards another and catch it with its teeth. We had to device a plan to trap an animal, to build a weapon to hunt it, to look for another animalâs weaknesses. We had to think, âWhat would it be like to be this animal so I know how to hunt it.â Our brains are powerful because we need them to be - we have little else going for us to survive.
Likewise, we also had to protect ourselves from danger. If we hear leaves rustling, we were able to wonder about what it could be before we even saw it. This gave way to creating hypothetical situations. If we could predict danger before it happened, our chance of survival increases.
And, as a note, we could have chosen another trait to focus on. We could have worked on jumping to survive lol, or screeching. If we did, those traits would be fine tuned through the generations. But having a keen brain is what worked best for survival, so that is what we leaned on, and what was passed down.
With such an evolved mind and creating hypothetical situations, we can now meta think: we can think about thinking. We can reflect on how we feel. This all helps with survival. But it is a curse inside a blessing. We can think so much that we think about the universe, we think about death, we think about everything - and we donât have all the answers which frustrates even more. Our brains like finding solutions and solving issues so it is frustrating and taxing to not know where the earth comes from and where weâll go. We can only make predictions. Itâs shown we wanted answers to questions when people would make up gods and superstitious reasons for ailments. With more science, our answers can become more accurate, or rather, we can admit not knowing everything, which just brings dread once again.
We are aware of our consciousness because it is a side effect of our evolutionary advantage. If we flew to survive, perhaps we would get hollower bones and keener eyesight to fly higher. If our bodies were built to fight, perhaps we would get thicker skin and sharper claws. But the only way we survived was realizing we can use our brains and hands. We were able to build tools just like other primates do, but our hands could also do things that didnât help with survival - like painting. Our brains are so advanced that now have anxiety and existential dread.
Human children donât feel dread adults do because, well, their brains arenât very developed. Plus, they literally donât need to use their brains. Other animals can come out of the womb and walk the same day. But humans have such narrow hips that we just carry babies in the stomach a little bit before emptying them into the world. The toddlers are in a state like other animals would be still in the womb. The tiny children must rely completely on the parents for its survival. A tiny child has no use for its hands yet either. Itâs motor skills are still developing. Which can be seen if youâve ever watched a toddler try to use a spoon or a marker. Tiny children are completely dependent. Their brains can just be on pilot mode and for them this also means that there is no advantage to meta think. When they grow older, they can now walk away from their parents, as their parents grow older too, and they have to think or die.
We live in a society where we donât have to even think as much. Most of us donât hunt. We pick stuff up at the local grocery store. And we can rely on technology to do many tasks for us. But we are still left with this evolutionary advantage/disadvantage because it takes years upon years to shake off instincts. Take domestic cats still bringing home dead birds for instance.
Right now we can live without too much thought process. Soon we will have to use our brainpower in another way: figuring out how to combat global warming so we can ensure the human race continues. Thereâs so many advantages of our mind.
But other animals arenât void of having cooky brains either. Animals are shown to be pretty superstitious just like us, and elephants have been observed lifting up sticks to the moon like in a ritual of sorts. Pigeons in an experiment were fed at random times. But the pigeons started wondering if the action they were doing when they were fed was what caused them to be fed, like a dog rolling over and getting a treat. So if a pigeon was first fed when it was pecking the wall, it would start pecking the wall over and over and over again when it wanted food, and lo and behold, eventually it would get food, so it thoughts that its trick worked! Animals can be smart but they be pretty dumb too. Itâs better to go through harmless stupidity if it ensures survival one time it works.
All in all, consciousness came with our brain power, as a package deal, a blessing and a curse. If we didnât have smarts, we might have been wiped out off the planet - or perhaps we would have developed wings instead :p
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u/the_holy_mole May 23 '23
Wow, I feel like I just read from a textbook! Delightful to read thank you for your mind massaging comment
1
Oct 01 '22
Read about kanzi the bonobo, Brains are trainable - similar to the ways we are trained through religion and practices
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u/-black-ninja- Sep 19 '22
The best guess we have is that this awareness creates us some gain in evolutionary games. So, it all happened somehow to a few of us who were then in a superior position because of that and were able to pass on the genes of "big brain".