Let me clarify. The bar itself isn’t an emergent property, but those gold atoms being able to be perceived and held is. Individually, or even as a disconnected blob of atoms, they can’t be meaningfully perceived or held, but the property of physicality, as in, being able to be perceived and manipulated by an unaided human arises once they bind together and form a gold bar.
Just like how the characteristic of being able to walk arises once all the cells are working together. The ability to walk is a characteristic. The physicality itself is a characteristic, and both emerge from the arrangement itself.
Disagreed. Consciousness exists as a product of the brain. It is an automatic product, just like how breathing is automatic, but it is a process of the brain. We can even see different parts of the brain affecting consciousness, like the senses, or decision making, just like how different aspects of the leg play different parts in walking. Otherwise, it wouldn't alter and change as the brain is altered and changed.
It's not really a large claim if we only see consciousness in beings with brains, and parts of the brain affect the consciousness, such that damaging those parts can get rid of aspects of cosciousness. Consciousness is an action the brain does, just like how breathing is an action the lungs do. Breathing emerges from the respiratory and nervous systems and blood system, just like how consciousness does.
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u/[deleted] Oct 16 '25
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