This has also been published at medium.com, July 2, 2025
I come at these deep questions about human consciousness and origins from a biological bottom-up, evolutionary perspective.
One that, I believe, receives way too little attention. Especially in light of the past couple decades of amazing biological breakthroughs in understanding further layers of detail within our body/brain’s folds within folds of harmonic, cumulative, complexity.
From my Earth Centrist perspective Chalmers’ words personify human hubris and a curious tendency to expect Nature to prove itself to us.
I want to give voice to those gaps by taking representative quotes from David Chalmers and reflecting on what seems missing. Then I invite critique and discussion.
From: The Conscious Mind: In Search of a Fundamental Theory ― David J. Chalmers
Chalmers: “There is nothing we know about more directly than consciousness, but it is far from clear how to reconcile it with everything else we know.
Why does (consciousness) exist?
From within a biological bottom-up, evolutionary perspective, levels of consciousness exist because creatures had to differentiate between inside and outside; Creatures needed to develop ways to find and absorb good things; then to lock out bad things; and also to excrete bad things; while keeping good things within.
Learning how to recognize and maintain dynamic balance has been a life or death challenge since the beginnings of life itself.
Some form of internal awareness~consciousness has been a prerequisite for survival since the dawn of complex single cells — even more, as complex organisms evolved.
