Threaded Index     Date Index     BC


Re: Jainism and the Umwelt of Mimosa pudica

Posted by Pharmakon on 2026-November-9 04:25:57, Monday
In reply to Jainism and the Umwelt of Mimosa pudica posted by diogenes on 2026-November-8 02:55:34, Sunday



The book (not immediately obvious from this video link) is Pollan's A World Appears: A Journey Into Consciousness (2026).

I think I have previously quoted this line from Japanese Zen practioner Katsuki Sekida:

The blind pushing on of existence, which wanted to recognize itself without being aware of this desire, proved successful when it created human consciousness and thereby obtained its own eye with which to examine itself.


The notion of consciousness as an emergent property of matter implies that there are no firm boundaries where sentience begins or where it transforms into consciousness.

Australian philosopher of science Peter Godfrey-Smith writes usefully on this topic. The book of his I read is Metazoa: Animal Life and the Birth of the Mind (2020), though his previous book, Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness (2016) is better known.

Your comment about the Jains is on point, though this insight is perhaps not limited to them.

Pollan's remarks about time scale are intriguing. A reminder of Heinlein's Martians in Stranger in a Strange Land, and a suggestion that the line between the plants he talks about and the bike left in the rain with which he contrasts them may also ultimately be blurry.

Thanks for this interesting link.

hugzu ;-p


Pharmakon
  • (https site) Peter Godfrey-Smith (Wikipedia)
    [@nonymouse] [Guardster] [Proxify] [Anonimisierungsdienst]



    • Follow ups:



    Post a response:

    Nickname:
    		Password:
    Email (optional):
    Subject:

    Message:


    Link URL (optional):
    Link Title (optional):

    Add your sigpic?