• Question: What is consciousness?

    Asked by Dale to Vicky, Scott, Jim, Gaia, Adrian on 11 Mar 2016.
    • Photo: Scott Lawrie

      Scott Lawrie answered on 11 Mar 2016:

      Wow – asking the big questions! Consciousness is the ability to know. You know when you’re awake; you know if something hurts; you know what an apple is; you even know that you are currently thinking about knowing!

      Take the apple example: both you and a camera can ‘see’ an apple. But does a camera KNOW what it’s looking at? Can it imagine what it tastes like; what it feels like; where that apple came from; what is inside the apple? Those kind of things are what make us conscious and a camera not.

    • Photo: Gaia Andreoletti

      Gaia Andreoletti answered on 12 Mar 2016:

      Consciousness is something that Jiminy Cricket in the adventure of Pinocchio represents very well. 🙂

    • Photo: Adrian Buzatu

      Adrian Buzatu answered on 14 Mar 2016:

      That does not have a clear answer yet. But in short, is when you are aware you exist. Humans think they are the only animal that has consciousness. We also believe that plants and inorganic matter do not have consciousness. But is there a clear experiment to test it?

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