Discovery Methods for Living Systems
What new methods would help explore consciousness of other beings?
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It seems to me that we humans are limited in our current tools, i.e. scientific method, to see the bigger picture and how various parts of the Earth are alive. In spirituality, a river, a mountain would be seen as alive, while if we look at scientific method, a river is not seen as alive.
I wonder, what new methods humans need to invent to explore consciousness of other beings, who are now by the scientific method are recognised as non-living systems?
Can we imagine a unification of a science and spirituality one day? And how would that look like?
"A book about mathematics, physics and spirituality. Spiritual instincts have evolved to connect us with the creative aspects of biological evolution which are crucial to long term survival."
// 哪些新方法可以帮助探索其他生物的意识？
数学作为对所有可能结构的研究，可以提供帮助。
//“一条河流不被视为活着”
意识不是二元的——它是一个连续体——所以，即使是一条河流也可以被看作是有意识的，甚至原子和分子等等——整个世界都是一个物理场，它是相互联系的，错综复杂的特定。我喜欢 Paul Budnik 在他的 视频诗 中的描述：
“我假设，某种形式的意识是物理结构的本质。当然，只有具有感觉、记忆和交流能力的物理实体才能描述他们的意识体验，但其他有生命的甚至无生命的物质可能仍然具有某种形式直接体验，尽管比我们体验的要简单得多：
死于老年痴呆症的人的意识衰退何时完全结束？
人类胚胎或胎儿的意识是什么时候开始的？
最简单的假设是它永远不会开始或结束，而只会随着大脑和神经系统的结构发生变化而发生变化。”
因此，他得出结论：
“如果意识是物理结构的本质，那么研究所有可能结构的数学可能是洞察我们所面临的问题以及我们如何应对它的来源[...]”（见本书在链接中）
// What new methods would help explore consciousness of other beings?
Mathematics, as the study of all possible structures, can help.
// "a river is not seen as alive"
The consciousness is not a binary -- it's a continuum -- so, even a river can be seen as having consciousness, even the atoms and molecules, and so on -- the entire world is a physical field, that is connected, intricate and particular. I like how Paul Budnik describes it in his video poem:
"I assume, that consciousness in some form is the essence of physical structure. Of course, only physical entities that have the capacities of sensation, memory and communication can describe their conscious experience, but other animate or even inanimate matter may still have some form of immediate experience, albeit much simpler than what we experience:
when does the fading consciousness of someone dying of alzheimer's end completely?
when does the consciousness begin in the developing human embry or fetus?
The simplest assumption is that it never begins or ends, but is only transformed as the structure of the brain and nervous system is transformed."
And so, he concludes, that:
"If consciousness is the essence of physical structure, then mathematics, which is the study of all possible structures, may be a source of insight into what we are facing and how we might deal with it [...]" (see the book in the link)