Self-Organizing Universe (Part 2)

That the brain produces consciousness appears, simplistically, as an elegant solution to the problem of the origin of consciousness. Given its enormous complexity and the apparent association of brain topography and activation with discrete mind states and functions, this is virtually self-evident to most of our scientific and popular culture. However, the simplicity of that solution starts to dissolve when one considers the brain from an evolutionary point of view. It is not as though brains suddenly popped into existence prepared to produce mind, after all.

Evolutionary biologists approach the question meaningfully by looking for simpler structures from which brains evolved, recognizing that in lower order living beings there are neuronal structures that, while not as complex as our brains, perform less complex but similar versions of the functions of consciousness. Some of these are central nervous systems, but some of them are disseminated through the body rather than being concentrated in a 'central' location. For example, the worm-like Saccoglossus kowalevskii has aggregated functional clusters of cells as in the vertebrate nervous system, but well defined anatomic structures as in vertebrates is absent. In the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis, the entire endoderm and ectoderm has neurogenic potential, but the nervous system per se they have a more diffuse, 'nerve net' comprised of cells identifiable as neurons or, at least, having similar functioning as nerves. Thus, a gradual development toward central nervous systems - perhaps over parallel, but independent evolutionary paths – derives from pre-existing, more dispersed nervous system elements.

These evolutionary paths can be traced backwards not only into less densely aggregated and less complexly organized nervous systems, but the components of neurons themselves predate the evolution of neurons and thus functional aspects of nervous system-like activity predate the rise of neurons. As in all evolutionary development, the pieces often precede the structures that eventually arise with new functions, not by creating new structures, but by reorganizing existent structures in novel fashion. Thus, the specialized cellular structures that we commonly deem essential to neuronal signaling, the ionic channels that conduct electrical signals along the neuron and the synaptic structures that convey signals between cells, are found as independent entities in simpler life forms. In particular, the ionic channels in cell membranes (e.g. calcium, sodium, potassium channels) are found in virtually all cells. Thus, some of the simplest elements of nervous systems that support or even create the complex elements of consciousness are present throughout the evolutionary tree, no matter how simple the organisms are, down to the single cell level. Could these simpler structures, not yet evolved into complex nervous systems, give rise to simpler forms of consciousness? It is precisely this question that yielded the equation 'mind = life'.

"We see far less than we think we see." Prof. Neil Theise. The brain as an organ of consciousness and what happens when the tuning changes. What can stem cells tell us about the nature of consciousness? Neil Theise, Professor of Pathology and Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai describes how his research into stem cell behavior has led him to consider consciousness as fundamental to the universe.

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