306 Self and the Phenomenon of Life
b2726 Self and the Phenomenon of Life: A Biologist Examines Life from Molecules to Humanity “9x6”cosmos is a strange place. Take the decade-old discovery that only
four percent of the mass-energy of the universe is the sort of material
out of which stars, planets, trees, you, and me are fashioned. One
quarter is cold dark matter while the rest is something bizarre called
dark energy. Cosmologists have no idea what exactly this is nor what
laws it obeys. It is exceedingly strange staff and cannot be seen. Is
there some ephemeral connection between this spooky stuff and con-
sciousness, as suggested by the novelist Philip Pullman in his trilogy
“His Dark Materials”? Very likely not; but who is to say for certain.
Our knowledge is only a fire lighting up the vast darkness around us,
flickering in the wind. So let us be humble and be open to alternative,
rational explanations.”^2113.3 Do Other Beings Have Minds?
In taking up this topic, I shall limit myself to the simplest aspect of
mind — consciousness. And in dealing with consciousness, I shall limit
to its simplest function, that of awareness of the environment. For the
sake of argument, I shall use the word “being” in this section to include
not only living things but also the information-handling machines made
of inanimate materials — computers and robots.
There are two extreme views on this subject: the solipsist’s view
that posits that nothing but myself has a mind; the panpsychist’s view
that believes that everything in the world has mind, including the inan-
imate matter. My own view is that the assignment of mind is a matter
of probability, from the certainty of my own (probability of 1.00) down
the evolutionary ladder to a probability approaching zero (though I can-
not tell you where the zero point lies). I agree with Darwin’s view that
whether animals have minds is a matter of degree and not of kind.
That I have a mind is, to me, a given, but whether other people
also have minds is a different story. I never doubt it, but I cannot be
one hundred percent sure. I learned very early in life that other human
beings, who look like me, talk like me, walk like me, and react with the
same facial expressions to things that I like or dislike, also have minds.