Consciousness=>Cognition

If I Only Had A Brain

It’s fast-becoming a new fad even though the seedling of this idea goes back to early civilizations: panpsychism.

Panpsychism is defined as the existence of consciousness in all living things. It kicks the notion of beings directed purely by instinct to the curb. And by “beings,” we are not restricting that notion to the animal world, creatures with a skull and grey matter beneath it. In the world of panpsychism, plants, bacterium, and even cells have a level of consciousness, aware of their surroundings.

A researcher named Michael Levin working at Tufts University conducted experiments with flatworms. Flatworms have incredible regenerative abilities, and he wanted to see how that applies to their consciousness. These worms have a strong aversion to light, a tool Levin used to his advantage. He lit up the center of petri dishes and, as expected, the flatworms hung around the darker edges. Then, he put flatworm food in the center of the brightest area of the petri dish. After some time, the allure of the food had the flatworms overcoming their reluctance and venturing forth into the light.

Not a big deal. Hunger is a powerful motivator. This same pattern of food in the bright spot was repeated for a short time. Learned behavior, right?

Wrong… because Levin then cut off their heads where their teeny-tiny brains reside! And no, it didn’t kill them. In fact, a couple of weeks later, they had all grown new heads. But here’s where it gets even more interesting. These head-regenerated flatworms no longer had an aversion to light! With or without food at the brightest area of the petri dish, these flatworms ventured forth without hesitation. Their consciousness was not seated in their brains. Consciousness is something else entirely.

Findings like this suggest that modern science may have made a big mistake in assuming that cognition is all about the brain. Brain cells, known as neurons, are actually not that special. A key feature of these cells — the ability to send and receive electrical signals — is shared with other cells in your body. And it’s this sensing and communicating via electricity that, Levin suspects, makes basic cognition possible.

And what about plants? No brains, as far as we can tell. So, explain the findings of Monica Gagliano, an ecologist, using Mimosa pudica, a plant known for defensively folding in its leaves in response to physical stimuli. Gagliano dropped these plants from a height onto a foam base and as expected, the leaves curled up at the shock. But after being dropped several times, the plants learned that the drops were pretty harmless, so they kept their leaves open during future drops — even a month later.

Cognition and behavioral modification are manifestations of consciousness; that’s a given. Without consciousness, using only pre-programmed DNA sequencing, a subject would repeat a response without alteration. But that doesn’t happen—not in headless flatworms, in flora, or even slime mold. In short, the limitation to states of consciousness is invented in our own heads as we state with unequivocal bravura, that only beings with a developed brain know what’s going on around them.

As Mr. Levin states, “there’s no getting away from the fact that cognition exists widely and long before brains and nerves appear.”

So, the next time you think you’re sure about something, don’t be so sure.

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