Comment on “We know we are more than just neurons firing. Or, at least we think we are, while the neurons are firing.”

alborz Mon, Apr 30, 2007
I think a problem that arises in discussions like this is that the words we use to express them work on certain presuppositions. To say the solar system has a "mind"...feels preposterous because "mind" (or self-consciousness/awarenes, etc.) immediately conjures up our own experience of reality through our own neural activity.

However, to say that the elements that make up the solar system interact with each other in a highly complex manner as does the elements in our brain....that kinda makes perfect sense and feels irrefutable rather than preposterous. (Also, the elements in our brain are part of the elements of the solar system.)

So I think basically, no the solar system does not have a mind. Because "mind" refers to the interactions within the human (or animal) brain.