To answer the question to pose as a precision in your comment, if there are structures that could be analogous to intelligence, without being literal biological? - The simple answer to that is ‘yes’.
What we call ‘consciousness’ is not a ‘neutral’ lens—and there is no issue with imagining and understanding that there could be types of ‘consciousness’ that are shaped by very different processes than our own.
Personally I want to be part of a conscious universe, where there is communication going in all directions, and there is a shared goal and purpose. Though, since the structures might be so different, even reaching the step where they are able to differentiate themselves, and even communicate anywhere close to effectively, won’t be easy. Considering how hard it is to understand ourselves, aka the signals from cells, bacteria and viruses, it might not be much easier for, say, the Earth to communicate with us.
Ideas/theories that are similar: Panpsychism, but an idea/theory that might also fit would be Analytical Idealism. A theory that explores this in a much more general way, looking at it from the perspective of values and paradigms, would be Spiral Dynamics.
I also don’t see anything wrong with going in this direction, as an exploration. Complexity theory and emergence duly point out that there is much more to our reality, even to biology, than meets the eye.
To answer the question to pose as a precision in your comment, if there are structures that could be analogous to intelligence, without being literal biological? - The simple answer to that is ‘yes’.
What we call ‘consciousness’ is not a ‘neutral’ lens—and there is no issue with imagining and understanding that there could be types of ‘consciousness’ that are shaped by very different processes than our own.
Personally I want to be part of a conscious universe, where there is communication going in all directions, and there is a shared goal and purpose. Though, since the structures might be so different, even reaching the step where they are able to differentiate themselves, and even communicate anywhere close to effectively, won’t be easy. Considering how hard it is to understand ourselves, aka the signals from cells, bacteria and viruses, it might not be much easier for, say, the Earth to communicate with us.
Ideas/theories that are similar:
Panpsychism, but an idea/theory that might also fit would be Analytical Idealism.
A theory that explores this in a much more general way, looking at it from the perspective of values and paradigms, would be Spiral Dynamics.
I also don’t see anything wrong with going in this direction, as an exploration. Complexity theory and emergence duly point out that there is much more to our reality, even to biology, than meets the eye.