Consciousness is an autopoietic system — a self-creating ... — Carmelics

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Consciousness is an autopoietic system — a self-creating and self-organizing system.

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Reasons For

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Reason for

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1.Each moment-to-moment sequence of experience grows coherently out of preceding experiences.
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2.Each sequence is constrained and enabled by the global structure of links and limits embodied in its underlying prior organization.
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3.Whether partly in response to outer influences or entirely from within, this coherent growth occurs.
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Reasons Against

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Reason against 1 of 2

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1.Autopoietic systems, as defined by Maturana and Varela, are operationally closed material systems that produce their own components.
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2.Consciousness lacks the material self-production of components that defines autopoiesis — it does not synthesize its own neural substrate.
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3.Applying 'autopoietic' to consciousness conflates the biological process with a mere metaphor, committing a category error Maturana himself warned against.
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Reason against 2 of 2

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