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Originally Posted by David Well for example I have heard Nicholas Humphrey argue that animals are not conscious (I think he has retracted that idea since) and operate rather like we do when we drive to work - in other words we perform a complex task without even thinking about it. Separating consciousness from routine activities like that seems a rather slippery argument. Sure your mind may be primarily focussed on something else, but it keeps track of the road situation as well. Probably the real difference is that it does not store details of the routine traffic situation for later recall. |
Keeping track of something is not necessarily a conscious activity. Clearly the driving situation pops in and out of your consciousness while you're doing one of those "auto-drives," but while it's out of your consciousness, it's nonconscious.
What would be slippery would be to count as consciousness thing which do not involve phenomenal experience.
~~ Paul