Mark,

It is fine deducing theories of consciousness, and it is fine speculating on some mystical 'stuff' that causes that (e.g., Spinoza's 'substance', Liebniz's 'monads', etc). The problem I see with saying that it is dark matter is that it takes one legitimate mystery (missing mass in the universe) and tries to tie it into another mystery (consciousness) without any legitimate reason. Dark matter is an issue of something having 'mass' that hasn't been identified. Why must it not only have mass, but all sorts of other properties that we would like to endow it with? I find that approach very unlikely to be successful since it doesn't focus on the known dynamics of dark matter, but concentrates on what we don't know and can't know (yet). This approach, in my view, is built from our ignorance rather than our ability to understand.

I don't discourage speculation, but I find the pursuit of truth serious business and I'm interested in finding real answers. I don't think adding to the mystery of dark matter (and building expectations that will in the end only severly disappoint) is in that direction. But, I can be wrong. That's why I asked if there is something about what we know of dark matter that may give more reason to suspect it to be fundamental to conscious reasoning.

Warm regards, Harv

• Hot & cold dark matter - yanniru - October 18, 2001 - 20:16 UTC
  • The magical part - harvey1 - October 18, 2001 - 20:31 UTC
    • Quantum computer magic - yanniru - October 19, 2001 - 14:54 UTC
      • Bose-Einstein condensate - harvey1 - October 19, 2001 - 15:08 UTC
        • What? Bose condensate is known for long time. - alexander - October 19, 2001 - 18:28 UTC
          • I'm talking about the discovery that got them the nobel prize - harvey1 - October 19, 2001 - 18:36 UTC
          • Agreed. It has to be more complex - yanniru - October 20, 2001 - 20:33 UTC
  • Richard, to store information,these particles have to be ordered - alexander - October 18, 2001 - 20:34 UTC
    • BEC storage is forever - yanniru - October 19, 2001 - 14:44 UTC
      • You're insinuating that intergalactic matter... - smartguy - October 19, 2001 - 18:11 UTC
        • Dark matter is very poor candidate in consciouseness. - alexander - October 19, 2001 - 19:00 UTC
          • Great idea Alex, just one minor detail to overcome... - smartguy - October 19, 2001 - 19:17 UTC
            • Mark,this was the same joke others post (about consciouseness). - alexander - October 19, 2001 - 19:39 UTC
              • I was just happy to see you use the word "God" - smartguy - October 19, 2001 - 20:04 UTC
            • The universe expands - harvey1 - October 19, 2001 - 20:30 UTC
              • Harv, an eternalist would say... - smartguy - October 20, 2001 - 01:04 UTC
            • Philosophy talk and science talk - harvey1 - October 20, 2001 - 13:43 UTC
          • Got you on this one, Alexander - yanniru - October 20, 2001 - 20:16 UTC
        • Mark, you are right and it's called god(NT) - yanniru - October 20, 2001 - 20:17 UTC