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If we assume that everything has conciousness – plants, animals, even rocks, then can we say that technical hardware, like a calculator for example, has a higher level of conciousness than a rock?

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closed as off-topic by Nick Stauner, Krysta, Chuck Sherrington, what, Josh Gitlin Jun 21 '14 at 22:34


I don't think that kind of questions are expected here, it's rather for New Age science. – kenorb Jun 10 '14 at 17:09
@Flux, I don't know that we can really assume that "everything has consciousness", but you might be interested in some papers by Giulio Tononi and colleagues who present a framework for analyzing consciousness as a capacity to integrate information. The main problem with this approach is that it's impossible, in practical terms, to measure the bits of information that a system can integrate. – blz Jun 12 '14 at 23:58
@Flux, Here is a good paper to start with. – blz Jun 12 '14 at 23:58
This question appears to be off-topic because it is about philosophy and not cognitive science. – Josh Gitlin Jun 21 '14 at 22:34

There's a philosophical stance called panpsychism that addresses this question. Of course, there is no proof, but the fundamental question is really about humans. Is consciousness an intrinsic property of matter or does it emerge from complex matter structures?

It's probably something we'll never know, but Tononi's model of consciousness leans towards emergence.

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