In a hrmf report published in a recent
issue of OMNI, biologist I ynn Margulis
makes a strong rase for the existance of
consciousness in single-celled organisms
a longtim e observor of bacteria. Margulis
describes what she sees as "A
microscopic theatre w ith thousands of
beings all interacting, dying, killin g ,
feeding, excreting and sexually provoking
each o th e r-- all a c tiv itie s most people
think of as specifically human' Her
conclusion'? "The idea that only people are
concious makes me laugh'
Having no wish to be burned at some
academic stake, Margulis makes plain that
the consciousness she speaks of is less
than that experienced by. harumph, humans
Others are less certain
The idea that consciousness might
extend to organisms smaller than human
children ,s no shock to m icrobiologists and
biochemists who commonly observe the
simplest organisms behaving in ways that
point to. not just knee-jerk self
awareness, but also to keen se n sitivity to
changes in the biochemical soup in which
they live out their less than human
comedies
If plants scream electromagnetically
when torn from the ground, if trees
release chemical distress singals to their
fellow s when attacked by disease, and if
dolphins are at least as intelligent as half
the humans in the local pub, how irrational
is it to wonder if the sperm follow ing the
chemical scent of an unfertilized egg
might not be in love'?
The line between sentient and
nonsentient life Is erased entirely at the
interface of quantum re a lity (that which
is) and deep re a lity (all that might be but
isn't)
The universe we observe is froth on the
unmanifest sea of probabilities that
underlies every object and event In order
for there to be anything, all possible
somethings but one must disappear The
One further step can be taken One of
the fundamental principles of the universe
as we know it is summed up in the term
isotropy An isotropic universe appears
the same regardless of one s position in it
if you were stargazing from a small planet
in the Crab Nebula, what you would see
would be, w ith small s ta tis tic a l
fluctuation, just what you would see from
here The same laws of physics would also
apply, meaning that, had Von Neumann
thought about the collapse of probabilities
there, he would have come to the same
conclusion
So we come fin a lly to the notion of
point consciousness If individual quanta
arise, at each coordinate of space/time,
from consciousness, and if the universe is
isotropic, then it arises everywhere from
conciousness And if the universe arises
everywhere from consciousness, it must
be, at all points, conscious
None of which makes Rush Limbaugh any
easier to explain
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OCA WATCH
The OCA sponsored a fundraiser in late
August at the airport Holiday Inn, where
Senator John McCain from Arizona was met
at the airport by more than 30 protestors
Security and police o ffic e rs escorted
McCain out a side door and into an
unmarked police car They then drove him
to the hotel were he was met by 30 more
protestors
T o r a Republican like McCain to help an
organization that is the most divisive In
the state and the most divisive in the
Republican Party is a real slap in the face'
said protestor Lee Colman, a member of
Log Cabin, a group of gay Republicans
While McCain spoke more than 80
protestors were holding a candle-light
v ig il outside his office in Tucson
OCA Chairman Lon Mabon said he hoped to
raise more than $3000 from the event and
announced that the money would go toward
strengthening the group s legal expertise
so It can "take on the ACLU whenever they
attack our values" Mabon said McCain had
told him during Monday's v is it that Senator
Phil Gramm, R-Texas, had sent "his best
wishes to the OCA and would be coming to
Oregon at a future time to address the
group
Currently the OCA Is moving ahead w ith
its City and County in itia tiv e s (nine of
which recently were passed) even though
they are not enforceable due to the
passage of HB 3500
The OCA is also continuing their recall
e ffo rts against anyone who dares to
oppose them Currently they seek to
recall
basically everyone Some
examples include the entire c ity council of
Medford. Albany s mayor, 14 House
members, and the Governor A word of
warning the "Coalition" seeking to recall
Governor Roberts is calling Its e lf "The
Oregon voters Club , but this "Coalition"
includes the OCA
Finally, The OCA has submitted a new
ballot t it le for their statewide in itia tiv e
Once approved, they w ill have u n til June
1994 to gather 89,000 signatures needed
to place it on the November ballot
one that remains is the real world The
M A N /A M T A A V T S t I Is I Ml IX *>l M A N A A M IA ( M M KJN «71 M>
BY A M A llN T M E X r
M M .T u tM A U M
question naturally arises, what causes the
collapse of probabilities into reality'?
What is it that triggers the creation of
(503) 436 2832
something from nothing*?
Von Neumann s Proof, which has
Ctinwn &e.uh
withstood logical assault for sixty years,
shows that whatever it is that collapses
what might be into what is, it isn't part of
L/Vl
IG a M a U5A
quantum re a lity Which is to say, it is not
part of the universe of objects and events
239 N HEMLOCK • P O BOX 906
CANNON BE ACH. OR 97110
Von Neumann, who wrote the book
commonly referred to as the quantum
Bible, concluded from this that it is
I f vpu unWt to mofc* on opjXe pt« U uly
conciousness that draws the potential of
from «crotch, ijou muat furwt invent the
the universe into form Without
u n ive rw .
Vari Socpon
conciousness. there is no difference,
without difference, there are no
observables, without observables, there is
no empencal re a lity
It is no great leap from Von Neumann's
Proof to the suspicion that space/time
its e lf is a pattern, or m etric, overlaid onto
the pregnant nothing of deep re a lity The
universe we observe thus becomes the
herbalist / molly stromholt / owner
fingerprint of conciousness. the result of
deciding there should be light
On* dumdvontwpc of hovmq rwtfunq to dv
Given this, one needn't be s ittin g in a is you can 't stop an d m t .
hot tub at Esalen to wonder if the orderly
} ra n k iin P. )om »
" H i didn't ioy al dente, did 6« 7”
la ttic e of a crystal is less conscious of a
sunrise than we are Or if a black hole
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Neumann s Proof is true, and no cne has
shown It is not, then conciousness is the
common ingredient of all that is
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