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Full Idea
Consciousness exists to the extent that consciousness is useful.
Gist of Idea
Consciousness exists to the extent that consciousness is useful
Source
Friedrich Nietzsche (Writings from Late Notebooks [1887], 02[95])
Book Ref
Nietzsche,Friedrich: 'Writings from the Late Notebooks', ed/tr. Bittner,Rüdiger [CUP 2003], p.78
A Reaction
This strikes me as being a great truth, first because it emphasises the necessity of giving an evolutionary (survival) explanation of consciousness, and also because it invites us to consider the 'extent' to which we are conscious of brain activity.
| 17212 | To understand is the absolute virtue of the mind [Spinoza] |
| 20115 | All of our normal mental life could be conducted without consciousness [Nietzsche] |
| 20117 | Only the need for communication has led to consciousness developing [Nietzsche] |
| 7155 | Consciousness exists to the extent that consciousness is useful [Nietzsche] |
| 7143 | Consciousness is a 'tool' - just as the stomach is a tool [Nietzsche] |
| 5809 | Some activities are performed better without consciousness of them [Dretske] |
| 3470 | Conscious creatures seem able to discriminate better [Searle] |
| 4271 | There is consciousness whenever behaviour must be explained in terms of mental activity [Scruton] |
| 2412 | Can we explain behaviour without consciousness? [Chalmers] |
| 4941 | Consciousness can create new axioms, but computers can't do that [Edelman/Tononi] |
| 9780 | Consciousness is a malfunction of evolution [Zizek] |
| 4741 | A very powerful computer might have its operations restricted by the addition of consciousness [Clark,T] |