«Every consciousness is just a window through which the
universe looks at itself.»
Alan Watts
We will first study the emergence of consciousness during evolution, then in humans, from the embryo to adulthood.
Next we will look at the analytical capacities of plants, which are quite bluffing for living beings deprived of a nervous system as elaborate as ours.
2.1 Animals
We distinguish three types of consciousness: the perception of the surrounding environment, of the awareness of one's
existence and finally that of death.
We have shown above that from the first organisms an internal and external system of analysis is put in place.
Thus consciousness in its simplest form would have appeared from the beginning of evolution.
Perceptive consciousness
Even a rudimentary perception of the environment is based on the detection of a specific signal and its transmission. It is an intrinsic property of life.
The perceptive awareness is already present in bacteria, which, thanks to a recognition and counting system, can align their individual behaviour.
The first animals can adjust their cellular movements to better explore and conquer the surrounding environment.
Then the analytical organs develop, such as the nerve nodes of the hydra or the primitive brain of the worms.
Analytical systems continue to become more complex over the 21
evolution to culminate in the vertebrates and humans.
To the perceptive consciousness is added that of the existence of oneself and then that of death.
Self-awareness
The awareness of one’s existence and that of others is an important step in the emergence of consciousness in evolution.
If no one doubts this ability in humans, this is not always the case for other animals.
Some give it to other vertebrates, others only to mammals.
What can be said about invertebrates.
Neurobiologists highlight the major role of the human brain in self-consciousness, but can it manifest in less advanced animals.
The mirror test, the empathy expression, the information sharing and the behavioural mimicry are all ways to analyze it.
Mirror test
Psychologist G.Gallup has developed the mirror test. It helps to determine if an animal recognizes its own image in its
reflection in a mirror. Many vertebrates pass this test:
- Mammals: dolphins, orcas, elephants, orangutans,
bonobos, chimpanzees, dogs, pigs,
- Birds: parrot and magpie,
- And even fish: wrasse and ray.
Animal empathy
The empathetic behaviour is a good example of the distinction between yourself and others, for whom different emotions can be felt.
The empathy is often expressed through the consolation of a peer, reconciliation between two individuals, sharing fear or 22
Examples of animal empathy are numerous in mammals, they have been observed in monkeys, dolphins, elephants, dogs, cats and voles.
Information sharing
The sharing of information with others can only occur if the issuer knows that it is distinct from them.
Ants like bees have developed an elaborate communication system, by depositing pheromones for the first and dancing in flight for the second.
In this way, an individual can signal to other members of the group a new source of food or a suitable location for the establishment of a new nest.
Mimicry
The octopus has a developed a central brain and has as much neurons as a dog.
After observing his congeners, he is able to copy or deceive them.
Again, we think that this reflects in this animal a certain distinction between others and oneself.
Death consciousness
The awareness of death represents the final stage of the emergence of consciousness.
In the face of death some animals have behaviours close to ours, confirming their awareness of death.
Here are some examples:
- Feeding followed by patting the beak of a dead
magpie by congeners.
- A dolphin mother carrying the remains of a young
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dolphin with her head held above the water.
- The panic in elephants in front of the lifeless body of one of their own, which they tried to straighten out, to feed and finally covered with branches.
- In a Cameroonian park, during the burial of a female
chimpanzee, the other chimpanzees discovering the
scene shut up and prostrated.
- Dogs and cats which, after their master passed away,
stay on the place where he died, watch over his grave or even starve to death.
Summary
The emergence of animal consciousness consists of three
stages: the perception of the outer world, the realization of one’s own existence and finally the consciousness of death.
The first appears from the first organisms, the second with the appearance of the central brain and the third with the
mammalian cortex or the caudolateral nidopallium of birds.
Thus, even the most primitive animal has some primitive
consciousness, which develops in parallel with the
complexification of the perception and the nervous systems.
2.2 Humans
We will describe the emergence of consciousness during
evolution and its development in children and adolescents.
Evolution
The awareness of the environment, one's own existence and death exists in mammals including primates and humans.
Here we analyse the impact of our ancestors' way of life on their expression.
Homo habilis (-2,5 to -1,6 million years) manufactured tools and communicated by gestures and sounds, improving the
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communication and organization of the group.
Homo erectus (-1,7 million to -200.000 years) had an
articulated language and domesticated fire, initiating the sedentarization and the socialization of man.
Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens (-300.000 to -
40.000 years) buried the deceased in individual graves.
Homo neanderthalensis wore clothes, surrounded himself with decorative objects and performed funeral rites.
Homo sapiens laid his dead in the position of sleep, surrounded by various objects and watched them around a fire.
Homo sapiens added an artistic dimension to its social life, making wall paintings, sculpting objects and adorning
themselves with jewels.
Childhood and adolescence
Let us now study the appearance of the different levels of consciousness in man, knowing that the foetus already feels certain sensations and hears certain sounds.
Perceptive consciousness
The construction of sensory organs in the foetus is established in a common order to all vertebrates: touch, olfaction, taste, hearing and vision.
At 9 weeks, the foetus perceives the caresses of the maternal belly, at 3 months, swallowing movements appear and at 7
months, it reacts to certain sounds and light variations.
At birth, the infant is sensitive to touch, taste, speech and light and at 3 weeks, he follows moving objects with his eyes.
Self consciousness
It is by being exposed to other people that the child will gradually become aware of his own existence.
At 6 months, the child can only interact with an object or a 25
person but at 9 months he is able of joint attention to both.
At about 1 year old, the child is interested in the behaviour of others and from 4 years age, he is able to see himself in the place of others.
Death consciousness
Until the age of 5 children do not understand the concept of death, they see it as a temporary state, similar to sleep.
It is around the age of 9 that they understand its real meaning, realizing then that all living beings are mortal, themselves included.
Cognitive development
At the age of 2, children have some knowledge of their mother tongue and at 6 they start to read and write.
Around 7 years, they perform logico-mathematical operations but only on concrete objects.
Adolescence marks the acquisition of hypothetico-deductive thinking, the logic of propositions and the development of argumentation.
In adolescents, the peer relationships play a major social and emotional role, linked to their conception of group and society.
Neural consciousness marker
The brain reacts in two stages to the detection of an external event, such as when an object is presented to someone.
- During the first 300 milliseconds, the response is
unconscious and accompanied by intense neuronal
activity.
- Then comes the conscious response with a specific
electrical signal, considered as the marker of
consciousness.
In the 5-month-old baby this marker is also detected, but it 26
manifests later, after one second.
As the child grows, the time between brain reactions decreases to 300 milliseconds as for adults.
Summary
A symbolic dimension is added to consciousness in the course of evolution, expressed by language, funerary rites and art.
The perceptive consciousness appears before birth, that of own existence at 4 years and that of death around 9 years.
The cognitive development begins in early childhood and
extends to at least adolescence.
Adolescents develop skills based on abstract reasoning, with social relationships playing a key role in their conception of the group and society.
2.3 Plants
As mentioned above, the perception of the outer world is the simplest form of consciousness.
This awareness is present in bacteria, let alone in plants with much more efficient sensory systems.
We will confine ourselves to a few examples to illustrate the existence of an elaborate and multiform plant consciousness.
Distinction of others
Plants have altruistic behaviours and show empathy to others.
Sea-rocket
In contrast to unrelated plants in competition, the see-rocket related young shoots share the available space and nutrients.
Dragon tree
Through the use of a polygraph, C.Backster observed a
modification of a dragon tree when he thought approaching it with a match.
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He obtained a similar result by plunging a shrimp into a pot of boiling water, placed next to the plant.
Time consciousness
Plants are aware of the time flow and synchronize their activity according to a varied length, ranging from one day to several decades.
Mimosa
The leaves of the mimosa open and close according to the course of day and this even in the absence of light.
Bamboo
Between 40 and 80 years, regardless of location and climate, all plants from the same bamboo strain bloom at the same time just before dying.
Death consciousness
In primary forests, old trees transmit their nutrients to nearby trees before dying.
Unconsciousness
Under the effect of anesthetics plants can sink into
unconsciousness as animals do.
Mimosa
The ether inhibits the ability of the sensitive to close its leaves following a tactile stimulus, the light increasing its effect even up to provoking its death.
Dionea
This carnivorous plant sees the closing of its traps slowed or inhibited by anesthetics, probably by the loss of the sense of touch.
Water cress
The cress germination is temporarily inhibited by ether.
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Plants synthesize calming molecules, such as rice ethylene, clove eugenol and ginger gingerol.
They are also the source of molecules used in anaesthesia, such as morphine and curare.
Summary
In addition to the perception of the surrounding environment, plants perceive the presence of others, the time flow and the approach of death.
They show empathetic reactions, reflecting a consciousness of others, whether they are peers or not or even animals.
Plants can sink into unconsciousness and synthesize analgesics.
2.4 Conclusion
The consciousness is initiated with the perception of the surrounding environment, then of the one's existence and finally of the death.
The simplest organisms already have a consciousness, even if at this evolution stage it is still rudimentary.
The perception of the surrounding environment is present in all animals, of the self-consciousness appears with the central brain and of the death in mammals with the cortex.
In humans, the perceptive consciousness appears before birth, that of life at 4 years and that of death before the 9th year.
Besides the perception of the environment, plants perceive the existence of others, the passage of time and the approach of death.
They can sink into unconsciousness and synthesize analgesics.
Thus, the consciousness is as old as the appearance of life and concerns to varying degrees all living beings.
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