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Article 1494 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: silber@orfeo.Eng.Sun.COM (Eric Silber)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: ruptures, phase changes, and emergent awareness
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Date: 19 Nov 91 00:04:01 GMT
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 While it may not be possible to give a consistent and complete
 explanation of the "emergence of awareness", the metaphor of
 "phase-change", cristallization, etc. gives a qualitative inkling
 of how discontinuous reorganizational events occurring in 
 purely physical systems may give rise to the phase of matter called
 "consciousness".   Again, with all due naivete-disclaimers and with
 all due to regard to the deeper analysis performed by serious researchers,
 one does not think that it is at all paradoxical or confounding that 
 some trillions of communicating "particles" might undergo such a
 "phase-change".  Having undergone the change from figurative ice to
 figurative water, we cannot imagine that as a figurative crowd of
 figurative water molecules, our humid consciousness has emerged from
 rigid ice !!!!


