Are Particles Conscious? Part One

In the macro world, apart from living things, you'd pretty much be of the opinion that non-living or previously living (now dead) things can't be aware or have consciousness or make free will decisions. They can't know about their environment and respond to it other than what Mother Nature dictates to them via the laws, principles and relationships of physics and chemistry. Things are not quite so obvious on the micro or quantum scale where particles rule the roost. The concept that non-living things like particles can have consciousness and know and decide is termed Panpsychism, explored in the following essay.

If causality is absolute there are no probabilities (in quantum mechanics or anything else) and particles (i.e. - the electron, the neutrino, etc.) having no consciousness and/or free will, can't make either/or choices.

However, don't forces require particles to have some sort of nebulous awareness, even self-awareness perhaps? 1) Electromagnetism: an electron has to be aware that it is in the near vicinity of another electron, even perhaps self-awareness that it is aware that it is in near proximity to another electron. The mutually repulsive force between them ensures that. 2) Gravity: two neutrons would have to be aware of their mutual gravitational attraction. That attraction might be incredibly tiny, but it’s not zero.

If there is no such thing as absolute causality, then particles will do their particle thing at random. Or, particles will do their particle thing based on some nebulous awareness (maybe even self-awareness) which may, or may not, be or appear to be, random.

Awareness would have to be restricted to particles, maybe up to and including atoms, even perhaps molecules, but anything more macro than that is just a label we give to that macro object, like rock or chair or star or ice cube. The particles that make up what we label a chair may each have awareness, but the chair doesn't since the chair can easily be reshaped into something else like a footstool or a pile of kindling.

But, at the living level, there's stuff which cannot be rearranged and awareness does appear above the particle, atomic and/or molecular levels. A unicellular organism or body cell, the most fundamental and basic of living structures, exhibits awareness and responds to external, even internal stimuli - think of white blood cells and their awareness of invading bacteria, or red blood cells and their awareness hence regulation of oxygen and carbon dioxide levels. But awareness probably stops at the cellular level. It would be incorrect to say that the circulatory system was aware or that the heart was aware - Ancient Egyptians got that heart part wrong.

The only apparent exception to that would be to say that the brain - animal or human - is an aware structure. But is it the brain or the brain cells that are aware? The brain cells might just each contribute their relatively unique bit of awareness into what the inner you (the inner you being the sum total of your brain cells and maybe related nerve cells) calls your awareness or self-awareness or consciousness or essence; whatever. You're never going to find your awareness (memories, experiences, knowledge, perceptions, likes/dislikes, etc.) via an autopsy on your brain if your awareness, etc. is shared among all of your brain cells.

The question(s) arises, how do brain cells communicate with each other in order to produce a unified whole (not that that always happens of course especially as one grows older and otherwise free from injury or disease)?

On the botanical side, plants don't have a brain or a nervous system, yet plants clearly show to a greater or lesser extent environmental awareness. Some plants (i.e. - sunflowers) follow the path of the Sun from east to west; some flowering plants have their flowers emerge in the dawning only to retreat and draw themselves in at dusk. Are tree roots aware they need to go with gravity downwards and tree trunks/branches aware that they must grow against gravity, or is the awareness at the cellular level? It's the individual cells that are the fundamental unit; units that divide/reproduce thus providing growth. Does the flower decide to emerge at dawn or are the individual cells collectively responding and deciding to emerge? If the latter, how does this collective communicate one to the other since they have to respond in tandem?