<p>There's a philosophical stance called panpsychism that addresses this question.  Of course, there is no proof, but the fundamental question is really about humans.  Is consciousness an intrinsic property of matter or does it emerge from complex matter structures?</p>

<p>It's probably something we'll never know, but Tononi's model of consciousness leans towards emergence.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-06-18T12:21:48.240Z
2014-06-18T12:21:48.240Z
Keegan Keplinger
<p>If we assume that everything has conciousness – plants, animals, even rocks, then can we say that technical hardware, like a calculator for example, has a higher level of conciousness than a rock?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-06-10T17:09:57.910Z
I don't think that kind of questions are expected here, it's rather for [New Age](http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/69382/new-age) science.
kenorb
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-06-12T23:58:15.280Z
@Flux, I don't know that we can really assume that "everything has consciousness", but you might be interested in some papers by Giulio Tononi and colleagues who present a framework for analyzing consciousness as a capacity to integrate information.  The main problem with this approach is that it's impossible, in practical terms, to measure the bits of information that a system can integrate.
Louis Thibault
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-06-12T23:58:42.870Z
@Flux, [Here](http://wiki.dxarts.washington.edu/groups/general/wiki/6746a/attachments/2b0a6/Tononi-Edelman%20Science-1998-.pdf) is a good paper to start with.
Louis Thibault
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-06-21T22:34:48.327Z
This question appears to be off-topic because it is about philosophy and not cognitive science.
Josh
<cognitive-psychology><cognitive-neuroscience><consciousness>
Assuming everything has conciousness, can technical hardware have higher level of conciousness than a rock?
Flux
# Assuming everything has conciousness, can technical hardware have higher level of conciousness than a rock?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-06-09)

If we assume that everything has conciousness – plants, animals, even rocks, then can we say that technical hardware, like a calculator for example, has a higher level of conciousness than a rock?

**Tags:** cognitive-psychology, cognitive-neuroscience, consciousness

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I don't think that kind of questions are expected here, it's rather for [New Age](http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/69382/new-age) science.  
> **username_2**: @username_0, I don't know that we can really assume that "everything has consciousness", but you might be interested in some papers by Giulio Tononi and colleagues who present a framework for analyzing consciousness as a capacity to integrate information.  The main problem with this approach is that it's impossible, in practical terms, to measure the bits of information that a system can integrate.  
> **username_2**: @username_0, [Here](http://wiki.dxarts.washington.edu/groups/general/wiki/6746a/attachments/2b0a6/Tononi-Edelman%20Science-1998-.pdf) is a good paper to start with.  
> **username_3**: This question appears to be off-topic because it is about philosophy and not cognitive science.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2014-06-18. Score: 4

There's a philosophical stance called panpsychism that addresses this question. Of course, there is no proof, but the fundamental question is really about humans. Is consciousness an intrinsic property of matter or does it emerge from complex matter structures?

It's probably something we'll never know, but Tononi's model of consciousness leans towards emergence.


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