Who can say for sure that living beings without brains are not conscious? Jamie Shreeve says, "Wherever consciousness resides in our minds, it is almost certainly not on the cellular level, but rather in the vastly complex interactions that take place in the unique architecture of the human brain" (25 June, p 39). I find this a very dangerous assumption, especially when people use it, as Michael S. Gazzaniga does, to determine up to which moment to do research on embryos (11 June, p 48).
I can imagine insects, bacteria and even single cells having a consciousness and feeling pain, hunger and pleasure. Since we know close to nothing about consciousness, how can we be so sure about this? Why should the human brain be so special?
Buddhist monks, for instance, spend a lot of time meditating to clear their minds of all thoughts and attain a state of "pure ...
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