From Perception to Consciousness: An Epistemic Vision of Evolutionary Processes

Abstract

The concept of plasticity provides a unifying hypothesis to account for the natural properties of living systems as well as the different levels of perception and information associated with these systems. Are the metadynamics of evolutionary processes able to describe the nature of consciousness as a whole? The close study of the link between the coherence of emerging objects and the way we think they appear allows us to use the metaphor of a discontinuous bridge linking primitive perceptions to consciousness just as brain plasticity is linked to art.

Electrome & Cognition Modes in Plants: A Transdisciplinary Approach to the Eco-Sensitiveness of the World

“…cognitive entities, but not as 'neuronal plants' or structures containing phytoneurones, as previously described concerning their bioelectrical transmission [11]. Indeed, this causes semantic disorders or confusions which do not seem to me to bring crucial elements (we know that plants do not have a brain or neurons), or then we must speak of protoneural dynamics and place ourselves on the level of convergences or divergences of species during evolution [94], where the notions of plant sensitiveness and biological cognition support the comparison with the animal kingdom and indicate differentiated modes of cognition (Table 3).…”

“…This third term would support the otherness specific to the plant world (described, among other philosophical assertions as 'plant thinking' by Marder (2013) [93], in the sense that it derives from a subjectivity in animals or humans and from a subjectivity on the scale of plants, since there is internalization of the form that defines it. Now, it is precisely the definition of the concept of Plasticity (Debono, 1996(Debono, , 2007 [22,23] which first links form and matter before showing that this active binding (here perceptual and linked to evolutive processes: Debono 2004) [94] becomes We find an expression of it in the proprioceptive capacities of plants which clearly stand out from their phenotypic or epigenetic plasticity, in the sense that they call upon sensors of balance, gravity and positioning (verticality), but especially to a perception of their shape and of the deformation of their body, or even those of their congeners -like the canopy whose constrained plasticity optimizes the performance whatever the species (cooperative behavior which does not exclude competitiveness, moreover) - (Sack et al 2006) [96]. These behaviors are widely described at the level of tree tops in the forest and of the deformation of trees subjected to intense stress such as strong wind (taking into account their sharing of light or their positioning and the presence of juveniles), which indicates an internalization or spatiotemporal elements of a decentralized representation, a perception of their presence in the world, even if it is not integrated in the cerebral sense of the term, and a capacity for association leading not only to reactions but to actions, and even feedback.…”

Dynamic protoneural networks in plants

“…The main observation is that such sensitivity and complexity in "simpler organisms" can only open new research fields about the nature of perception, access to experience, and downstream, that of cognitive and conscious processes. 48…”

Perceptive Levels in Plants: A Transdisciplinary Challenge in Living Organism’s Plasticity

“…So, the first question that arises, related to complexity and evolution is how and why organisms lacking high integrative functions or specialized structures like brain cortex or central nuclei have developed such complex behavior? (Debono, 2004).…”

“…As we stated in this paper considering the entire perceptive scale, the growth in complexity is not a single exponential [26]. We need to consider that each integrated living systems presents: 1/ a potential degree of reactivity, of communication and of informational level, and 2/ is aware of or as to be considered within its own limits.…”