animalconsciousness

Center for the Attainment of Non Human and Animal Consciousness
(CANHAC) Founded May 1, 2021

Mission Statement
Consider This
Overview
Effect of N.H.C. Simulation
Influential Artists/Theorists
Historical Links/Research Material
References

Mission Statement

The Center for the Attainment of Animal and other Non-Human Consciousness is committed to the preservation of our individual cognitive and genetic liberties, as long as they do not directly harm others.

Our main goal is ensuring the development and attainment of new levels of consciousness: Consciousness that is near identical to that of animals and other forms of life on Earth. We are committed to the idea that if we can view our world from the perspective of other animals and forms of life, it will result in unprecedented approaches of positive interaction, not only with each other, but all other forms of life on Earth.

In addition, recent insights into the consciousness of chimpanzees and other Great Apes have led us to be immersed in advocating animal rights legislation and habitat conservation.

Consider This

There are several constants that have been present since the dawn of modern man. Some of the most fundamental being:
1.) We have questioned our existence and look for meaning in our everyday life and surroundings
2.) We have continuously sought to alter our consciousness (i.e.: neurotoxic chemicals, meditation,etc.)
3.) We have modified our body through scarification, tattooing, feet binding, neck elongation, and less permanently: hair dying, fingernail painting, ear piercing, etc.
4.) We coexist on this Earth alongside various other life forms

Considering this, have you ever questioned your existence and looked for meaning in everyday life? Do you seek to alter your consciousness (in one way or another)? Do you not live amongst other animals, whether you live in a city or on a farm?

Now think of when you were a child, or even as an adult: have you ever considered what it might be like to fly like a bird? Swim in the ocean with dolphins? Or maybe hunt with a pack of lions?...

What about seeing through the eyes of a fellow primate, like a chimpanzee...

Or having the physical attributes of a cat, while still remaining predominantly human.

Well in today's day and age, you actually can see through the eyes of and think as a chimpanzee. You can also alter some of your genes in order to have whiskers, better night vision, and much quicker reflexes.

The Freedom of Thought Act, along with current technology, gives you the freedom of choice to temporarily or permanently alter your 21st-Century-homo-sapien-limited perception of the world. We no longer arbitrarily ponder or create philosophical theories about animal consciousness.

Today, we can temporarily transform a person's cognition through innovative brain simulations (not to be confused with virtual reality which does not directly hook up to the human brain and relies only on the human 5 senses, primarily sight). These new options can lead us to progressive human-nonhuman relations in the future. These simulations of non human consciousness help to break down the divide between humans and all other life on Earth. It can remind us that every species on Earth has evolved from the same primordial ancestor. We are all inadvertently linked!

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Overview

<> After years of trial and error, unnecessary pain and suffering, and repressive laws, humans are now able to willfully alter their ‘Consciousness’ without government hindrance. On March 12, 2019, the Freedom of Thought Act was passed by the U.S. government. It gives absolute freedom for consenting individuals to “alter their own cognitive processes by any means, so long as it does not directly harm others”. A similar act was first passed in Denmark in 2017. Today, an international majority of industrialized nations have followed the lead.

Progressive developments in technology and science are providing individuals with an increasing variety of options; allowing them to slightly modify or radically transform how they think and perceive the world, temporarily or permanently. Included in these options is attaining ‘consciousness’ related to almost any animal species in the Animal Kingdom, with most knowledge centered around mammals. This can be done artificially by using simulated reality, cognition transformation and various other technologies that do more than just stimulate the 5 senses. It lets anyone experience an animal’s consciousness by temporarily transforming their cognition and perception while simultaneously placing them in a simulated animal body and simulated animal society. Current technology also allows any consenting individual to undergo a much less common, yet much more radical, option: gene modification. This is usually considered after experiencing multiple animal simulations. In addition, this step is taken if an individual wants to attain an altered consciousness that is more permanent and organic. However, compared to the more temporary ‘animal simulation’, gene modification is bound by countless limitations on what is ethically and scientifically possible.

Researchers are currently working on similar technology that simulates the consciousness of other non animal forms of life (for example: plant life, microscopic organisms, etc.). In time, consciousness alteration possibilities will include all things living, even that of our earliest ancestors and all other extinct species that have preceded our existence on Earth. (Consider the "Tree of Life" and the vast variety of species. We have attained the consciousness of most animals, but considering all other life on Earth, we have just only begun.)

The ‘Freedom of Thought’ Act also requires some regulations and oversight. This is so that the people consenting to any alterations are adequately informed of any risks, dangers or long-term consequences that might arise. Also under these new laws: certain classes or groups of people can not be discriminatory denied access. This organization and its goals are not advocating ‘eugenics’ or any use of current technology that attempts to exterminate any human hereditary traits. We are committed to the continuation of biodiversity and are opposed to discrimination, racism, forced sterilization or anything else that perpetuates bio-uniformity. Our goals include the preservation of our individual cognitive/genetic liberties (as long as they do not directly harm others). We are committed to the development of new levels of consciousness that result in unprecedented approaches in how we view and interact with each other and all other life forms.

So far, some of the people that have undergone alteration have gone on to make significant contributions to society. These contributions include:
o   ground-breaking methods in scientific research without the use of non consenting animals
o   innovative schools of thought and philosophy
o   revolutionary economic systems
o   conflict resolutions
o   legislation promoting rights for humans and animals

Despite some negative consequences resulting from human error and ignorance, science and technology are continuously granting us valuable discoveries and significant knowledge. Being able to think and feel as other animals do is of great value to society (i.e.: empathy is more beneficial than sympathy). If we can attain Consciousness that goes beyond that of our own, we may someday achieve a truly harmonious existence within the universe.

The Effect of Non Human Consciousness Simulation

By altering our perception, we can attain a whole new view of reality. This is the main principle behind current technology's use of animal consciousness simulations. These simulations are only temporary, but the insights retained after a simulation can last a lifetime.

Example 1: These simulations transform perception according to a specific organism. This can possibly affect the internal and external beliefs of an individual long after a simulation. As a result, alternative perceptions, even if experienced temporarily, may affect an individual's actions and behaviors. Furthermore, these actions and behaviors may lead to further reinforcement of the alternative perception (the cognitive cycle: perception/action adapt-anticipate-assimilate)

Therefore, completely innovative way/s of viewing the world, absent from all contemporary mankind, can be developed and permanently maintained in an individual, as a result from a single n.h.c. simulation. In addition, this newly found worldview can be taught to others.

An additional option to the simulation is a device that stays connected to your brain and allows some aspects of non human cognition/consciousness to be maintained while living your daily life. However, it is much more limited in experience than actual simulation. Also, it can be removed at any time and carries less risks than gene modification.

Archival Paintings

These examples of artwork, done by the late Nicholas John Lemos, allegorically convey mankind's eternal struggle against all other animals. His paintings are also concerned with mankind's beliefs and feelings of deep separation from his non human relatives. There is an ethical/biological/psychological tug-of-war going on between evolution's need to dominate/proliferate and the possibility of achieving mutual, inter-species cooperation resulting in a state of equilibrium of life on Earth.

Influential Artists and Theorists

    Stelarc – human-machine interfaces incorporating robotics, prosthetics, and more.
http://www.stelarc.va.com.au/index.html

    Ray Kurzweil – Transhumanist author/ theorist
http://www.kurzweilai.net/index.html?flash=1

    Eduardo Kac – Transgenic Art
http://www.ekac.org/

    Orlan – uses plastic surgery
http://www.orlan.net/

    Patricia Piccinini
www.patriciapiccinini.net

    George Gessert - breeds irises as an art form
http://www.viewingspace.com/genetics_culture/pages_genetics_culture/gc_w02/gc_w02_gessert.htm

    Gail Wright –traditional art fused with science/biology
http://www.notochord.org/

    Carsten Höller – concentrates on the nature of human relationships
http://www.cmoa.org/international/the_exhibition/artist.asp?holler

    More Artists:
http://userwww.sfsu.edu/%7Einfoarts/links/wilson.artlinks2.html

    Susan Stryker, Fakir Musafar, the Chapman Brothers Elizia Volkmann, David Rosenboom, Stephen Jones, Warren Neidich, Ikuo Nakamura, Paras Kaul, Miya Masaoka, Mel Chin, Ed tannenbaum, Mark Tilden, Marta Menezes, Rachel Rosenthal

Historical Links (prior to the Freedom of Thought Act)

Animal-Human Hybrids & Current Technologies

    “Hope in sight for bionic eyes”             http://www.newscientist.com/channel/health/mg19426015.900-hope-in-sight-for-bionic-eyes.html

    “Animal-Human Hybrids Spark Controversy”
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/01/0125_050125_chimeras.html

    “Cal. Researchers make ‘Bionic Chip’”
http://online.sfsu.edu/%7Erone/GEessays/bionicchip.html

    Wikipedia.org: Stem Cells & related info
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stem_cell_research

    “Hybrid embryo work 'under threat'”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6230945.stm

    “New rules for stem cell research”
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/sex/stem-cells/mg19325903.100-new-rules-for-stem-cell-research.html

Animal Consciousness

    The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: all links to” animal consciousness”
http://plato.stanford.edu/search/searcher.py?page=1&query=animal%20consciousness

    "Animal Consciousness", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/consciousness-animal/

    Frans de Waal
http://blog.92y.org/index.php/weblog/item/dr_frans_de_waal/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frans_de_Waal#De_Waal.27s_Law

    The Great Ape Project
http://www.greatapeproject.org/

   pbs.org: Inside the Animal Mind
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/animalmind/consciousness.html

    “New evidence of animal consciousness”
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=14658059&dopt=Abstract

    An excerpt from: “ Animal Minds, Beyond Cognition to Consciousness”
   http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/308650.html

   “Why the question of Animal Consciousness might not matter very much”
http://www.philosophy.umd.edu/Faculty/pcarruthers/animal-consciousness-might-not-matter.pdf

Evolution and Brain physiology

   Facts/Overview of the Brain
http://web-us.com/brain/aboutthebrain.htm

    Understanding Evolution: list of links regarding how evolution impacts our lives
http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/search/topicbrowse2.php?topic_id=47

    NewScientist.com
        “Sense of justice discovered in the brain”
    http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn10239
        “Instant Expert: The Human Brain”
    http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn9969

   pbs.org (Contains multiple articles explaining and pertaining to evolution)
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/

Ethics and Philosophy

    Neuroscience
http://www.neuroethics.upenn.edu/

    Wikipedia.org Transhumanism/Posthumanism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transhumanism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posthuman_(Human_evolution)

    Center for Cognitive Liberty & Ethics (CCLE)
http://cognitiveliberty.org/

    Genetics and Society: “Bioethics Discourse”
http://www.genetics-and-society.org/analysis/bioethics.html

    The Genomics:GTL (GTL) research program
http://genomicsgtl.energy.gov/program/index.shtml#phases

    Russell Blackford Articles
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/blackford20070417/
    http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/blackford20070401/

    World Transhumanist Association’s stand on cognitive liberties
http://transhumanism.org/index.php/WTA/communities/druglawreformers/

    The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) – related articles
http://www.cepf.net/xp/cepf/
   http://www.cepf.net/xp/cepf/resources/publications/

References

Wilson, S. (2002). Information Arts: Intersections of Art, Science, and Technology. Professor, Conceptual/Information Arts, Art Department, San Francisco State University. MIT Press/Leonardo Books.

<>Pojman, L.P. (2002). Ethics: discovering right and wrong. –4^th ed. Belmont, C.A.:Wadsworth/Thomson Learning. <>

<>Anita Silvers: Professor and Department Chair, Department of Philosophy, San Francisco State University. http://www.sfsu.edu/~phlsphr/anita_silvers.html

<><>Penelope Smith. The Healing Power of Animal Communication. “New Living Expo”: April 27-28-29, 2007. Concourse Exhibition Center: San Francisco, C.A. http://www.newlivingexpo.com/2007/html_files/sun_6.php#6

All web links under Related Links on this web page. Retrieved between dates 9 April 2007 til 10 May 2007.


* taken from the Center for Cognitive Liberty & Ethics (CCLE)     http://cognitiveliberty.org/

"Keeping Freedom in Mind

The Center for Cognitive Liberty & Ethics (CCLE) is a network of scholars elaborating the law, policy and ethics of freedom of thought. Our mission is to develop social policies that will preserve and enhance freedom of thought into the 21st century.
Growing knowledge in the neurosciences, enhanced by exponential advances in pharmacology and other neurotechnologies (technologies that make it possible to monitor and manipulate the brain’s electrochemistry) are rapidly moving brain research and clinical applications beyond the scope of purely medical use. The definitions of "medicine" and "mental health" are expanding from treatment and prevention, to improvement and enhancement.

The CCLE is dedicated to protecting and advancing freedom of thought in the modern world of accelerating neurotechnologies. Our paramount concern is to foster the unlimited potential of the human mind and to protect freedom of thought.
The CCLE supports technological advances, and believes that the application and regulation of new drugs and neurotechnologies are best channeled by a renewed allegiance to the fundamental right to freedom of thought. Our guiding principles are privacy, autonomy and choice:
•   Privacy: What and how you think should be private unless you choose to share it. The use of technologies such as brain imaging and scanning must remain consensual and any information so revealed should remain confidential. The right to privacy must be found to encompass the inner domain of thought.

•   Autonomy: Self-determination over one’s own cognition is central to free will. Decisions concerning whether or how to change a person’s thought processes must remain the province of the individual as opposed to government or industry.

•   Choice: The capabilities of the human mind should not be limited. So long as people do not directly harm others, governments should not criminally prohibit cognitive enhancement or the experience of any mental state.

No Simple Solutions

The CCLE recognizes that these are extremely complex issues with no simple solutions. We see our contribution as helping to negotiate the intersection of law and science so that new neurotechnologies expand rather than reduce freedom of thought.

What We Do

Advocacy The CCLE supports social impact litigation that has the potential to broadly advance cognitive liberty. We have filed legal briefs on the topic of cognitive liberty in federal courts, including the United States Supreme Court.
Analysis The CCLE monitors developments in neurotechnology, cognitive sciences and the law, to identify and offer guidance concerning those developments with a potential to significantly impact freedom of thought. We produce reports and professional testimony on complex freedom of thought issues currently facing policy makers, industry, and the general public.
Education By raising awareness of emerging cognitive liberty issues, our outreach and education campaigns empower people to meaningfully participate in public discourse and the democratic process. We provide course content to universities and professional schools in order to accelerate scholarly discussion of cognitive liberty across a wide range of disciplines. "

*taken from   "Animal Consciousness", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy         http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/consciousness-animal/

"...To philosophers interested in animal welfare or animal rights the issue of animal sentience is of utmost importance. This is due to wide, but by no means universal, acceptance of the biconditional statement:

[A]: animals deserve moral consideration if and only if they are sentient (especially possessing the capacity to feel pain).
Some philosophers have defended the view that animals are not sentient and attempted to use one of [A]'s component conditionals for modus tollens. Indeed Carruthers (1989) even argued that given their lack of sentience, it would be immoral not to use animals for research and other experimentation if doing so would improve the lot of sentient creatures such as ourselves. He has more recently backed off this view (1998b), denying [A] by claiming that sentience is not the sole basis for moral consideration, and that animals qualify for consideration on the basis of frustration of their unconscious desires. Varner (1999) disagrees with Carruthers by arguing for conscious desires throughout mammals and birds, but like Carruthers he also rejects [A], arguing for an even more inclusive criterion of moral considerability in terms of the biological “interests” that all living things have.
Others are inclined to use the other component conditional of [A] for modus ponens, taking for granted that animals are conscious, and regarding any theory of consciousness which denies this as defective. In this connection it is also sometimes argued that if there is uncertainty about whether other animals really are conscious, the morally safe position is to give them the benefit of the doubt.
The fact remains that for most philosophers of mind, the topic of animal consciousness is of peripheral interest to their main project of understanding the ontology of consciousness. Because of their focus on ontological rather than epistemological issues, there is often quite a disconnect between philosophers and scientists on these issues. But there are encouraging signs that interdisciplinary work between philosophers and behavioral scientists is beginning to lay the groundwork for addressing some questions about animal consciousness in a philosophically sophisticated yet empirically tractable way."