DNA consciousness

DNA Consciousness is the proposal that the DNA molecule possesses a degree of consciousness, is responsible for the emergence of neuron-based consciousness, and provides a continuum genetically and epigenetically after the nervous system is established. In addition, DNA consciousness is proposed to provide degrees of consciousness to all nucleic life-forms from humans down to the level of the cell. This definition has undergone several revisions since it was originally proposed in 2004 as new scientific and genetic information has become available especially in the field of neurogenetics and neuroembryology.
The History of the Theory of DNA Consciousness
Since the inception of this theory in 2004 there have been some variations, modifications, and expansions. In this section an explanation of the original version of this theory is made and then the later adaptations are explained.
The origin of the theory of DNA consciousness
The theory of DNA consciousness originally began as a statement that the DNA molecule is a special form of molecular consciousness. John K. Grandy (1972-present) had first proposed this theory in 2004 after reading and being influenced by Ernst Haeckel’s chapter on Consciousness in the book The Riddle of the Universe. In that chapter Haeckel had enumerated the different views of consciousness of his time. It was Haeckel’s explanation of atomistic consciousness (which Haeckel did not support later in his career) that made Grandy consider that other degrees of consciousness may in fact exist. These other degrees of consciousness would not be obvious because the human brain maybe unaware and unable to perceive them. Grandy had then proposed that perhaps this is why the problem of consciousness has been unsolvable because humankind has typically addressed consciousness as a single thing stemming from the human brain and has been unable to percieve other degrees of consciousness. He would later propose that perhaps consciousness was several things that evolved from the quantum realm up through the level of atoms and molecules, and then on to cells, which eventually gave rise to neurons. Neurons would give rise to simple nervous systems and ultimately the human brain after millions of years of brain evolution. Consequently, it was proposed that consciousness evolved and existed as exponential degrees of consciousness throughout time. Grandy would define an interaction-based model of consciousness to account for this (see Redefining consciousness).
Having viewed the evolution of neuron-based consciousness (also known as neurological consciousness) in this dynamic perspective, Grandy then concluded that not only is the DNA molecule responsible for giving rise to neurological consciousness it must have a degree of consciousness of its own in order to orchestrate this phenomenon. This is possible because it is the content of the DNA molecule that is responsible for the coding of RNA and proteins that are involved in the construction of the neurons and all other cells in all organisms. A centralized nervous system and cephalization is possible because the Hox gene and Pax gene families are known to give rise to body segmentation, survey the development of sensory organs, and brain development,(see Neurogenetics: the scientific support of DNA consciousness).
The fact that genes are responsible for physical attributes that can be measured (e.g. eye color and height) has been well established since the time of Gregor Mendel. In modern times the physical variations in traits (e.g. fingerprints, retinas, and voice recognition) can be used to identify individuals. This is because each individual DNA molecule is directly responsible for the physical variation of measureable traits. This is the cornerstone of the field of Biometrics. The problem presented with consciousness is that it is difficult to completely measure objectively. However, genes have been identified that cause alterations in consciousness, as well as cognition. This branch of research is a subspecialty in the field of consciousness studies called the neurogenetics of consciousness.
The evolution of the phrase DNA consciousness
The phrase DNA consciousness was first published simultaneously in two separate entries in the Encyclopedia of Anthropology. In the entry entitled Consciousness, it was proposed to have been the force or will responsible for driving the evolution of all matter. At that time John K. Grandy had pointed out that there was a lack of experimental evidence and perhaps even more theoretical architecture was necessary as well. In the entry entitled DNA molecule
*The ability to respond to those signals- making DNA mechanistic (i.e. subject to cause and effect).
*The ability to produce products that have an effect on other cells or other DNA molecules (e.g. intracellular signal transduction molecules and transcription factors).
*The ability to reliably store genetic information of physical traits. In this work, John K. Grandy had made it clear that by surveying the history of our understanding of consciousness that one thing was very evident: throughout time we have continued to change our opinion of consciousness when new breakthroughs and new science emerges (e.g. dualism, reductionism, and quantum mind theory). Therefore, at this point in time humankind cannot claim to know everything about the neurobiology of consciousness, even though a great deal of information has been discovered. Also modern science has not been able to rule out the involvement of quantum physics or consciousness as a process of quantum physics. This is mostly because phenomenon like quantum decoherence and quantum entanglement still cannot be fully explained. Consequently, the proposal of different degrees of consciousness, including DNA consciousness cannot be disregarded based on the facts that the human brain only perceives a small portion of the electromagnetic spectrum (i.e. a small portion of the complete picture) and that humankind currently lacks the technological advancements to further evaluate these mysterious phenomena.
A more comprehensive synthesis of DNA consciousness was presented at the International Conference on Humanism and Posthumanism 2009, at Belgrade University, Serbia on April the 9th in the physical sciences section. Originally the proceedings of the International Conference on Humanism and Posthumanism 2009 at Belgrade University were projected to be published in 2010. However, the proceedings were published later. Consequently, John K. Grandy’s article on DNA Consciousness was referenced in another article Selected Genetic Destination: The Rise of Homo Sapiens Genomicus in The International Journal of Arts and Sciences as coming out in 2010, which did not happen.
It was at the Belgrade conference that a more complete synthesis of the theory of DNA consciousness was forged. In the proceedings from this conference there was an enumeration of eight observations that support the proposal of DNA consciousness as a special degree of molecular consciousness. These eight observations were later merged into the five major themes of DNA consciousness. In addition, it was also at this Belgrade conference where Grandy's interaction-based model of consciousness was derived. This new veiw of consciousness would ultimately account for his proposal of the degree of DNA consciousness.
The synthesis of the theory of DNA consciousness
In order to further attain a more complete synthesis of DNA consciousness Grandy established two objectives. First, he had to redefine what consciousness might be and to break away from the definitions that were univocally neurological. This would mean attempting to define consciousness without using the words brain, human, perception, or awareness. Thus allowing the exposure of what the derivative of consciousness may truly be. Secondly, the main themes of this theory would need to be established in order to be objectified scientifically. The next two sections will address these two objectives.
Redefining consciousness
Grandy had realized that the current definitions of consciousness focused mostly on human or neuron-based consciousness and focused synonymously on notions of awareness and perception that are base on brain functions. Here are three examples:
1. William James definition- Consciousness is an awareness of oneself; or one’s own cognitive experience and awareness of the environment.

2. Gerald Edelman definition- Nobel laureate Gerald Edelman was one of the first pioneers to distinguish between types or neurophysiological degrees of consciousness. He proposed that there is a primary consciousness and a higher-order consciousness. Primary consciousness is considered fundamental consciousness and is proposed to arise first from reentry between brain regions carrying out perceptual categorizations and other brain regions mediating value-category memory
.
This results in a remembered present. Higher-order consciousness is the capability to be conscious of being conscious. Edelman maintains that this capacity is present in animals with semantic abilities (e.g. chimpanzees) or linguistic abilities (humans). The higher vertebrates with linguistic abilities are also able to have a social concept of the self and concepts of a past and future, which distinguishes this form of consciousness from primary consciousness
It can clearly be seen in all three of these definitions of consciousness that the focus is on two things; i.e. the human and the brain. Consequently these types of definitions limit a more comprehensive explanation of what consciousness actually is. In order to unveil the mysterious cloak of consciousness, a new definition would have to be derived.
In 2009, Grandy proposed that consciousness is the interaction of a thing (be it an organism, DNA molecule, or an atom) with another thing, the external environment, or with other forms of energy. The ICC basically states that- as things (quarks, atoms, DNA, cells, or neurons) interact, the resulting increases in interactions increase the complexity of matter or that system, and as the degrees of complexity increase the degrees of consciousness increase from the level of quarks up to the level of the human brain. This was first presented by John K. Grandy at the Towards a Science of Consciousness conference, at Stockholm, Sweden May 2011 .
In summary, the original theory of DNA consciousness stated that the DNA molecule possesses a degree of consciousness that is different from humankind’s neurological consciousness, and the molecule is also responsible for giving rise to the evolution and emergence of all neurological consciousness. In 2009, the interaction-based model of consciousness gave a more complete account as to how DNA consciousness is possible, and as of 2011, the definition of this theory is now based on the ICC transformation to account for all degrees of consciousness. The revision states that a primordial consciousness ascends through exponential degrees of consciousness from quarks up to the development of the nucleic species of molecules. At this point in the evolution of consciousness the DNA consciousness begins to drastically increase the interactions that in turn increases the complexity and finally increases degrees of consciousness from simple cells up to the appearance of humans.
II. DNA consciousness is a form of consciousness that humans cannot perceive. This is mainly because our sensory organs evolved in the macroscopic world and only perceive a small portion of the total electromagnetic spectrum; consequently neurological consciousness is time-dependent and is only able to interpret a small portion of the total picture. The atomic world and quantum interactions are not time-dependent; this is a well established motif in quantum physics. Therefore, humankind does not possess the instruments to observe these atomistic and molecular forms of consciousness and must rely on technology to extrapolate this information. In addition, the DNA molecule does not think, see, or feel as humans do because it does not possess a nervous system or sensory organs; thus no obvious communication can take place between the human degree of consciousness and the DNA molecule’s degree of consciousness.
III. DNA consciousness has given rise to neurological consciousness. First, this is seen in the early phases of embryological development in all vertebrates when the Hox and Pax gene families establish body patterning, notochord formation, brain morphogenesis, and the progenitors of sensory organs (e.g. the eyes). but in general it is consistent. Therefore, these two scientific lines of evidence serve to support the proposal that the DNA molecule must possess a form or degree of consciousness in order to give rise to degrees of neurological consciousness -i.e. it is unlikely that this event is a random act or that neurological consciousness evolved without an underlying biological mechanism to mold or transform it. In addition, DNA consciousness maintains that it is also unlikely that consciousness suddenly emerged with the appearance of humankind, or the neuron for that matter.
IV. After the DNA molecule gives rise to the emergence of the brain and nervous system, it then provides a continuum for neurological consciousness via genomic and epigenetic dynamics. If it is implicit that neurological vertebrate consciousness is a process involving the neurons and their actions, 2) the initial process of removing genes from one organism and inserting them into the genome of another organism; this was first accomplished at Stanford University by Paul Berg, Stanley Cohen, and Herbert Boyer,11 and 3) the completion of the human genome project. The process of SGD has been proposed to potentially give rise to a new subspecies Homo sapiens genomicus or “the man with wisdom to alter his genome”, which could evolve an even higher degree of neurological consciousness or perhaps something beyond. These possibilities were discussed in more detail and the results were published first in the chapter DNA and Genetic Engineering11 and again in more detail in the Selected Genetic Destination: The Rise of Homo Sapiens Genomicus article,17 which won the best conference paper award at the 2010 International Journal of Arts and Sciences Harvard Conference.
Neurogenetics: the scientific support of DNA consciousness
In 2010, a small section on DNA consciousness was mentioned at the end of John K. Grandy’s chapter on DNA and Genetic Engineering which was published in the two volume reference handbook 21st Century Anthropology.
Pax genes- are responsible for DV axis pattern of neural tube development. PAX 6 is the master regulator of eye development throughout the animal kingdom. Mutations in this gene result in ocular dysgenesis. PAX 6 is also shown to have control over the regulation of Hoxd4 and Hoxb4.
Lissencephaly- involves mutations of genes LIS1, XLIS, or TUBA1a- this condition includes seizures, profound retardation, growth impairments, and impaired motor skills.
Examples of some genes that affect cognition and consciousness later in life:
Alzheimer Disease- APP, PSEN1, and PSEN2- these genes are associated with Alzheimer and other forms of dementia that severely impair memory and executive functioning later in life
.
The above information provides evidence for the main tenet of the theory of DNA consciousness i.e. genes are responsible for the proper development of the attributes associated with neuron-based consciousness. Again, these degrees of consciousness emerge in an ascending pattern in accordance to the ICC transformation. Therefore, Grandy proposed that it was reasonable to conclude that a form or degree of consciousness underlies the orchestration of neurological consciousness i.e. DNA consciousness.
DNA consciousness and the future of humankind
In the 2010 publication Selected Genetic Destination: The Rise of Homo sapiens genomicus Grandy addressed two important themes central to the evolution of DNA consciousness and the future of humankind.
The first was that with the advent of genetic engineering that human enhancements could be made in humankind’s degree of neurological consciousness. This could be accomplished by creating aggressive human enhancements that would improve elements of neurological consciousness (e.g. better memory, the ability to perceive more regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, increase neuron density, increase neuron interconnections, and enhance neuroplasticity). He was also proposed that these types of aggressive human enhancements could give rise to a new subspecies -Homo sapiens genomicus- or ultimately a new species with a higher and superior degree of neurological consciousness.
The second important theme that was discussed in that publication was that perhaps DNA consciousness has a will of its own. Grandy purposed that if DNA consciousness is the driving force behind all biological evolution and the development of neurological consciousness, then perhaps the existence of humankind was only meant to be transient. That is to say that DNA consciousness, through natural selection, gave rise to the emergence of Homo sapiens sapiens with a higher degree of neurological consciousness for the sole purpose of discovering the DNA molecule and unlocking its secrets through genetic engineering. This would provide a new means of evolving DNA consciousness i.e. genetic engineering to replace the much slower process of natural selection. In that publication it was also pointed out that in modern times natural selection has been stymied and that there has been a failure to improve the species . This concept of a failure to improve the species was first mentioned in previous works of Grandy’s as well. Consequently, Grandy proposed genetic engineering as a remedy for this dilemma and later as a reason to support selected genetic destination.
These two themes collectively propose that humankind is yet only another link in the chain of evolution with the continuum being DNA consciousness. This idea is similar but different to the ideas of Fredrick Nietzsche’s higherman and overman, and the concept of transhumanism and posthumanism. These ideas were compared and contrasted to Grandy’s ideas of SGD and Homo sapiens genomicus in great detail in this article.<ref name="Grandy, John 2010"/>

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu