From Robert Wright,<br/>London, UK
Robert Lawrence Khun’s article on the landscape of consciousness certainly engaged my brain, so I came down on the side of thinking that is where my consciousness lies, therefore making it a biological problem(25 October, p 36).
But that still leaves a lot of questions to answer. When, at school in the 1960s, I dissected an earthworm to view its nervous system, had it been conscious? Was there a point during the evolution of animals when the nervous system developed the ability to become conscious?
One of the few things we know about consciousness is that it is “soluble” in ether. As is pain. Fortunately, the rest of the nervous system keeps working so, in the operating theatre, the heart still beats and the lungs still breathe. What does that say about the relationship between a functioning nervous system and consciousness? Are consciousness and pain somehow related? I don’t know!
