In a podcast discussion with Michael Egnor, philosopher and computer programmer Kastrup explains why cosmopsychism, makes more sense than panpsychism. The challenge, he says, is not why there is consciousness but why there are so many separate instances of consciousnesses:
Kastrup agrees with theoretical physicist Sabine Hossenfelder in her criticism of panpsychism:
Bernardo Kastrup: There is one I will be shot at for agreeing with, Sabine Hossenfelder, a very no-nonsense physicist.
Michael Egnor: Yes.
Bernardo Kastrup: I confess that I actually like her. Please don’t shoot me.
Michael Egnor (pictured): No, I do too. She’s a very interesting person, and writes some interesting stuff. Yeah…
But the problem that separate consciousnesses creates for panpsychism (even elementary particles are conscious) does not, he says, exist in the same way for cosmopsychism (there is one universal consciousness), the view he holds.…
Note: In mid-2018, Scientific American published an essay by Kastrup and two others advocating cosmopsychism: “Could Multiple Personality Disorder Explain Life, the Universe and Everything?” One reason that science media are respectful of cosmopsychism may be growing awareness of the problems with strict materialism, naturalism, or physicalism: As Michael Egnor has noted, “How can you have a proposition that the mind doesn’t exist? That means propositions don’t exist and that means that you don’t have a proposition.”
News, “Bernardo Kastrup argues for a Universal Mind as a reasonable idea” at Mind Matters News
Last episode:
Why consciousness couldn’t just evolve from the mud. Kastrup, a panpsychist, is sympathetic to the basic intuitions behind the idea that there is design in nature (intelligent design theory). Philosopher and computer scientist Bernardo Kastrup discusses the problems with such claims with neurosurgeon Michael Egnor.
See also: Consciousness cannot have evolved. How many joules of consciousness would make you a human instead of a chimpanzee? How many more joules of consciousness would make you a genius?
and
Why is science growing comfortable with panpsychism (“everything is conscious”)? At one time, the idea that “everything is conscious” was the stuff of jokes. Not any more, it seems.