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does an insect have consciousness? doubtful. agency? maybe. does a fly make a decision as to which crumb to land on, or is it all programmed? or is the question meaningless? a computer presumably doesn't make a decision, it's all predictable from programming; even so-called "random number generators" running in programs are in fact predictable programs. but everybody knows that their PC is less predictable than it ought to be. what's the first thing the help desk tells you when you have a problem? reboot and maybe it won't happen again.
so how far up or down the line does it go? is the computer a person because although it ought to be predictable, it doesn't seem so? a fly? a frog? a dog? george bush?
anyway, next topic, kauffman's argument seems less that we should believe in God, than a weakish form of pagan nature worship. his jewish ancestors would be abashed. but in fact, he seems to be calling for nothing more than a little humility on behalf of the human race, which is something more in tune with atheism than with all the beliefs which insist that God made us in his own image, to be the crown of creation and rule over the universe, etc. etc. etc.
