this is superconnected

To backtrack a little though, I do think many parts of the universe are non-conscious. Rocks, for example. I don't think rocks have any particular internal experience, and even if I did believe that I'd have no way to empirically prove that. However there are many parts of the universe that do provably have internal experience, namely those that exhibit experience-sensitive behavior. If something is capable of behavior, and alters that behavior in response to particular environmental stimuli, it can confidently be said to have some degree of internal experience.

Those parts that do experience exist along a spectrum of consciousness. The level of consciousness in a human is different from the level of consciousness in a worm, which is different from the level of consciousness in, say, a fern. While all can be said to have internal experience (or, if we use the term broadly, consciousness) in one form or another, they are all so vastly different that their experiences are not meaningfully comparable. The similarity though that distinguishes conscious from non-conscious beings is that conscious beings perceive; they all have some way of sensing themselves in relation to other parts of the universe. Whereas non-conscious parts of the universe exist in a state of total non-awareness.

At the moment, I am leaning towards the idea that what separates one conscious individual from another conscious individual is literally just perceptual experience. The only difference between me and you is that we perceive differently. I think it's also worth noting here that I would consider complex thought to be a form of meta-perception, or perception of perceptions. All thoughts are at the end of the day rooted in perception or observation. The mind can be considered a sensory organ in and of itself, one which perceives not just sound or vision or scent in the rest of the world but rather the particular experiences observed by the other sensory organs. Taking this into consideration, the interpretations we have about the world, the ways we feel about ourselves, and the behavioral patterns we exhibit are all products of perception and perception alone.

1.If you had to dye your hair, what color would you pick? Dark blue or black, I've been meaning to do that for months at this point but just haven't gotten around to it yet.

11. Song you listened to in childhood? Uncle John's Band by the Grateful Dead. Also Space Oddity by David Bowie.

13. Favorite film? Donnie Darko!! I think it's really wonderfully made and I love the themes :) it also just means a lot to me in general what with it being about psychosis and time and the nature of reality in general...