HUMAN COLONY FORMATION 



CONSCIOUSNESS CAN NOT BE AN ATTRIBUTE 

 OF AN ISOLATED HUMAN BRAIN 



At the time a human being is born, his mind con- 

 tains no significant material acquired through sensory 

 perception. Outside of certain instinctual drives which 

 are transmitted via the genetic pattern, the mental 

 makeup of any individual is a function which depends 

 upon the properties of the nervous structure of the 

 creature and the integrated sum of all the perceptions 

 that have impinged upon this nervous structure. The 

 total function is clearly a very complex one, as it not 

 only includes the perceptions themselves, but also such 

 concepts as are formed on the basis of these sensory 

 perceptions and the multiple interactions of these con- 

 cepts. It is obvious that the proper integration, storing 

 and scanning of this perceptual data calls for a highly 

 developed and complex central nervous system. How- 

 ever, for any finite level of complexity of structure, 

 there exists a maximum capacity for memorization, 

 speed at which information can be scanned, total con- 

 cepts that can be simultaneously associated and of in- 

 tegrative faculties. 



Now it is also true that the number of sensory per- 

 ceptions that the developing mind of the human in- 

 fant receives either directly or indirectly from other 

 human beings, constitutes the vast majority of the total 

 number of significant perceptions received. Many of 

 these perceptions, however, are already quite complex 



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