This is based on the thesis that “mind” is a form of communication (transfer of meaningful information) present in all living beings. (The theory of pan-psychism.) It is expressed in the five types of mind (metabolic, genetic, epigenetic, hormonal, and neural) posited by Erich Jantsch in “The Self-Evolving Universe”, with my addition of self-defence, language, writing, and technology. It is best explained in a diagram. Each higher organism or mind includes the ones preceding.
| Mind | Life-forms |
|---|---|
| Metabolic | Proto-life: protein only |
| Genetic (RNA and DNA) | Archeo and true Bacteria (prokaryotes) |
| Epigenetic (homeo-genes) | Eukaryotes: protists/algae/plants, and fungi/invertebrate animals |
| Self-defence | Alkaloids in plants, immune systems in animals |
| Hormonal | Auxins in plants, hormones in animals |
| Neural | Animals, from worms to mammals |
| Language | Humans |
| Writing | Historic humans |
| Technology (printing, Xerox, Internet) | Techno-humans |
Some would add a tenth mind: telepathy; but this has not been substantiated. Anyway, it is not clear where it would be included; perhaps at a much earlier stage than language, perhaps after technology.