could the moon be responsible for human consciousness?

Question

bare with me here, this might seem little far out.

First off, our moon is really big considering the size of the earth and therefor has a significant amount of gravity. So the moon is pulling up on us a little bit every time the earth rotates.

now, gravity effects everything, even on the quantum scale. So if the moons gravity shifts every single particle on earth just a tiny tiny bit, those particles gain a tiny tiny bit of kinetic energy.

here's the kicker: when the particles return to their original state that kinetic energy becomes stored as potential energy.
my question is, where does all that energy go?

i'm saying maybe that stored potential energy is the fuel of our consciousness. maybe the moon is what makes us think!

now, if this were true, that means 'intelligent life' elsewhere would not only need H2O and a livable climate to progress, but also a gargantuan moon like our own. so maybe we really are alone in the universe!

alright, i know it's a bit silly man, but it's hypothetical... especially with all the things we don't know about the universe (including the source of our rational thought).. which is what the question is really asking.

however, i suppose this would work out better in the philosophy section eh?

Answer 1

You don't get out much do you?

Answer 2

No.

1) The Moon is smaller than the Earth, and does not have an appreciable gravitational pull on you. It's not noticable, and everything on Earth feels roughly the same pull, not just humans.

2) Gravity is negligible at the quantum level - the strong and weak forces rule there.

3) Gravity is a conservative force. It can't just give out energy. If a particle gains energy due to gravity, it loses it somewhere else (trading potential for kinetic, for example).

4) Gravity is not producing energy.

5) This is a huge leap here. We don't know much about the human consciousness, since it's so hard to define, but we can probably say pretty conclusively that there's no connection there.

6) Even if this DID work, extend the theory - why isn't every other creature conscious like we are?

Answer 3

The energy of life comes from chemical reactions from the food we eat. The idea that the particles in your body are somehow effected by the Moon's gravity in a way to pump energy into them is just wrong. The Moon's gravity does not to give energy to particles on Earth. The largest amount of energy is in the tides, and the tides are actually taking energy away from the Earth and giving it to the Moon, causing the rotation of the Earth to slow down and the Moon to spiral out away from the Earth.

Answer 4

Here's a hint:

Gravity is a conservative force. Gravity cannot, I repeat, cannot change the total energy of a system.

The moon's gravity does cause some water to slosh around on the Earth (the tides), but on the atomic scale, gravity is so pathetically weak as to be completely and utterly negligible. The moon's weak gravity cannot change the energy stored in atoms.

Nice theory, but it's based on fantasy, and not on real science.

Answer 5

I'm having trouble even wrapping my head around that, lol... it's pretty out there.

I'm not gonna say that's totally out of the question, given that one of the biggest questions around is why we are conscious, and no one really has an answer. But, that really doesn't sound likely. If anything the answer would probably lie in the make-up of our brains.

Although I'm sure the moon was probably one of the first things mankind pondered,and maybe in that way it could've affected our consciousness.

There IS a lot that we dont know, you're right. But that doesn't mean that everything we think is incorrect.

Answer 6

I was with you until you made that "quantum leap" of false logic and took the supposition below to the rank of "evidence".

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"i'm saying maybe that stored potential energy is the fuel of our consciousness. maybe the moon is what makes us think!"
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The human consciousness is not dependent on the Moon's gravitational effects. In fact, I'd be more concerned about the claims that the Full Moon is supposed to be responsible for the lunacy going on.

Answer 7

Uh...I don't think so. I can believe in the fact that without the moon, humanity could die, or not even get started (too complicated to explain). But the moon responsible for our thinking? Weird.

I think the theory of the moon somehow responsible for earthquakes and volcanoes is more likely than this theory.

Answer 8

ummm. no. i'm pretty sure potential energy has nothing to do with our conciousness.

there isn't anything potential about our conciousness, it's constantly releasing energy.

if what you're saying is right, then our minds would be feeding off of potential energy. which means that when the moon comes back around, nothing would move again because it has no more potential energy...

and why would we need to run on potential energy, when glucose works perfectly fine?

Answer 9

Alright how about this...if the moon was to vanish could we still think? If you anwer yes, you have to throw out your hypothesis. By the way, don't blow up the moon. It's pretty and I want to visit before its decimated.