Philosophy Debate – Is there something fundamental to the physical?

We had an interesting debate on mind-body dualism. During that debate several questions came up, the answers to which will inform us regarding said question. These Questions are:

1. Discussion on 8/7/25-What (and where) is the mind? (We posited the mind is the largest possible markov (entropy limiting) blanket (e.g. the human, dog whatever biological entity we are discussing), although the mind involves multiple processes happening within the brain simultaneously, the brain organizes itself into a single consciousness because that is how organisms evolved to self organize and minimize wasted energy within the system (i.e. the brain and subsequently body). And the mind is not strictly within us but is instead the communication that takes place between organisms (e.g. humans with each other forming a society.)
2. Is there something fundamental to the physical (i.e. atoms that are not alive lead to living things, living things lead to mental things, so is there something fundamental to the protons, neutrons and electrons composing an atom)?
3. On the flip side, is there any kind of a supra consciousness (or other emergent state) created from the aggregation of individual minds?
4. How does one engage in a mental process (i.e. how do you decide you are going to try to remember something) and do we have multiple consciousnesses (e.g. what is the entity that reminds you that famous actors name, you were trying to remember earlier, randomly when you are eating dinner)?

We will have a meetup on each of these four questions and then circle back to the main question of whether mind-body dualism is correct. The second question we will discuss in this coming meeting is: Is there something fundamental to the physical?

Overall, In this series we discuss great questions of philosophy. You could call what we are doing debate style or open forum, but participants are free to give their ideas and challenge others while discussing the topic of the week. Each week I will choose from one of hundreds of topics such as: are humans innately good or evil, what makes us human, did you exist before you were born, and does god (a supreme mind) exist. I think a Socratic method/critical analysis of questions where each assumption held on a particular topic is questioned to dig deeper is a good way to make progress.

Let us hear what you think.

(The Zoom link will be posted shortly before the event. I have installed a timer in Zoom, so a timer will start automatically when you start speaking, I am setting a 3 minute time limit on each speaker)