Quizzes & Puzzles39 mins ago
Consciousness And The Brain
Ive asked before on here (havnt searched but know that I have...) about the nature of consciousness and why we have it at all. The general scientific consensus seems to be that we don't know. I recently came across this quote and made me think that maybe science is looking in the wrong place..
“Looking for consciousness in the brain is like looking inside a radio for the announcer”
I'm well aware that the majority think that consciousness is a product of the brain and can ''prove'' that by the fact that when certain parts of the brain are damaged, it affects our perceptions.
But if the above quote is right then having a damaged brain is no different to having a damaged radio.
Ive long been interested in the hows and whys of consciousness and have read widely regarding such things as O.B.E s , N.D.E s and altered states of consciousness etc.
Theres far to many accounts of people having some king of 'recall' when they are in fact pronounced clinically dead...before been recusitated. Whether this 'recall' is objective or subjective is not established but the fact remains that that some kind of consciousness seems to be operating when it shouldn't.
Could perhaps consciousness be something else apart from brain chemistry?
“Looking for consciousness in the brain is like looking inside a radio for the announcer”
I'm well aware that the majority think that consciousness is a product of the brain and can ''prove'' that by the fact that when certain parts of the brain are damaged, it affects our perceptions.
But if the above quote is right then having a damaged brain is no different to having a damaged radio.
Ive long been interested in the hows and whys of consciousness and have read widely regarding such things as O.B.E s , N.D.E s and altered states of consciousness etc.
Theres far to many accounts of people having some king of 'recall' when they are in fact pronounced clinically dead...before been recusitated. Whether this 'recall' is objective or subjective is not established but the fact remains that that some kind of consciousness seems to be operating when it shouldn't.
Could perhaps consciousness be something else apart from brain chemistry?
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My theory is that over millennia homo sapiens ( or whichever 'homo' - erectus, neandertalensis, floresiensis, etc - first developed conscious awareness ) developed a stronger and wider set of memories. This biped was intensely sociable and communicative, and began to need to remember bigger and bigger groups of its fellow-creatures and their characteristics ( eg, meekness, ferocity, greed, etc) and their relationships, in order to fit in and get on with everyone. I think these memories and the grasp of social situations gradually came to form some kind of early awareness, which then grew exponentially. But you have to realise that an awful lot of authors have written an awful lot of tosh about human awareness/ consciousness/intelligence. So read all the books, and take them all with several tons of salt.
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