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On Consciousness

Is consciousness physical or metaphysical?

  • Consciousness is a kind of data processing and the brain is a machine that can be replicated in othe

    Votes: 81 86.2%

  • Consciousness requires a second substance outside the physical material world, currently undetectabl

    Votes: 3 3.2%

  • On Planet X, unconscious biological beings have perfected conscious machines

    Votes: 10 10.6%
  • Total voters
    94
  • Poll closed .
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Human consciousness?

Science infers that it's an emergent property of complex biological systems. The reason why we seem to have such a different type of consciousness experience than other animals is a matter of debate. I highly expect certain vegetation on the ground somewhere along our evolutionary path rapidly catalyzed our consciousness to evolve in drastically different directions than our common 'set in their way' minded ancestors and other primates.

Now what type of food do you think might have forced this change? Giving us a reason to climb down out of the tree's and effecting the evolution of our consciousness at a tangent to other primates. It should be a food that is very easy to eat and abundant throughout nature.
 
And with the expanded consciousness that resulted in certain dietary changes came the evolution of the different and distinct brain that defines us as humans.
 
Corn and such a new and varied diet, yea. Fish likely played a small role, but that is debated. But I'm wondering which particular foods we adopted from the forest floor into our diet that have drastic effects on consciousness that may be able to explain the rather rapid evolution of our mental capacity vs other primates.

I don't think that the only natural thing we know of today that drastically alters consciousness can be ignored in the potential role it/they played in the sudden evolution of human consciousness. Psychedelics. Mushrooms, peyote, mescalin, DMT, 5-meo-dmt, 4-ho-DMT (psilocin > psilocybin). I can expand on this concept if needs be.
 
Maybe you didn't.

But I reckon you did.

Just perhaps you've only just become conscious of it.
 
Wait.

We have mental capacity?

(Didn't get the memo.)


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How did that happen?
I'm used to doubles, but this is just wrong.
 
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Mr. Scott said:
Then, what is it about fish consciousness that could not be duplicated in machines?
Click to expand...


I don't believe we know enough about fish consciousness to say anything authoritative about duplicating it.

We might be able to get something to reproduce all their actions and life cycles on a screen. Or a robot that could fit in with a shoal. But it's still not conscious like the other fish. Even if the other fish could not tell, we always should be able to.
 
De-Ja-Vu

Consciousness is going all spooky here.

Consciousness is going all spooky here.
 
Wait.

We have mental capacity?

(Didn't get the memo.)

.
.
.

Great.

Now my consciousness has been transferred to blobru.

Some days it doesn't pay to get out of bed.
 
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I love the aspect of myself that is blobru.

I find him endlessly more loveable than quarky.

Only my Helen aspect is more loveable.

(Helen should show up soon to verify this.)
 
Zeuzzz said:
Can I split this question into a new thread of my own? Or are you quite happy for me to stay active in this one on this topic for a while?
Click to expand...

Well, I'm trying to lead the inquiry into certain areas, but it looks like I have to do it in very tiny steps or you completely lose the drift, Zeuzzz. I'm quite unhappy to be attempting to engage you on this topic, since you can't seem to follow a thought that needs more than one sentence to express. My sensation is that you read only the first sentence of posts that are several paragraphs long.

Why are you so sure a machine could not duplicate fish consciousness?
 
Here's a feature of consciousness that is actually one of its weaknesses. It seems we have this tendency to believe that things we aren't aware of don't exist.

It really is a profound defect of consciousness.

For example:

"That car that hit me appeared out of nowhere"

"That lecture I missed probably didn't have anything interesting"

"Mr. Scott disagrees with me so I won't read his post because it has nothing I need to read"

"I didn't miss anything important in that movie while I was in the restroom"

"I watched the first few seconds of Dennett's lecture and I can tell the rest of it is a waste of my time"

"I'm not aware that I think that only the things I'm aware of exist, so it's not an issue"

We have to stop glorifying human consciousness as the ultimate form of intelligence. It's a mess that evolved from the chaotic process of evolution, full of weaknesses even though capable of some wonderful things.

Isn't it conceivable that the brains of aliens that evolved independently, on another planet, function nothing like ours and are not "conscious" in any way we would recognize, but could still be immensely superior to ours? What arrogant egos we have to glorify our quirky brains. Compare the number of us who compose musical masterpieces with those who live out their lives in mental institutions. Really, I am SO impressed by this consciousness thing I can't tell you.

Duplicating human consciousness in a machine is intellectually interesting, but may be stupid and useless. I bet we can do better.
 
It sure would be interesting to know what's going on in a sperm whale's brain.
A lone male can go 6 months without eating. It doesn't have to do much to run its body. The huge whale shark manages with a small brain.

At nine times the size of ours, what's going on in there?
 
I love the aspect of myself that is blobru.

I love the aspect of myself that is quarky.

Only my Helen aspect is more and also less lovable.

(Helen has shown up now to verify this.)

Got the memo, but not the mental capacity.
 
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