Is the brain necessary for consciousness?

Discussion in 'Parapsychology' started by Magical Realist, Jan 27, 2014.

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  1. DaveC426913 Valued Senior Member

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    Then why come to a science forum? Why not go to a paranormal forum where you will find kindred spirits?
     
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  3. Beer w/Straw Transcendental Ignorance! Valued Senior Member

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    Wow, can I ask which part?

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  5. Dennis Tate Valued Senior Member

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    Posters here on Sciforums have a great work ethic and actually research topics......
    the formula here is quite interesting and anybody who finds me really annoying can ignore me!
     
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  7. Dennis Tate Valued Senior Member

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    Infinite TIME stretches ahead of all of us........
    the past in a sense could be assigned a relative value of ZERO in comparison to infinite time stretching ahead of us.....

    I am quite happy with having became interested in Theoretical Physics..... due largely to my obsessions with NDE accounts. Since I am happy with this new aspect of my life since 1990 I am guilty of being quite willing to attempt to lure others into my obsession!
     
  8. Beer w/Straw Transcendental Ignorance! Valued Senior Member

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  9. Dennis Tate Valued Senior Member

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  10. river

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    The Brain is necessary for the Evolution of Consciousness .
     
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  11. Dennis Tate Valued Senior Member

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    Does this statement mean that you believe that great intelligence can only exist in some sort of brain composed of hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and carbon like our human brain?

    Have you ever thought of the possible existence of a being like the "Q" character on Star Trek that might not have anything quite like four dimensional hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen or carbon in their brains?
     
  12. river

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    Consciousness evolution is based on environment that it is in , and the nutrients , of the foods , absorbed , and the intellect , on both sides .
     
  13. Write4U Valued Senior Member

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    The human mind is "food, rearranged" (Tegmark)

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    There is no clearer and more logical representation of the evolutionary emergence of consciousness from certain atomic and molecular patterns arranged in specific orders.
     
  14. river

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    The release of life energy .
     
  15. Write4U Valued Senior Member

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    No, it's the pattern itself that acquires sentience over and above the physical substrate.
     
  16. river

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    From #131 . Prove it .
     
  17. Write4U Valued Senior Member

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    You are proof of it.

    Tegmark advances an irrefutable analysis that the brain must function in accordance with physical laws and therefore is subject to testing and codifying. If there was a separate external "elan vital" at work, it would be detectable as being separate and not obeying the measurable physical laws, but by that fact becoming part of the physics and subject to modeling and codifying.

    One thing seems clear that consciousness is not a random or a "spooky" excellence. All living organisms possess a measurable degree of consciousness, from sunflowers (heliotropism) to bacteria (quorum sensing) to slime mold (cellular memories), to bats (sonar), to the great apes and humans (Einstein). Each organism possessing a specific cellular (molecular) pattern that allows it to successfully cope with its environment, at least long enough to procreate.
     
  18. Quantum Quack Life's a tease... Valued Senior Member

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    does he differentiate between cognizance and consciousness?
     
  19. river

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    And Deep in the Crust of Our Planet . Bacteria live there . Because there is water . Bottom line . Water exists at very deep depths of our planet .
     
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  20. Write4U Valued Senior Member

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    I have not heard that from him, but I would guess that as each level requires a special pattern arrangement, he would see one as an evolved extension of the other.

    That is how I see it. Each sensory ability from simple chemical reaction to complex neural networks requires an evolved specialized processing pattern.
     
  21. river

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    From post#135

    What physical laws ?
     
  22. Write4U Valued Senior Member

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    Known laws that govern biological and neural electro-chemical data transmission.

    If there is an extraneous causal source that is not generated by the system itself and presents as a source outside the system, that source would be detectable and actually become measurable where it deviated from the norm and not being part of the system itself. That would then present the hard question of "what is it and where does it come from"?

    Tegmark assumes that from recorded biological history we already have evolved all the inherent ingredients for consciousness . IMO, there can be no other naturally logical explanation, by the fact that we have a clear evolutionary process of increasing sophistication in consciousness and self-awareness, commensurate with increasing sensory and neural system complexity.

    Personally, I cannot but agree with Hameroff', who is intimately involved with the phenomenon of consciousness and how to control it, that consciousness is an emergent excellence produced by the combined dynamic richness of the microtubule driven sensory and neural data processing networks

    Anything that is already a known part of that system is a "hard fact" and Tegmark suggests starting with hard facts instead of the hard questions, which we do not even know how to formulate to begin with.
     
  23. river

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    What are these laws ?
     
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