TaskmasterX
Banned
- Joined
- Oct 10, 2008
- Messages
- 162
- Reaction score
- 14
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Independent
Right. There are 2 ways to view one thing. Now, how is this indicative of the existence of a spiritual realm? If this is an illusion how do you know what else isn't or is an illusion? How can you use illusions as proof for something that is "real" (like a spiritual realm)?
Yes it did, yes it is, and no it's not.
Consciousness/Self-Awareness is an "emergent property", a property that's only expressed in a system due to interactions of the parts of the system, rather than a property of the parts themselves.
On a more neurobiological level, we can, at the least, localize it as far as the cerebrum. Destruction of the cerebrum leaves a person nothing but a vegetable, even if everything else is intact, while destruction or replacement of other body parts either has no effect or is simply instantly fatal.
In effect these parts, are somewhat self autonomous and made to interact with other parts that are similar, as a consequence a phenomenon emerges called consciousness. I would say what differentiates consciousness from other everyday processes is that consciousness operates via a feedback loop between perception and cognition. What we perceive is influenced by what we're thinking about, and what we're thinking about is influenced by what we perceive. In a biological sense this is likely manifested in the form of cortico-thalamo-cortical loops.
The whole universe is made up of a handful of different fundamental particles and forces. You could understand what these are and how they interact on a basic level and still not be able to predict any of the macro-scale structures and behaviors we see every day. Basically, everything we experience is a complex emergent property. Life, and by extension consciousness, is just an extremely complex emergent property among other complex emergent properties.
In terms of the long term storage of fixed memory, the human brain is not a good design. In other words, although the brain can store fixed data, the amount of possible data storage is extremely large, yet our reliable fixed memory is only a tiny fraction. For example, we can read a book and see all the words. Once done very few can recite it verbatim. We can summarize it and add our interpretation. A year later, even more is gone. I am not saying we don't remember, but we forget more than we remember. As time goes on, we also see the same things in a different ways.
What this brings to the picture for consciousness, is the changing memory grid within the brain, is conducive to conscious awareness. One is more aware of changes in a routine that when acting via a fixed routine. If you get up in the morning, you can run on radar and go through the motions of getting ready, even while half asleep or half conscious. If someone moves your toothbrush and hides the cereal, the changes wake you up to action because of the adaption needed. One has to crank up consciousness and become more aware to adapt.
Routine is easier to deal with, like a robot. Consciousness is heightened when we have to alter the routine of fixed memory and face the unexpected. When a person jumps out of a plane, they jump into the unknown. They feel heightened awareness.
Last edited:
