Re:No Ghost in the Machine
by vidarh on Wednesday March 04, 2020 @09:56AM
(#22484218)
I tend to agree with you that odds are that our brains as purely bio-electric artefacts are enough to explain intelligence and consciousness. I'd like to think so. This could be the case even if we live in a simulation, by the way.
But that we seem to evidence that most of brain function reside in the brain does not mean we can conclusively say that there's no extra element to it that we don't understand.
Note that I am much more comfortable with the idea that it's all basic hardware; the big point here is not that a "soul" or external simulation or whatever is the most likely explanation, but to illustrate just how thoroughly we really have no idea what causes consciousness, or even whether consciousness really is meaningfully a thing. It's a big gaping whole in our understanding of the world that we're just being in the very infancy of trying to attack.
But that we seem to evidence that most of brain function reside in the brain does not mean we can conclusively say that there's no extra element to it that we don't understand.
Note that I am much more comfortable with the idea that it's all basic hardware; the big point here is not that a "soul" or external simulation or whatever is the most likely explanation, but to illustrate just how thoroughly we really have no idea what causes consciousness, or even whether consciousness really is meaningfully a thing. It's a big gaping whole in our understanding of the world that we're just being in the very infancy of trying to attack.