Consciousness; a radically new theory. Diaphonous? (Introduction)

by David Turell , Monday, July 13, 2015, 18:33 (3203 days ago) @ romansh
edited by David Turell, Monday, July 13, 2015, 18:56

David: I understand your point. But we are not 'effectively blind'. 
> Romansh: Except for the moments when we can't see. Luckily for us things don't change that quickly and our brain can cobble together a reasonable replica of reality,
> 
> I don't think we can say it is seamless, just that from the inside we can't detect the seams.-My point is that, just as you state, we cannot detect the seams, so why make a point of it. Biologic machines must work through biochemical reactions which will result in micro-second delays. So what! If it comes across as seamless to us, that is an OK result. You are making unreasonable comparisons to precise non-biological processes. Of course there will be differences in function. -Note the following story of top down and bottom up brain function to help us seamlessly handle our perceptions of reality. I have no problem with this but consider it helpful biologic shorthand :-http://medicalxpress.com/news/2015-07-impacts-brain.html-"In a University of California, San Diego School of Medicine study published July 13 in the online journal Nature Neuroscience, a research team led by Takaki Komiyama, PhD, assistant professor of neurosciences and neurobiology, reports that in mouse models, the brain significantly changed its visual cortex operation modes by implementing top-down processes during learning.-"'We found that when the mouse assigns a new meaning to a previously neutral visual stimulus, top-down control becomes much more influential in activating the visual cortex," said first author Hiroshi Makino, PhD, postdoctoral researcher in Komiyama's lab. "Top-down inputs interact with specific neuron types in the visual cortex to modulate its operation modes."-"This cognitive process uses our thoughts and influences our senses. For example, when we see a word with missing letters, our brain is able to fill in the blank based on past experiences.-"Researchers looked at activity in excitatory neurons and somatostatin-expressing inhibitory neurons in the visual cortex and top-down inputs from the retrosplenial cortex (RSC) during associative learning to see how these affected the top-down and bottom-up processing—when perception begins with the senses.-"The findings indicate that intricate interactions of various circuit components effectively change the balance of top-down and bottom-up processing, with learning enhancing the contribution of top-down control. These results support the long-standing theory that the brain does not faithfully represent the environment but rather attempts to predict it based upon prior information."-> > > 
> > > Romansh: Whether it contains energy or not is an interesting question.-> > David: Well, do you think conscious thought contains energy?
> 
> Romansh: First and foremost I think consciousness is an illusion ... thought awareness whatever. The dimensions mass . length / time^2 ... make up energy. I personally don't have a reasonable analogy to express it, at least not in those terms. -Illusion or whatever, you have given me a definition of energy, but sidestepped the question. Does consciousness contain energy, or as I view it thoughts are immaterial and have no energy?-> > David ... my thoughts make me do mechanical actions that directly affect the material world.
> Romansh: really?
> 
> my personal experience tells me otherwise.-Please explain. You seem to say that you cannot cause effects in the material world.
 
> David: I view god as permanently hidden behind that wall and not measurable.
> 
> Romansh: If it is not measurable (observable/detectable) then it may as well not exist.-Fair enough, but for many of us the need for a planning mind to supply to necessary information for the universe and for the origin of life is evidence enough.