A THEORY OF INTELLIGENCE Part Two (Identity)

by David Turell , Wednesday, May 09, 2018, 18:50 (2173 days ago) @ dhw

dhw: This is the essence of theistic dualism. Would you then agree that without the addition of God’s consciousness, the material brain itself would be without consciousness?
DAVID: As in apes.

dhw: Consciousness is not confined to human self-awareness, and I thought you believed that our fellow animals also had souls. But that it is a different subject, so let’s stick to humans.

In the Jewish religion animals have a lesser form of unconscious soul.

dhw: And would you agree that thinking is impossible without consciousness?

DAVID: Yes.

dhw: If so, and bearing in mind your belief that the piece of God’s consciousness still thinks/remembers/feels/ makes decisions etc. when the brain is dead, would you not agree that the FUNCTION of God’s consciousness in life is to conduct all the mental processes, and the FUNCTION of the material brain is to provide the information that is processed, and to give material expression/implementation to the thoughts of God’s consciousness?

DAVID: The consciousness God gives us becomes our consciousness and uses our brain networks to think during life.

dhw: Of course it becomes our consciousness (if this form of dualism is true), and it takes its individuality from whatever factors mould it during its lifetime. But why do you refuse to discuss its FUNCTION in the duality you believe in, and which you were always so keen to illustrate with the software/hardware analogy, in which the software provides the thought and the hardware does the implementation?

Of course the implementation areas carry out the instructions. I've always agreed about that. But my point is also that the size of the implementation areas from ape to human are not that different, but our cerebellum is somewhat larger. Of more interest to our discussion is that the Neanderthal cerebellum is smaller than the sapiens and the conjecture is that is why they failed and we persisted. See here: Friday, April 27, 2018, 19:38. Size matters.