From: Rob Harris Cen-IT (Rob.Harris@bournemouth.gov.uk)
Date: Mon Aug 02 1999 - 06:36:58 MDT
Gina Miller wrote: "what is the definition of
> > consciousness", until that is clear this kind of question is limited in
> > answer. Any idea's?
>
Yes! This is THE question. Contrary to the tripe that is so often posted
about consciousness, nobody knows squat about it. The real questions like
What IS consciousness ?, Why is it necessary , what role does it play among
the other processes of the brain. etc.... are the ones to ask. Far too many
people shit themselves at the very weird sight of consciousness and so make
transparent and cretinous attempts to "explain it away" without any evidence
to go on whatsoever, indeed, many that express "opinions" on consciousness
don't even have the concept isolated from other things such as learning,
response to stimuli, individuality or thought. As I always recommend to
people interested in this most interesting of subjects, read "The Conscious
Mind" by David Chalmers. It spends a great deal of time carefully clarifying
just the issue you raised above.
A quick explanation of what most people mean when they refer to
consciousness is "the bit that feels.....not that thinks, or that decides,
it's the bit, that strange efffect that experiences those thoughts, feels
that it is in control, is "actually there". Chalmers refers to this as
"phenomenological consciousness"......the weird as hell "real
experience/actually there/field thingy in some weird dimension or something"
that we're all interested in.
Then get back to me and tell me your thoughts. Of all unexplained phenomena,
consciousness is by a league the weirdest, an explanation of which would
undoubtedly open up a whole new branch of science. See, it's not good enough
just to explain the physical process by which consciousness arises - we want
to know what the hell it IS, where does it come from ? Are there more
effects like it that could be utilised by humans? We probably couldn't get
our heads around it without some major enhancements. Cool stuff.
Rob.
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