RE: Sam Harris On Defining Consciousness
August 25, 2015 at 11:17 am
(This post was last modified: August 25, 2015 at 11:21 am by The Grand Nudger.)
Oh idk Rhonda, we all have this consciousness business, that's not limited to neurosurgeons, and ultimately when neurosurgeons are done poking and prodding with what they have that we do not, all of that gets parsed by equipment that we all share, and it's not really the poking and the prodding which provides the knowledge - even for them.
Definitions are, as you've said, subject to personal interpretation. My patriotism may not be yours, etc etc. That's why they're important though, in attempting to create a situation in which we're all discussing the same thing when we use the same words, eh? In the end, I suppose, provided that we explain what it is we mean when -we- use a term, that someone else uses a different term for that, or the same term for a different thing isn't insurmountable. After all, I don't use the same word for blue as a spanish speaker. I think the desire to create a standard definition of something is just a way to reduce those small mishaps in communication that occur where ambiguity is present, and those larger misapprehensions that might follow from a seemingly tiny miscommunication, not just when different words are used, or different languages...it can happen when a person uses the same words to the same effect, in the same language.
Consider the follwing:
Jane is having her kids for dinner.
Based upon this statement, does Jane have a close relationship with her children......or is Jane a cannibal?
Definitions are, as you've said, subject to personal interpretation. My patriotism may not be yours, etc etc. That's why they're important though, in attempting to create a situation in which we're all discussing the same thing when we use the same words, eh? In the end, I suppose, provided that we explain what it is we mean when -we- use a term, that someone else uses a different term for that, or the same term for a different thing isn't insurmountable. After all, I don't use the same word for blue as a spanish speaker. I think the desire to create a standard definition of something is just a way to reduce those small mishaps in communication that occur where ambiguity is present, and those larger misapprehensions that might follow from a seemingly tiny miscommunication, not just when different words are used, or different languages...it can happen when a person uses the same words to the same effect, in the same language.
Consider the follwing:
Jane is having her kids for dinner.
Based upon this statement, does Jane have a close relationship with her children......or is Jane a cannibal?
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
