RE: Good read on consciousness
January 11, 2021 at 11:27 am
(This post was last modified: January 11, 2021 at 11:28 am by HappySkeptic.)
I don't have the time to get into every point in your arguments.
Gerald Edelman researched the operation of the brain, but he specifically stayed out of the consciousness debate. He regarded the metaphysical issues as unscientific.
However, his theories of the brain operation might shed some light on how consciousness is different than computer programs. He created brain-based computing systems and applied them to simple robots. These were literally tabula-rasa devices with sensory mechanisms and some ability for carrot/stick feedback. He then let the robots experience things. They learned. The brain would self-organize. He could watch the simulated neuronal groups and connections form.
The point is that we are experiential creatures. The mind is made to experience the combination of processed sensory input and high-level abstraction about the input as "qualia". We enjoy rich experience, where memories and emotions and connections are entwined. The experience trains the brain, and allows us to better process future experience.
Gerald Edelman researched the operation of the brain, but he specifically stayed out of the consciousness debate. He regarded the metaphysical issues as unscientific.
However, his theories of the brain operation might shed some light on how consciousness is different than computer programs. He created brain-based computing systems and applied them to simple robots. These were literally tabula-rasa devices with sensory mechanisms and some ability for carrot/stick feedback. He then let the robots experience things. They learned. The brain would self-organize. He could watch the simulated neuronal groups and connections form.
The point is that we are experiential creatures. The mind is made to experience the combination of processed sensory input and high-level abstraction about the input as "qualia". We enjoy rich experience, where memories and emotions and connections are entwined. The experience trains the brain, and allows us to better process future experience.
