Mind/matter duality

[bennyboy]

The mind is the product if the brain. Without the brain, the mind does not exist. Therefore, consciousness is tied to the brain and is a result of the physical processes thereof.

To apply special meaning or "supernatural" significance to it is akin to a spiritual argument that requires something more than a simple assertion to give it any true weight.

This is the "brute force" assertion: without knowing why it is that a particular arrangement of matter causes there to be subjective awareness, it is nevertheless asserted at the "just because" level.

The question isn't the link between the brain and mind-- it's why a purely physical process ends up manifesting as conscious awareness at all-- rather than just grinding through its chemical calculations with no experience of itself. Is this really a property of the brain, or is it a property of complexity of information, or is it that mind is actually ingrained into the fabric of the universe?

I don't think your answer, which today and here will be by far the most popular one, is the airtight slam-dunk that it's taken for.

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For me, solipsism fails as soon as someone tries to explain it. If someone thinks he's alone, then who is he explaining to?

I don't know this, but couldn't a solipsist (?) just respond he's explaining it to a robot perfectly capable of understanding yet without any conscious awareness? Just like a computer, if programmed well, can take input, process it and form a reaction based on this without there being the necessity for consciousness?

I don't subscribe to that line of thought, just trying to think it through.

For all I can know for sure, that IS the state of things. Maybe I'm the only one who is really experiencing, and everyone else's brain is just processing photons etc. and outputting experience with no actual awareness. There's no way to check if someone is ACTUALLY experiencing things subjectively, as opposed to SEEMING to.

But I'm willing to take that leap of faith and take it as given that others exist, for purely pragmatic reasons-- believing others have minds like mine (kind of) makes talking to them more enjoyable. It also prevents me from cyborgicide in heavy traffic.