On naturalism and consciousness

[Chas]

You ignore, or are unaware of, all of the data from neuroscience. The data clearly show that the mind is brain-based.

Besides, where resides your sentient observer?

Part of my answer is now the OP of a recent thread I made: the idea of the transcendence of supervenient properties.

Setting that aside for now, I think you can safely assume everyone here knows about brain experiments, the function of various brain parts, maybe a little about the cognitive effects of selective brain damage, etc.

But that's not what we've been talking about. What is it in the brain that causes the existence of mind? Is it the specific organic nature of neurons? Is it the complexity of data being processed? Is it something intrinsic to some kinds of chemistry, or to all electrical bonding, or to events at the subatomic level? What's the most fundamental "thing" upon which the human mind supervenes?

Sure, it seems to be somewhere in the brain, in the case of humans. But here's the important part-- some of the properties of the human brain are specific only to the human brain, some are common to all systems capable of data processing, and some are common to all matter in the universe. Since the brain consists of layers of supervenience: atoms on subatomic particles, molecules on atoms, proteins on molecules, neurons on proteins, neuronal networks on neurons, brain parts on neuronal networks, human experience on brain parts, the important question is on what level does that "spark" occur?

Does a single firing neuron have a primitive "mind"? Do 10 neurons? Is the simple act of neurotransmitters stimulating an axon minimally sufficient? Is it any time an electron's orbit is affected by the assimilation of a photon, or that two atoms come into contact, causing them to share an electron?

It's obvious that the human mind is rooted IN the brain, but in order to say that mind is primarily OF the brain, you have to show that it does not originate in the sub-structures upon which the brain supervenes. And that has not been shown. And since the brain is processing massive data, you also have to show that it isn't the processing itself, INDEPENDENT OF THE SPECIFIC MECHANISM DOING THE PROCESSING, that is mind.

And scientists are working on it. You can believe whatever you wish, I await actual evidence.

The evidence so far indicate mind as an emergent property of brain, that complexity is intimately part of that. Simpler brains exhibit simpler minds.