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Not sure what that question means. An ocean wave is something that emerges from the basic laws of physics, but its not actually a "thing", its just a bunch of w
by kazagistar 9y ago
Not sure what that question means. An ocean wave is something that emerges from the basic laws of physics, but its not actually a "thing", its just a bunch of water exhibiting a property. The only difference between that and the human mind (and properties of it like consciousness) is the level of complexity and thus completeness of our ability to model it. The mind is a wave in an ocean of brain.
- amelius 9y agoOk, so by "not a thing" you mean "abstraction", rather than something which does not physically exist.
- klank 9y agoIt's a philosophical question about when does something begin to exist vs. it is just an abstraction comprised of constituent parts. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/material-constitution https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/material-constitution
- SubiculumCode 9y agoA 'bunch of water' and a 'wave' are both vague things. The declaration that one is a thing, and the other is not is disugenous. But let us suppose that what you meant is the water molecule is a thing..but is a water molecule more of a thing than a wave is a thing? I do not think so, for even if you speak of the individual atoms in a water molecule the atom is a collection of other parts, and nevertheless is fundamentally a wave-like distributed field. This insistence that one is a thing and the other simply an abstraction of the mind is hubris and artificial.
- hammock 9y agoA wave is a thing. I think what the commenter meant consciousness is a property, like red is a property. Red is not a thing. Things can be red.