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Hmm, I remember thinking about this several years ago, the big issue is that it's almost unfalsifiable. I remember thinking that an experiment looking at whethe
by deepnotderp 8y ago
Hmm, I remember thinking about this several years ago, the big issue is that it's almost unfalsifiable. I remember thinking that an experiment looking at whether anesthetics (that caused loss of consciousness in neurons) also stopped quantum phenomena in said neurons. But alas, that was a hard experiment to do back then :)
- zamalek 8y agoAny experiment concerning consciousness is likely unfalsifiable. It's a subjective phenomenon, by definition. Even if you could get approval to futz with someone's consciousness, you have to ask them what they are experiencing.
- crazygringo 8y agoSubjective doesn't mean unfalsifiable. If the experiment is double-blind and a statistically significant proportion of participants report subjective differences according to a survey, and the results can be replicated... then you're good to go. Obviously there's the question of what it would mean which could be argued over... but if the effect is there, it means something.
- adrianN 8y agoThe fundamental problem is that you can test whether the drug causes people to report that they're not conscious, but you can't test whether they're actually conscious or not.
- deepnotderp 8y agoI was planning to use animals actually, but yeah, at that point in time I decided against it, I didn't think I had the necessary skills to humanely handle animals for such an invasive experiment.