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How do you know that consciousness remains bound to the brain, which has lost all function? For that matter, there's no scientific reason to believe that my con

How do you know that consciousness remains bound to the brain, which has lost all function? For that matter, there's no scientific reason to believe that my consciousness shall remain bound to my brain 5 minutes from now. My body and brain could continue on living, with my consciousness going elsewhere, or ceasing to exist.

gnaritas 18y ago
If you think that, then I suggest you're not up to date on the science. Read some Steven Pinker, it's pretty well established that the brain is the seat of consciousness. There may still be arguments over what consciousness is or how it's formed, but there's little debate that it comes from the brain and exists only until that brain stops functioning.
- banned_man 18y ago
  It's well-established that, to the extent that consciousness is bound to the body, the central nervous system is the strongest and possibly sole contributor. It's also obvious that changes to the brain can induce massive alterations of consciousness and cognitive function. Not even the most religious people would argue that, while we're bound to a human body, the physical state of the brain can dominate our experience. This is not quite the same thing as saying that consciousness comes from the brain. It's equally plausible that "the world" emerges from mind.
  - gnaritas 18y ago
    > It's equally plausible that "the world" emerges from mind. Uh... no, it isn't.
    - banned_man 18y ago
      How not? Many strains of Buddhism consider mind to be the first-class citizen and worlds to emerge from minds, as opposed to the materialist view wherein matter is the first-class citizen. That doesn't mean that the laws of physics are controlled by my mind, but that this world only exists because trillions of minds exist to experience it, and not independently of them. Think of it this way: there's no reason not to believe that there aren't infinitely many (or a massive number of) universes. Of course, if they're generated "randomly" (whatever that might mean) the vast majority of them won't support conscious life (fine tuning). For those universes that don't harbor conscious life, there's no difference between them existing and not existing. Ergo, they don't really exist. Then, minds create worlds.
      - Luc 18y ago
        In your first paragraph, you are framing this as a religious question, which of course is impossible to debate. In your second paragraph you create a non sequitur by assuming universes without (conscious!) life do not 'really' exist. This is all very poetic, but far removed from reality.
sho 18y ago
He doesn't know for sure, it is just the simplest and most likely theory that fits the facts as we know them - consciousness arises from certain complex arrangements of living cells, and is not known to exist outside of those conditions. You can speculate to your heart's content, but until you have some evidence to suggest the current theory of conciousness is mistaken and that yours fits observable reality better, then your speculation will remain just that.
- banned_man 18y ago
  There is no current theory of consciousness. There is wide and probably intractable debate. It is as speculative to claim that consciousness cannot exist outside of the brain as to claim that it can.

gnaritas 18y ago

If you think that, then I suggest you're not up to date on the science. Read some Steven Pinker, it's pretty well established that the brain is the seat of consciousness. There may still be arguments over what consciousness is or how it's formed, but there's little debate that it comes from the brain and exists only until that brain stops functioning.

banned_man 18y ago
It's well-established that, to the extent that consciousness is bound to the body, the central nervous system is the strongest and possibly sole contributor. It's also obvious that changes to the brain can induce massive alterations of consciousness and cognitive function. Not even the most religious people would argue that, while we're bound to a human body, the physical state of the brain can dominate our experience. This is not quite the same thing as saying that consciousness comes from the brain. It's equally plausible that "the world" emerges from mind.
- gnaritas 18y ago
  > It's equally plausible that "the world" emerges from mind. Uh... no, it isn't.
  - banned_man 18y ago
    How not? Many strains of Buddhism consider mind to be the first-class citizen and worlds to emerge from minds, as opposed to the materialist view wherein matter is the first-class citizen. That doesn't mean that the laws of physics are controlled by my mind, but that this world only exists because trillions of minds exist to experience it, and not independently of them. Think of it this way: there's no reason not to believe that there aren't infinitely many (or a massive number of) universes. Of course, if they're generated "randomly" (whatever that might mean) the vast majority of them won't support conscious life (fine tuning). For those universes that don't harbor conscious life, there's no difference between them existing and not existing. Ergo, they don't really exist. Then, minds create worlds.
    - Luc 18y ago
      In your first paragraph, you are framing this as a religious question, which of course is impossible to debate. In your second paragraph you create a non sequitur by assuming universes without (conscious!) life do not 'really' exist. This is all very poetic, but far removed from reality.

sho 18y ago

He doesn't know for sure, it is just the simplest and most likely theory that fits the facts as we know them - consciousness arises from certain complex arrangements of living cells, and is not known to exist outside of those conditions. You can speculate to your heart's content, but until you have some evidence to suggest the current theory of conciousness is mistaken and that yours fits observable reality better, then your speculation will remain just that.

banned_man 18y ago
There is no current theory of consciousness. There is wide and probably intractable debate. It is as speculative to claim that consciousness cannot exist outside of the brain as to claim that it can.