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And what is wrong with 'it emerges from neural activity'? Nothing terribly wrong, but consider this: a) images on the television emerge from electrical activi
by pradocchia 13y ago
And what is wrong with 'it emerges from neural activity'?
Nothing terribly wrong, but consider this:
a) images on the television emerge from electrical activity in the television set;
b) break the television and the the images cease.
If we didn't already know that televisions receive signals, we might suppose that one day, after our science had progressed far enough, we might understand how televisions produce all that endless content.
- jasonkolb 13y agoThis is the best comment I've seen in this thread. It illustrates the key point IMO, which is that pretending like you have all of the relevant information precludes you from understanding the real cause of the phenomenon you're observing. Having a closed mind should never be celebrated as a rational thing to do even if it means not accepting the dogma du jour.
- RivieraKid 13y agoWhat the fuck is dogma du jour?
- fennecfoxen 13y ago1. http://lmgtfy.com/?q=define+dogma http://lmgtfy.com/?q=define+dogma 2. http://lmgtfy.com/?q=define+du+jour http://lmgtfy.com/?q=define+du+jour
- jongraehl 13y agoI agree that "emerges" is no explanation at all. But we can agree that the images on the TV screen are caused by the configuration of physical matter making up the TV, just like our consciousness is caused by the physical matter making up our brain. Granted, people have subjective (i.e. feel-happy) reasons to throw out Occam's razor and suppose we have e.g. an eternal soul, but the search for the soul-receiver in the brain will just give you fits (not so bold prediction: they'll never find it, because it doesn't exist).
- Gravityloss 13y agoIf we connect electrodes (or use non-invasive potential and current measurement techniques), we can reverse engineer the functionality. We see that electrons hit the screen. Where do they come from? The emitter. What controls its voltage? The amplifier. What are the inputs to it? We can see that there is a measurable signal coming to the television through the wire. There is nothing supernatural or even quantum level stuff going on.