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The Magic of Consciousness [video]
- MichaelAO 12y agoDescription: Consciousness is at the core of our very existence. An intangible constant that underpins our experience of the world. But for centuries it has been the frustrating source of a seemingly impenetrable explanatory gap – it is largely a scientific mystery. As we interact with the world, stimuli trigger physical processes in our body. Nerve cells transmit messages around the body and through the brain. But how do these physical interactions give rise to the conscious sensations we experience? Can we get conscious sensation from nerve cells alone? In this video theoretical psychologist Professor Nicholas Humphrey asks whether consciousness could all be an illusion. Could it be a mirage constructed in the theatre of our minds? Perhaps the questions we should ask are not centered on sensations themselves, but merely on the appearance of those sensations. And why does consciousness, in any form, exist at all? How did it evolve? The answer might lie in our social interactions. Consciousness elevates our interpretation of the world and the people around us. It alters our psychological profile and breathes joy into our experiences, and makes us value life itself.
- georgemcbay 12y agoFree from the burden of having to scientifically prove anything that is as-of yet unprovable, my own thoughts of the role of consciousness as it relates to evolution are that consciousness is actually the reproductive system of the universe (still prepubescent as far as we know within our own universe-organism).
- MichaelAO 12y agoInteresting. On both an aesthetic and intellectual level, I like the statement "consciousness is actually the reproductive system of the universe". Care to elaborate?
- georgemcbay 12y agoWell it essentially grows out of the idea that the universe might be a simulation, which is not novel though obviously unproven and perhaps wrong and in either case a controversial idea for some people. Going beyond that is the idea that maybe there's simulations in simulations. Just basic shlock-90s movie plot stuff in a way (see: The Thirteenth Floor, et al), but what if that's the basic nature of the universe(s)? And on a slight tangent, what if there's no "substrate" universe at all? (There not being one is no less weird than there being one, IMO), but if it is just purely mathematical rules based universes all the way down (and maybe around in some cases, if the idea of looped recursion is universally humorous)? Taken all of this admittedly out-there whackiness, perhaps consciousness (the big why question) is ultimately the means by which universes reproduce. Over a long enough timeline with enough luck and fitness a universe may develop conscious creatures eventually capable of creating more "simulated" universes (or not, if that universe is unfit), a situation very unlikely to occur by randomness alone. This thought-experiment theory takes the opposite approach from most in that it attempts to answer the why as opposed to the how.
- MichaelAO 12y agoThanks for sharing. The simulation theory is definitely plausible (as proposed by Bostrom). A few years ago I stared writing a mini story entitled "Turtles all the way down" about simulations within simulations. It was a fun thought experiment indeed. Speaking of your tangent, the idea of there being at least one original or 'substate' universe seems to be a given by even the most exotic simulation theorists. I like your style ha. You might appreciate the work by Thomas Campbell and his My Big Theory of Everything. I don't endorse everything he says, but his premise is that we're living in a simulation and that "It's just data". His book was an interesting read.
- georgemcbay 12y agoI will take a look, thanks for the references!