Consciousness: attention (Introduction)

by dhw, Saturday, October 13, 2012, 14:27 (4426 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: Studies continue to show that if it seems three regions of the brain are involved there are really more to find:
 
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2012/10/10/how-the-brain-does-attention-is-still-unknown/?WT_mc_id=SA_DD_20121010-This article begins as follows:-Humans can focus on one thing amidst many. "Searchlight of attention" is the metaphor. You recall a childhood friend's face one moment, then perhaps the dog you loved back then, and then...what you will. Your son's face on stage rivets your attention; the rest of the cast is unseen.-No "ghost" in the brain aims that searchlight. [My bold] What does? Neurons do, somehow, but how is a mystery that new research actually deepened.-This a scientific article in a scientific journal, but note how science is used as a cover for sheer prejudice. For the "searchlight of attention" you could substitute will, memory, imagination, consciousness, and this author would tell you the same: we haven't a clue how it works, and the more we try to prove our theory that it's all a matter of neurons, the less our theory seems to fit the facts. However, we won't even consider the possibility that there might be something other than neurons directing the neurons. There is definitely no "ghost" in the brain.
 
I don't know if there is or isn't a "ghost" in the brain, and I don't know if NDEs and OBEs and other so-called paranormal phenomena are or are not reliable evidence that the mind is not just a matter of neurons. However, I do know that science is meant to be objective, and the totally unnecessary statement above (in bold) therefore has no place in a scientific study.