Cosmic Intelligence (Agnosticism)

by David Turell , Saturday, June 13, 2009, 18:50 (5640 days ago) @ George Jelliss

David Turell writes; "On the other hand, what is consciousness? I don't know and I'm sure George doesn't either."
 
> Consciousness is simply self-awareness to some degree. - It is more than 'some degree'. It is pre-planning, analyzing the moves of an opponent. It is the aesthetic appreciation of a sunset, art, music,and great literature. Monkeys watching a sunset only think supper is coming.
 
> DT: "It is certainly an emergent property of the brain."
 
> The term "emergence" is another of these buzz words that means very little. There is no prospect consciousnes suddenly "emerging" in a brain, or in a network like the world-wide-web. - What do you think of Sheldrake's work on species and human consciousness? Quantum entanglement makes his conclusions entirely possible.
 
> DT: "but I doubt that a future highly developed computer will ever have consciousness and be aware of itself in the way we are."
>
> I see no reason why an artificial intelligence machine should not be developed that has a degree of self-awareness. - But not a massive degree ,like ours.
 
> DT: "I suspect, like Nadeau and Kafatos, "The Non-Local Universe"', 1999, Oxford Press, that the 'mind' is somewhere in quantum entanglement, behind the 'wall of uncertainty'. Part of the mystery religions call God."
 
> More "consciousness" mystification. There is no evidence that quantum entanglement has anything to do with the workings of the brain. - Here I refer to George's favorite source of information: Wikipedia. Note the number of extremely bright folks and their various theories: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_mind - 
 
 
> DHW: "since no-one has yet worked out how the "electrical or chemical" structures actually produce consciousness, thought, symphonies, sculptures, ESP, NDEs, OBEs, inexplicable knowledge etc., 
 
> We can actually see the brain operating, carrying out these functions! - DHW is right. I watch a car drive by. Do I know how it functions to make it move? I'm not a mechanic. I know about pistons, fuel supply etc. I know a diesel works different than a gasoline engine. I have a smattering of knowledge. What we can see in brain scans is which parts of the brain are doing the task at hand, but we really don't know what those parts are 'really' doing in accomplishing the task of 'mind-work'. Sure, chemical reactions in billions of neurons are chemically creating ions to run down dendrites to other billions of neurons as fast as electric wires. That is all we know. That is why Wikipedia presents so many theories.