Consciousness; a radically new theory. ephemeral? (Introduction)

by David Turell , Saturday, July 11, 2015, 19:32 (3422 days ago) @ romansh
edited by David Turell, Saturday, July 11, 2015, 19:42

Romansh: Reread the excerpt I explicitly assume a brain. -Then why all the discussion about travelling with it?
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> > > Romansh: Repeated experiences seems to strengthen certain aspects of receiver.
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> > David: It is certainly true that the brain is plastic, self-modifying, but it appears to be in a helpful way improving our mental abilities. -> Romansh: Not always!-But there are lots of studies showing growth in areas of the brain under intensive use, and ones that a marked increase in IQ in children who are read to and conversed with in early childhood as compared to non-interactive children. 
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> > David: Consciousness is much more than mental abilities and your paragraph above is really a discussion of personality development, and each of us is very different in that development, and again this is just an aspect of our personal consciousness, but does not address the whole concept of how does consciousness arise from the brain.-> Romansh: But we both do agree it does,....but you argue no, there is another layer beyond that. On top of that you argue this immaterial layer also in some way guides the construction of the receiver.-But I have a good argument for a feedback mechanism between demonstrated deliberate use of the brain and its plastic ability to change its network anatomy.-> 
> > > Romansh: Now, a slightly more scientific inquiry, is the transmission and consequent reception described by cause and effect and thermodynamics in general? Well I certainly don't know, but my reception of the transmission is not aware of evidence of this kind. 
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> > David: To me the appearance of my consciousness to me is seamless. I would not expect to note its reception. It simply IS.
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> Romansh: To me this answer has nothing to do with my question. -Specifically, I am not aware of any studies that show a reception of consciousness by the brain. But I do not think such studies are possible. The thought of reception comes from the NDE studies that you do not wish to pursue.
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> > > Romansh: I am sadly lacking any such evidence of this transmission. I will not use the word therefore, but for the moment I will move ahead on the assumption that this ephemeral consciousness is an unnecessary assumption. -Where did consciousness go while the brain is demonstrated to be non-functional in NDE's, only to come back afterward? No one has solved this mystery, but they propose a receiver type of relationship..
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> > David: And I think consciousness is totally immaterial, but somehow based on a functional material brain. The two are inseparable but somehow separate.
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> Romansh: Then how does this totally immaterial interact with the material?-That is part of the unsolved mystery. There is clear evidence of interaction in studies which show a clear demonstration of brain plasticity with use. For examples look at my entries on brain plasticity on this website. This discussion is why I put them here in the first place, to investigate the origin/creation of human consciousness.-Further we have barely touched understanding brain complexity as this website shows. Not only is each neuron different, the synapses have individual adjustments to fit the mental processes:-http://directorsblog.nih.gov/2015/07/07/creative-minds-meet-a-theoretical-neuroscientist/-"Using data that he and his colleagues have recorded from living brain cells, called neurons, Escola crunches numbers to develop rigorous statistical models that simulate the activity of neuronal circuits within the brain. He hopes his models will help to build a new neuroscience that brings into sharper focus how the brain's biocircuitry lights up to generate sensations and thoughts—and how it misfires in various neurological disorders, particularly in mental illnesses.-"Like many of his fellow neuroscientists, Escola views the brain as a complex computational machine, with the operative word being “complex.” The human brain consists of roughly 86 billion neurons and billions of other types of cells. Further complicating matters, no two neurons are exactly alike because each one reaches out and touches hundreds or thousands of other cells, forming trillions of information-processing connections, or circuits.

Throughout the day, individual circuits click on and off in our brains to process the external factors that greet and sometimes confront us. The same is true for a wide range of internal stimuli, such as a craving for food or a need for sleep. Escola wants to know how neural circuits process this interplay of internal and external signals—an area of investigation that is just becoming possible through technological innovations arising from NIH-funded research, including the pioneering Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative." (my bold)