Identity (Identity)

by David Turell , Tuesday, September 01, 2009, 01:49 (5561 days ago) @ George Jelliss

But what is it a supposition of? What does it actually consist of? How does it work? As I understand it you think your mind is a part of this universal intelligence? But you don't really have any practical theory about how it actually works. -No I don't, and you understand this beforehand. I am thinking in the realm of the supernatural. I don't have any exact idea any more than the monotheistic religions have of their Gods. The Eastern religions can't offer any help. There is no way to offer a 'practical theory' when materialistic reductionism in our current scientific approach cannot study the supernatural. If all of us could directly analyze possible divine levels, we would not be having the current discussions on this website. It is simply beyond my willingness to accept natural causes for something that is as complex as the functions of our bodies and the development of our conscious minds. Further I have never seen a complex code that did not have an intellectual source. A universal intelligence is about as far as I can go in developing a concept I can feel comfortable with. Can my thought be proven? Of course not. But if science continues to expand our knowledge of the complexity of life, I think we will reach a point (a probability bound) that mathematical probabilities will require that we accept something supernatural, 
 
> What we do actually know is that our brains are made of atoms and that they work by means of electrochemical connections between the millions of cells, and it is this activity that we experience as mind. How does your hypothesis of disembodied mind work in this context?-Our brain is made up of billion of neurons with trillions of synaptic connections. Part of this exists as we are born, but the brain develops much of it as we learn and develop memories. PET scans show where much of the functions occur, but there are so many minor interconnections, I'm not sure the scans give a perfect picture to give us full understanding. I do think that our consciousness arises at a quantum level of electrical activity and is an emergent phenomenon, raising the old debate about dualism. Part of my thinking is that the universal intelligence is also at the quantum reality level, again, as I have stated before, across a wall of uncertainty (Heisenberg) that we are unable to explore, but that intelligence somehow is connected to our small intelligence in a quantum fashion.- This allows for my thinking that there are paranormal psychic experiences. Collections of near-to-death experiences find that they are very similar; they always see dead people if people are seen or communicated with; some NDEer's learn about the death of others during the experience, without any way of that information coming to them other than the experience. These have been documented generally in hospice settings. My wife is occasionally psychic. She does not control or ask for the 'visions'. 
 
> I'm quite convinced that the complexities of biology are adequately explained to have arisen through evolution by natural selection, or "by chance" as you insist on calling it. -I believe that evolution occurred. Natural selection is another term for competition between species and/or individuals in the same species. Mutations occur at random and occasionally change an individual to improve his chances for survival. Mutations can change species to improve their survival. According to Darwin, evolution is undirected because mutations are random. Mutations, therefore, are chance events. Natural selection is a competition that can occur only between differing individuals with different capacities for survival. Mutations, as chance events, are a passive process. Natural selection, as a competition, is an active process, but since the starting event is passive, evolution must be considered a passive activity. That is why I use the word 'chance'. -> DT asked: "I will ask a direct question. How much of this do you understand? Because it is the key to my point of view." I'm not a biologist, but I've read a lot and like to keep up to date. My background is in maths, physics and chemistry. I used to work in science publishing.-Thank you for the information. It helps me understand some of your areas of advanced knowledge, and perhaps may help me understand why you think the way you do