Consciousness; further review of current thought (Introduction)

by David Turell , Tuesday, July 05, 2016, 15:03 (3066 days ago) @ dhw

An essay in the NY Times looks at the latest thinking, with no results:-http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/05/science/what-is-consciousness.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20160705&_r=0-"Depression can be treated in two radically different ways: by altering the brain with chemicals, or by altering the mind by talking to a therapist. But we still can't explain how mind arises from matter or how, in turn, mind acts on the brain.-"This longstanding conundrum — the mind-body problem — was succinctly described by the philosopher David Chalmers at a recent symposium at The New York Academy of Sciences. “The scientific and philosophical consensus is that there is no nonphysical soul or ego, or at least no evidence for that,” he said.-***-"Michael Graziano, a neuroscientist at Princeton University, suggested to the audience that consciousness is a kind of con game the brain plays with itself. The brain is a computer that evolved to simulate the outside world. Among its internal models is a simulation of itself — a crude approximation of its own neurological processes.-"The result is an illusion. Instead of neurons and synapses, we sense a ghostly presence — a self — inside the head. But it's all just data processing.-“'The machine mistakenly thinks it has magic inside it,” Dr. Graziano said. And it calls the magic consciousness.-"It's not the existence of this inner voice he finds mysterious. “The phenomenon to explain,” he said, “is why the brain, as a machine, insists it has this property that is nonphysical.”-***-"Proponents of emergence, who have become predominant among scientists studying the mind, try to make their case with metaphors. The qualities of water — wetness, clarity, its shimmering reflectivity — emerge from the interaction of hydrogen and oxygen atoms. Life, in a similar way, arises from molecules.-"We no longer believe in a numinous life force, an élan vital. So what's the big deal about consciousness?-***-"For lack of a precise mechanism describing how minds are generated by brains, some philosophers and scientists have been driven back to the centuries-old doctrine of panpsychism — the idea that consciousness is universal, existing as some kind of mind stuff inside molecules and atoms.-"Consciousness doesn't have to emerge. It's built into matter, perhaps as some kind of quantum mechanical effect.-***-"Max Tegmark, a physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Physics (he also spoke at the New York event), has proposed that there is a state of matter — like solid, liquid and gas — that he calls perceptronium: atoms arranged so they can process information and give rise to subjectivity.-"Perceptronium does not have to be biological. Dr. Tegmark's hypothesis was inspired in part by the neuroscientist Giulio Tononi, whose integrated information theory has become a major force in the science of consciousness.-***-"The theory has its critics. Using the phi yardstick, Scott Aaronson, a computer scientist known for razorlike skepticism, has calculated that a relatively simple grid of electronic logic gates — something like the error-correcting circuitry in a DVD player — can be many times more conscious than a human brain.-"Dr. Tononi doesn't dismiss that possibility. What would it be like to be this device? We just don't know. Understanding consciousness may require an upheaval in how science parses reality.-***-"Or maybe not. As computers become ever more complex, one might surprise us someday with intelligent, spontaneous conversation,-***-"We might not understand how this is happening any more than we understand our inner voices. Philosophers will argue over whether the computer is really conscious or just simulating consciousness — and whether there is any difference.-"If the computer gets depressed, what is the computational equivalent of Prozac? Or how would a therapist, human or artificial, initiate a talking cure?-***-"Maybe it would find itself flummoxed by its own mind-body problem. We humans may not be of much help."-Comment: Amen. I still look to quantum mechanics, dualism as shown by NDE's, as containing the most possible answers. We still have none.