Big brain evolution: changes in sapiens skull shape;addendum (Evolution)

by David Turell , Tuesday, February 27, 2018, 18:03 (2459 days ago) @ dhw

DAVID: Agreed. However, I conceive of an s/s/c which has two constructions or forms, one interfaced with the brain and the other separated in NDE's or death.

dhw: There is no “however”. You keep agreeing that the self/soul is the immaterial thinking/conscious YOU. The immaterial thinking/conscious YOU interfaces with the material brain and the rest of the material world in life, and in death the immaterial thinking/conscious you interfaces with whatever world the afterlife consists of. I can’t see much point in your having an afterlife if you are no longer the thinking/conscious you. Can you?

I don't know where the confusion in your answer comes from. As above: In life I reach my immaterial s/s/c by working within my brain, which is a soft wet material, and it which I am materially connected. In death or NDE my physical self is disconnected and my s/s/c operates independently of anything material. I therefore conceive of the s/s/c as having two separate quantum forms, one as a software interface with the brain and the other as an interface with the afterlife.

DAVID: You have no reason. I say God did it.

dhw: “God did it” is not a reason! I offer the drive for survival and/or improvement as the reason for evolutionary innovation, and I acknowledge that your God may have invented the mechanisms that enable evolution to take place. We know for a fact that the brain is modified (complexifies with a degree of resultant shrinkage) by implementing new concepts. Yes or no? You say your God reversed the known process of brain modification by modifying (in this case enlarging) the pre-sapiens brain BEFORE there was a reason to do so. Why would he do that if he has already designed a mechanism whereby the s/s/c does the thinking and the brain modifies itself by implementing the thoughts of the s/s/c?

The brain has no built-in mechanism for enlargement that has been demonstrated. Only complexification with accompanying shrinkage has been shown. In my analogy about the brain and s/s/c as computer and software, it is reasonable to compare what we observe to that approach. Only larger more complex computers can receive and handle more complex software. The appearance of the large more complex brain allows the development of more complex thought and concept.

dhw: You believe that you, the s/s/c, CAN think without a living brain, as explained above (NDE's). Your material brain does not “allow” you to think: it provides information for you the s/s/c to think about, and it “allows” you the s/s/c to express/implement these thoughts materially, which is the essence of dualism (= mind and body are separate, though they work together), as you have agreed a thousand times.

DAVID: I see it differently and experience it differently than your statement. My brain does 'allow' me to think. Unless I am attached to my brain I will have no thoughts I am aware of, which is why I think the s/s/c has two forms as discussed above.

dhw: Your dualist’s s/s/c has one form but is capable of thinking in two different worlds (as discussed above). If you are not yourself and do not have thoughts you are aware of in the afterlife, you might as well be dead.

I am dead and my s/s/c is active, and I theorize it has two forms, one in life and one in afterlife. Same s/s/c but slightly different in how it interfaces with where it is.