Big brain evolution: brain size and intelligence (Evolution)

by dhw, Sunday, April 08, 2018, 11:17 (2419 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: I'm happy to show we are all stumped. And please recognize living brain and NDE are two different circumstances, and the s/s/c may function differently in both.

dhw: Recognized. NDEs are only relevant to our discussion as evidence for dualism. Our discussion concerns the respective roles of the s/s/c and the brain in life. And you have missed the point: we are stumped because there is evidence both for dualism and for materialism, and nobody knows which is correct. When I present the case for dualism, you counter with evidence for materialism, but you refuse to recognize that IQ as a product of the brain, and new concepts as a product of the enlarged brain, both run counter to dualism. You say you are stumped. So am I, and so is Gazzaniga. He and I are stumped because we recognize the dichotomy created by the evidence. Now please explain WHY you are stumped, although you claim to be a dualist.

DAVID: I am not stumped.

You are "happy to show that we are all stumped", but you are not stumped!

DAVID: I have a very specific dualistic theory: the s/s/c functions differently in life and in death/nonfunction. In life it must use the brain it attaches to and use it with the ability the brain has to handle whatever level of complex thought it is built to handle/allow. Thus my statement above. In death the s/s/c acts as an independent entity by a different quantum mechanism.

We have agreed on all this, and it is not the issue! The issue is the roles played by the s/s/c and the brain IN LIFE. So once more: do you believe that IN LIFE your immaterial thoughts are the product of your material brain, or do you believe that you have an immaterial self that gathers information from and gives instructions to your material brain, so that your immaterial thoughts can be given material expression and/or implementation? Or are you stumped?