Introducing the brain: how emotions relate (Introduction)

by David Turell , Monday, March 02, 2020, 13:37 (1725 days ago) @ dhw

QUOTES: "In insects that are social, they primarily use chemicals to regulate each other. Termites, for example, are a social species, and they pretty much use olfaction and chemicals. Other mammals, like rats and rodents, use touch, and they also use hearing to regulate each other’s nervous systems. Primates, that are not human, also use vision. We use all of those sensory systems—and we also use words and concepts. (DAVID’s bold)

"One thing we’ve learned is that an infant brain doesn’t look like an adult grown-up brain: It’s not wired in the same way. In fact, babies are born with brains that await instructions on how to wire themselves. (DAVID’s bold)

DAVID: this is a materialism view of a neuroscientist, but her thoughts contain many truths. The first is about lower animals and how their socializing works chemically and by other senses.

dhw: I don’t know why you’ve bolded it. All organisms, including ourselves, use chemicals and other senses in order to communicate. Since the author is a materialist, she obviously believes that the source of intelligence is material. That applies both to humans and to the so-called “lower animals”, so what is your point?

Just to point out how this comment implies all the automaticity that is in play.

DAVID: The second bold, in order, shows how the blank-like infant is developed. My view is that our soul/consciousness develops from infant to adult as the instrument of our brain is developed from a very blank beginning. This brain is God's special gift at the end of evolution.

dhw: First of all, you have previously agreed that it is NOT blank at the beginning. That would give every baby precisely the same character right from the start! There are inborn characteristics, which a materialist would attribute to the genetic makeup. Secondly, consciousness developing as the brain develops is just about as materialist as you can get. Why bother to shove in the word soul?

Of course there are inborn characteristics. It is the byplay that forms the adult brain through the brain's plasticity, but the brain itself is very blank in the beginning. Did you understand the presented concept, or just like to argue?