Immateriality of Consciousness (Humans)

by dhw, Sunday, December 05, 2010, 14:39 (5101 days ago) @ Balance_Maintained

TONY: The brain is incapable of producing energy. It is not a battery. The energy has to come from outside the brain. I would even go so far as to say the initial energy has to come from outside the body.
To answer this question we would have to start in the womb. All of the energy to support the growing fetus comes from the mother until the fetus is capable of producing it's own, yet, even before the fetus is fully capable of sustaining its own life, due to the fact that most of its organs are not fully developed, it has consciousness.-I'm no expert on how the body produces energy, but I can tell you without fear of contradiction that if the heart doesn't pump the blood round your body to carry the necessary oxygen and nutrients, your brain will die and then it will rot. The energy that drives our physical selves is provided physically. The theory that there is another form of energy which is independent of the body, and which ... for want of a better term ... we call the "soul" is precisely what we're discussing, so I don't know why you say the energy that drives the brain "has to" come from outside. We just don't know whether the brain is the source or the medium for consciousness. Nor can I see how a foetus will give us the answer, since whatever consciousness it might have may also be derived from the brain functioning through the mother's bodily energy. But while I dispute your "has to", I'm as mystified as you by the nature of consciousness and identity, and am open to any evidence either way. NDEs and OBEs, paranormal experiences, ESP all suggest that there may be an identity independent of the brain, and even radical atheists have to admit they are nowhere near solving the mystery of consciousness. On the other hand, we know that identity, thought processes and levels of consciousness can be radically changed by purely physical means (e.g. drugs, diseases), and that suggests a physical origin.