Knowledge & Illusion (for Romansh) (General)

by David Turell , Sunday, February 26, 2012, 18:26 (4655 days ago) @ romansh


> But as a doctor you well recognize our brain function (consciousness if you like) is a product of chemistry and can be affected by whole range of chemicals.
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> Or do you dispute this?-No dispute, but the chemicals that enter my brain that will change its functin are at my choice: Surgical anesthesia, cocaine, alcohol. My regular body chemistry is not programmed to control me.
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> Just as an aside, fMRIs, how do they work? I presume they detect the magnetic resonance of hydrogen atoms (nuclei) and can distinguish the difference between oxygenated and deoxygenated porphorin rings. For some reason Wiki does not give a clear explanation.-As you describe, but the metabolic light-up is based on increased blood flow to the area to handle increased metabolism in the area, not neuron activity. 100 billion neurons with several trillion connections (synapses)and we really can't follow the raging electricity. For eexample, it appears that memory is partially holographic and covers large areas of the brain.
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> > The autonomic system is an area not under discussion. I know how that runs things. The basis of mu questioning is consciousness. I consider it an emergent 'whatever'.
> Fair enough, 'emergence' is a non explanation for me anyway.-Of course emergence is a non-answer. It is the best term we have.
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>> Are you controlling your quantum fields? Certainly not consciously. Ditto for electromagnetic fields.-At the particle level or at the gauss lines they are on their own. But per quantum math, their average is steady and doesn't affect 'me'. Don't let uncertainty upset you. Our reality runs pretty well without surprises. It is when we delve into the quantum level to see what's going on that we discover all the counter-intuitive stuff. My God hides behind all that barrier, and probably giggles a little at our current confusion.
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> Yes it does seem that way. As we write we seem to be in charge. So there is a part of you manipulating the chemistry that is described and is encompassed by the second law? As a student I found it hard to understand the second law, and yet we can manipulate it unconsciously (or is it consciously)?-Don't let the second law confuse you. Life overcomes entropy. We have an input of energy from the sun which is following the Second Law. We don't have to. we can organize and stay organized because of that energy input, which e put to good use.
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> So what do you mean by you? It is ultimately a very serious question for both the panentheist and those of us who have pantheistic urges. I agree with the molding. But it's not just our wives and what we perceive as past environments. It is also our genetics and the very nature of chemistry and physics.-My genetics come to me fixed in place. I asssume I do a little epigenetic molding, especially my very plastic brain in younger years, but that molding is putting 'me' in place for the rest of my life. The chemistry and physics of my brain gets to a fixed place and I am 'me'. Example: I grew up in a standard liberal Jewish New York family. Loved New York and FDR. I learned better. I am now a Reagan Republican, a conservatve Texan thru and thru, and there is an S&W by my bed. I'm not paranoid. I am free of those original constraints. New York is good to visit for theater. 
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> > I certainly don't buy all the Darwinistic crap that much of the animal instincts have come through to me as a human descendent and I am controlled by them. -> I don't think Darwin actually thought that. I'm a quarter of the way through Origin ... I let you know.-Darwin thought white folks were superior to all the others. We will leave the eugenics movement out of our discussion.-> 
> I don't know if you have read much on the free will debate. Traditionally there have been three pugilists. Libertarians, who deny determinism (cause and effect?), compatibilists who are at home with both determinism and free will. (Hard)Determinists who can't see how we have cause and effect, and free will. And more recently (hard) indeterminists who think a lack of cause and effect (ie quantum phenomena) also deny the possibility of free will.-I haven't, but probably need to. I'm a Liberarian from your definitions.