The hard problem of consciousness explained
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 พ.ค. 2024
- In this clip from The Life Lessons Podcast with Simon Mundie, Professor Donald Hoffman and nondual teacher Rupert Spira discuss the hard problem of consciousness...
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This is so great. A scientist with the humility to accept the limitations of his ideological framework whilst appreciating its complimentary value to life, rather than this antagonistic polarised debate that you get with someone identified with their position.
I am a physicist and I will explain why our scientific knowledge refutes the idea that consciousness is generated by the brain and that the origin of our mental experiences is physical/biological .
My argument proves that the fragmentary structure of brain processes implies that brain processes are not a sufficient condition for the existence of consciousness, which existence implies the existence in us of an indivisible unphysical element, which is usually called soul or spirit (in my youtube channel you can find a video with more detailed explanations). I also argue that all emergent properties are subjective cognitive contructs used to approximately describe underlying physical processes, and that these descriptions refer only to mind-dependent entities. Consciousness, being implied by these cognitive contructs, cannot itself be an emergent property.
Preliminary considerations: the concept of set refers to something that has an intrinsically conceptual and subjective nature and implies the arbitrary choice of determining which elements are to be included in the set; what exists objectively are only the single elements. In fact, when we define a set, it is like drawing an imaginary line that separates some elements from all the other elements; obviously this imaginary line does not exist physically, independently of our mind, and therefore any set is just an abstract and subjective cognitive construct and not a physical entity and so are all its properties. Similar considerations can be made for a sequence of elementary processes; sequence is a subjective and abstract concept.
Mental experience is a precondition for the existence of subjectivity/arbitrariness and cognitive constructs, therefore mental experience cannot itself be a cognitive construct; obviously we can conceive the concept of consciousness, but the concept of consciousness is not actual consciousness.
(With the word consciousness I do not refer to self-awareness, but to the property of being conscious= having a mental experiences such as sensations, emotions, thoughts, memories and even dreams).
From the above considerations it follows that only indivisible elements may exist objectively and independently of consciousness, and consequently the only logically coherent and significant statement is that consciousness exists as a property of an indivisible element. Furthermore, this indivisible entity must interact globally with brain processes because we know that there is a correlation between brain processes and consciousness. This indivisible entity is not physical, since according to the laws of physics, there is no physical entity with such properties; therefore this indivisible entity can be identified with what is traditionally called soul or spirit. The soul is the missing element that interprets globally the distinct elementary physical processes occurring at separate points in the brain as a unified mental experience.
Some clarifications.
The brain doesn't objectively and physically exist as a mind-independent entity since we create the concept of the brain by separating an arbitrarily chosen group of quantum particles from everything else. This separation is not done on the basis of the laws of physics, but using addictional subjective criteria, independent of the laws of physics; actually there is a continuous exchange of molecules with the blood and when and how such molecules start and stop being part of the brain is decided arbitrarily. Brain processes consist of many parallel sequences of ordinary elementary physical processes occurring at separate points. There is no direct connection between the separate points in the brain and such connections are just a subjective abstractions used to approximately describe sequences of many distinct physical processes. Indeed, considering consciousness as a property of an entire sequence of elementary processes implies the arbitrary definition of the entire sequence; the entire sequence as a whole (and therefore every function/property/capacity attributed to the brain) is a subjective abstraction that does not refer to any mind-independendent reality.
Physicalism/naturalism is based on the belief that consciousness is an emergent property of the brain. However, an emergent property is defined as a property that is possessed by a set of elements that its individual components do not possess; my arguments prove that this definition implies that emergent properties are only subjective cognitive constructs and therefore, consciousness cannot be an emergent property.
Actually, all the alleged emergent properties are just simplified and approximate descriptions or subjective/arbitrary classifications of underlying physical processes or properties, which are described directly by the fundamental laws of physics alone, without involving any emergent properties (arbitrariness/subjectivity is involved when more than one option is possible; in this case, more than one possible description). An approximate description is only an abstract idea, and no actual entity exists per se corresponding to that approximate description, simply because an actual entity is exactly what it is and not an approximation of itself. What physically exists are the underlying physical processes. Emergence is nothing more than a cognitive construct that is applied to physical phenomena, and cognition itself can only come from a mind; thus emergence can never explain mental experience as, by itself, it implies mental experience.
My approach is scientific and is based on our scientific knowledge of the physical processes that occur in the brain; my arguments prove that such scientific knowledge excludes the possibility that the physical processes that occur in the brain could be a sufficient condition for the existence of consciousness.
Marco Biagini
In Non Duality / Advita Consciousness has many names:
Being, Presence, Reality, Peace, Freedom, ...
And, most importante: Consciousness and Reality are ONE, the ONENESS.
It's possible that we have the necessary precision within our language for explaining the hard problem of consciousness, but we are not doing it because we are learning to read and listen to practianers who are communicating the solution using language precisely; IOW, humans are learning to read and listen as precisely as is being communicated to them by practianers. It requires multilateral agreement about the true use of language. This is of course holding back the next discoveries in physics.
Only consciousness itself understands the hard problem of consciousness. It exists beyond the reach of language and thought, which cannot fully capture or convey its essence.
The reason physics is being held back by this language obstacle is that physics is making it's next discoveries by making a theory about the observer involved in the calculations of quantum theory. Since it's widely accepted that many scientific discoveries are subject to "multiple discovery," or "simultaneous invention," hypothesis - which suggests that scientists are tapping into a beoader collective conciousness that shows or gives indications on where to look next to apply their calculations - it follows that there needs to be a sufficient use of language in the population to explain consciousness for the collective consciousness to have what physicists need to proceed.
The Rainbow picture our Eternal
Over-Consciousness, and the Colors
our Under-Consciousness, as holds our
Day-Consciousness and Night-Consciousness.
Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo.
Instinct, Gravity, Feeling, Intelligence, Intuition, Memory.
We are Gravity-Beings, about to become Feeling-Beings.
At sleep, We move our Day-Consciousness, to the
Night-Bodies, (Deep-Sleep) one by one, via our
Coupling-Body*, (REM) first to the Feeling-Body,
and wake up, from the Instinct-Body.
Our Basic Abilities, have Stuff-side and Life-side,
stuff-side of Gravity and Feeling, is Heat and Freeze,
Instinct, keep them in balanced tension.
Three first, is the Stuff-bearing Basic Enegies.
So this is the Eternal basic picture of Consciousness,
it is a Circuit-princip, and there is a list of other Creator-Principles,
Contrast-Principle and Perspective-Principle,
makes Feeling into Sensing,
Intelligence means Logic and Order,
Perspective + Intelligence = Mathematic.
Life-Unit-Principle, Parents-Principle, Organism-Shift-Principle,
and more,
the Life-Desire is the Force or Motor of Life,
in Direct extension, We have Will, Life-side, and Gravity,
Stuff-side.
Hunger- and Satisfaction-Principles, is the Compass of Life.
The Masculine Principle and the Feminine Principle,
is the most Basic in the Organism-structure of Life-Units.
We are the Only Real Steady Point, behind the Motion-Ocean
and Wisdom-Ocean, We are X1. (I*)
Mother-Energy, Eternity-Body and Over-Consciousness, is X2.
Under-Consciousness is X3. (X0 = X1, X2, X3.)
Back to Consciousness, our Day-Consciousness Never sleep,
it just goes in Circuits, Day/Night and Larger.
*All Nde, Obe, Dreams, visit, messages, Coma, is experienced through
the Coupling-Body, (REM) and Coupling-bodies can be experienced,
as Ghosts.
Well, in addition, 'This Device' would Not work, if it is not a technical
'copy', composition of our Eternal abilities,
Automatic, Power, Sensors, Logic and Order, (*), harddisc,
Intuition needs more space to explain.
Black holes and supernova,s happen because someone was conscious of the event....😂😂
Check out the Nobel Prize winners 2022 - about local realism.