On Thu, Sep 27, 2012 at 11:30 PM, Craig Weinberg <[email protected]> wrote:
>> I object to the idea that consciousness will cause a brain or other >> machine to behave in a way not predictable by purely physical laws. >> Some people, like Craig Weinberg, seem to believe that this is >> possible but it is contrary to all science. This applies even if the >> whole universe is really just a simulation, because what we observe is >> at the level of the simulation. > > > That is not what I believe at all. I have corrected you and others on this > many times but you won't hear it. Nothing unusual needs to happen in the > brain for ordinary consciousness to take place, it's just that physics has > nothing to say about whether billions of synapses will suddenly begin firing > in complex synchronized patterns or not. Physics doesn't care. Can neurons > fire when conditions are right? Yes. Can our thoughts and intentions > directly control conditions in the brain? YES. Of course. Obviously. > Otherwise we wouldn't care any more about the human brain than we would a > wasps nest. It's not that physics needs to be amended, it is that experience > is part of physics, and physics is part of experience. If physics cannot predict even in theory when the neurons will fire then *by definition* the neurons behave contrary to physics. -- Stathis Papaioannou -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en.
