On 9/27/2012 10:52 PM, Craig Weinberg wrote:
On Thursday, September 27, 2012 7:45:07 PM UTC-4, stathisp wrote:
On Thu, Sep 27, 2012 at 11:30 PM, Craig Weinberg
<[email protected] <javascript:>> 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.
If the neurons fire based on the participation of a personal identity
in response to events in a person's life, then how could physics
predict them without predicting a person's entire life?
Craig
Good point! Physical systems are completely blind to their history,
or so we are told...
--
Onward!
Stephen
http://webpages.charter.net/stephenk1/Outlaw/Outlaw.html
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