On Jan 18, 2014, at 11:51 AM, John Clark <johnkcl...@gmail.com> wrote:
On Fri, Jan 17, 2014 at 9:54 PM, Jason Resch <jasonre...@gmail.com>
wrote:
> I think that one possible explaination is that neurochemistry is a
very fragile thing. And solvents, being reactive, can easily throw a
wrench into the whole thing.
But why does anesthesia just disrupt consciousness?
Most anesthetics subtly disrupt the operation of neurons so that their
signals don't travel as far or as reliably across the brain. Thus the
complex signaling across distant brain regions may be cut off or be
replaced with random noise. The neurons are no less active under
anesthesia; the brain does not shut off, rather different regions of
the brain become cut off from one another, islands unto themselves, in
a phenomena known as cognitive unbinding. Fodor's modularity of mind
and cognitive unbinding explain anestesia well in my opinion. The
sensations of pain don't reach other areas of the brain, the
processing of the auditory cortex doesn't reach the hippocampus, etc.
I think from anestesia we can infer and learn a lot about what
consciousness can be.
Why does the Brain still have the ability to tell the lungs how to
breathe?
Because our autonaumic functions don't require complex, multiple step,
processing between brain regions. Dolphins and whales, on the other
hand, which are "conscious breathers" suffocate and die when given
anestesia.
And usually if you screw up something very complex to such a degree
that it quits functioning entirely then it's irreversible;
Think about the "screw up" like this: different brain regions
communicate via radio, and we gradually increase some jamming
interference to increase the noise:signal ratio until distant or
complex operation is too dampened to work. If you remove the radio
interference there is no damage to the components, only the
communication links were disrupted.
but not with anesthesia, after a few hours you're as conscious as
you ever were. Good thing too, imagine what our world would be like
if anesthesia was impossible.
It's not hard to, just look at the past when it was not known it was
possible.
> Even non-reactive chemicals, like Xenon have been found to make a
nearly ideal anastheitc.
And Xenon has a much larger fat\water solubility ratio that any gas
in the air, so the Meyer Overton Rule would predict that it would be
a anesthetic, and we find that it is. And Helium has one of the
lowest fat\water solubility ratios known, much lower than Nitrogen,
Interesting.
so the Meyer Overton Rule would predict that Helium would have
virtually zero narcotic effect and would be a good gas for deep sea
divers to substitute for Nitrogen to prevent Nitrogen narcosis; and
we find that indeed Helium works great for that and the Meyer
Overton Rule is right yet again.
I suppose it makes sense considering the brain is essentially a big
lump of fat.
Jason
John K Clark
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