> On 12 May 2015, at 10:40 am, Bruce Kellett <[email protected]> wrote: > > Stathis Papaioannou wrote: >>> On 12 May 2015, at 8:25 am, Russell Standish <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>> It won't be a specific electron that will switch consciousness off >>> regardless of the order in which you remove parts, as you seem to be >>> implying here, but rather, in a specific sequence of removal of parts, >>> there will be one part that when removed causes the switching off. >> The final straw would have to be indivisible, otherwise you could make a >> partial zombie by replacing half the straw. >> It would lead to a strange form of computationalism: you could replace say >> 40% of the brain without any problem, but go to 40.00000001% and >> consciousness gies off. > > That seems to be the case in the real world. As brain tissue is destroyed, by > injury or disease, specific functionality is lost according to the brain area > destroyed, but there is not a fading of consciousness until quite late in > this process. Alzheimer's patients can be perfectly conscious although > totally gaga. > > Of course, consciousness is also lost if there is whole-of-brain trauma, such > as is induced by a very sharp blow on the head. These two observations are > not in conflict.
Consciousness has a broader meaning than just being awake. If your memory starts to go, you forget things, and your experience of life changes as a result. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
