On Tue, Jul 23, 2019 at 11:19 AM Stathis Papaioannou <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Tue, 23 Jul 2019 at 11:13, Bruce Kellett <[email protected]> wrote: > >> On Tue, Jul 23, 2019 at 10:41 AM Stathis Papaioannou <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >>> On Tue, 23 Jul 2019 at 08:55, Bruce Kellett <[email protected]> >>> wrote: >>> >>>> >>>>> I am reminded of Kafka's novella, 'Metamorphosis': "When Gregor Samsa >>>> awoke one morning from troubled dreams, he found himself changed into a >>>> monstrous cockroach in his bed."...... >>>> >>>> Is the person just the brain, or is there more to it? >>>> >>> >>> If you radically changed your body, you would also change the inputs to >>> your brain. So we can maintain the theory that the sense of self comes >>> directly from the brain. >>> >> >> You might wish to maintain this theory, but you, yourself, have directly >> contradicted it by saying that our sense of self depends on the inputs to >> the brain. The qualification "directly" adds nothing but obfuscation. >> > > The inputs to the brain affect the brain state, and our experiences depend > on the brain state. If a particular brain state could be implemented in the > absence of inputs, the experience would be the same as if the inputs were > there. Do you disagree with this? > Yes. Experience is not a static unity -- it depends on the inputs. So a brain state in the absence of inputs would not experience anything. Sensory deprivation experiments show that in the absence of external sensory inputs, the brain tends to go into a looping mode. But then, we cannot separate the brain from inputs coming from the body -- heartbeat, breathing, contact with the floor, and so on. So the brain does not exist in the absence of inputs. Experience depends on the passage of time, marked by some change or the other. And the change in inputs is the only relevant measure of the passage of time. Remove these and you have a non-conscious, comatose, state. Bruce -- 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 view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/everything-list/CAFxXSLS8G5cBfVAtze2qWUpR-shASEwN%3D1vL_k930t1WBV6P%3DQ%40mail.gmail.com.
