On Tue, 23 Jul 2019 at 11:39, Bruce Kellett <[email protected]> wrote:
> 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. > The inputs serve to put the brain in a particular state, but the brain could go into the same state without the inputs. This can be a practical problem in patients with schizophrenia: the may hear voices and are convinced that the voices are real, to the point where they might assault someone because of what they believe he said. -- Stathis Papaioannou -- 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/CAH%3D2ypXs3GU7qLihkSBfia6pdP_8pJTBxQ7p%3D3wh_7-ORKppQA%40mail.gmail.com.
