--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Share Long <sharelong60@...> wrote: > > Salyavin wrote: Once you have enough brain cells you have consciousness. > Share asks: I've been reading all of today's posts, again with mixed > success. Anyway, I'm guessing that I have the same amount of brain cells > right now that I had during last night when I was dreaming and also when I > was sleeping without dreams. I was pretty conscious during the dreams. I > feel very conscious at this moment. But I'm pretty sure I was not conscious > during the whole night. So it would seem that even though the number of > brain cells remains constant, consciousness, as an experience, does not.  >  Â
I meant that you need a certain amount to generate consciousness anyway. They stay amount stays the same overnight. But the fact that it gets switched off at night is another interesting evolutionary adaptation. Must take up a lot of energy generating all that bright inner awareness. The brain needs a bit of down time to assimilate the days events and reset itself or we go mad. Really. And then there's keeping us out of trouble in the dark where our primary sense isn't any use. Amazing thing really. I got knocked out and lost my memory once, that was interesting. I'll do a post about it tomorrow as it had a lot of fascinating features for a philosophical chap like me. > > PS I realize I'm taking little baby steps. It's the best I can do with > this topic. Thanks for your patience. BTW, speaking of the hot human > brain, scientists have recently theorized that one of the functions of > yawning is to cool the brain. > ________________________________ > From: salyavin808 <fintlewoodlewix@...> > To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com > Sent: Monday, May 20, 2013 1:31 PM > Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: SELF-HYPNOTIZE: Channel, End Negativity, Feel > Good, Achieve Goals Dr. Shelley S > > > >  > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "PaliGap" <compost1uk@> wrote: > > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "salyavin808" <fintlewoodlewix@> > > wrote: > > > > > > "The condemned man may live for several days or even weeks. > > > > But, he believes so strongly in the curse that has been > > > > uttered, that he will surely die. It is said that the ritual > > > > loading of the kundela creates a "spear of thought" which > > > > pierces the victim when the bone is pointed at him. It is as > > > > if an actual spear has been thrust at him and his death is > > > > certain." > > > > > > Anxiety is a powerful thing. > > > > So it seems. The "cause" of the anxiety was of course a purely > > mental thing (or a thing in the realm of "meaning"), and > > NOT a physical thing. And the anxiety was the effect, not > > the cause. > > When I think "anxiety" I think "adrenalin" which is physical. > The idea of what is frightening is held as a memory or instinct, > which is an obvious evolutionary advantage. what to be scared of > can also be learned, did you know it only takes two events of > any sort before the brain makes a neural link to alert the rest > of the system how to behave next time the stimulus is encountered. > > For instance, if you get nearly run over once the adrenalin > dies away and the typical brain will put it down to experience. > Twice and you will start to get anxious going near a road. > Simple as that, and the funny thing about adrenalin is that > when you are pumped up it changes the way you perceive the world, > it heightens sound and movement, it changes the way blood flows > in the brain so you can't think logically but can only think > of running away or fighting. To enable this it drags sugars out > of the liver and into the blood and draws blood from the stomach > into the muscles. > > Best of all, any experience you have when in an aroused state > gets tagged by the brain as being threatening and will cause a > similar reaction if you keep having the same stimulus. This is how neuroses > develop, like agoraphobia or social shyness. Anxiety > can and does pollute the whole brain, mind system. Your voodoo > cult member is primed from childhood to die on command. > > The point I'm making is, I don't see it as mind and matter, > it's all the same thing to me, you can't seperate them, they > don't work without each other. This is what I'm saying about > consciousness, it's a function. Once you have enough brain > cells you have consciousness. Emergent phenomena and it can > no more be understood in terms of individual brain cells than > wetness can be understood in terms of individual water molecules. > > > > Why do you think this proves > > > something pertinent to the argument here? It's like you've just > > > googled odd stuff about the brain and drawn some whoppingly > > > unnecessary argument out of it. > > > > It's about the world of the mental and the world of meaning > > (the latter I think I'd prefer), and about how those worlds > > can, sometimes, extinguish the world of the "merely" physical. > > Because they are equally (or maybe more) real. >
