What proof do you want? We can explain everything in the brain. We know how neurons work, we know how they interact. We even know, where specific parts of “you” are in your brain.
The only thing missing is the exact map. What you are lacking is the concept of emergence. Seriously, look it up. Extremely simple rules can explain extremely sophisticated behavior.
Your stance is somewhere between “thunder go boom! Must be scary man in sky!” And “magnets! Can’t explain how they work!”.
OF WHAT? There’s nothing to give you. I could lay out an exact map of your brain and you would still complain. You obviously just desperately want there to be some magic, because everything else would just implode your world. There is no magic.
Also, if you want your pseudoscientific parlance: non-existence can’t be proven. However, you’re arguing for the existence of something. It’s your burden to prove it.
You claim that there is more. There is currently no evidence of “more”.
So you have to provide evidence.
BTW: awesome move, to just unilaterally end the conversation, if you’re actually challenged. Totally not ignorance, nope, that’s a scientist right there.
Why is it conscious? This suggests that an explanation of consciousness will have to go beyond the usual methods of science.
First of all, “why” is simply not a valid scientific question. “How” is the only relevant term.
Secondly, this is a philosophy article. Philosophy is not a science, to explain a brain. We don’t fully understand quantum physics, would you ask a philosopher about that?
And finally: insulting another person, because they question your belief. Awesome behavior. Do you want to assemble a mob next to burn me at the stake?
What are you smoking? It’s been proved, inasmuch as “it’s daytime when the sun is out” has been proved.
Our brain is made up of neurons firing electrical impulses.
Consciousness is in the brain.
Therefore, somewhere in those electrical impulses is consciousness.
Strange you get so defensive. Maybe it’s because your psyche can’t handle the fact that there’s nothing after death, and you need to cling to whatever faint hope you have that there might be such thing as a soul?
No it hasn’t, and if you don’t see why, and why your explanation is incredibly simplistic and insufficient as an explanation of consciousness, you may not fully realise or understand the problem.
I don’t believe in life after death etc. and I believe consciousness is indeed manifested somewhere in the brain (and tied to those electrical impulses in some way), yet find your explanation utterly insufficient to address the “hard problem” of consciousness. It doesn’t explain qualia, or subjective experience.
Now obviously we do seem to have proved that consciousness is somehow related to such electrical impulses and other processes in the brain… but to say that we even begin to understand how actual subjective conscious experience arises from this is simply not true.
For starters: your logical steps from brain uses electricity -> consciousness is in the brain -> therefore consciousness is in the electrical impulses is a non-sequitur.
To illustrate: CPUs are made up of logic gates that utilise electricity to perform many operations. We know mathematical calculations are done in the CPU. Therefore mathematics is in the logic gates. Does that sound right to you? Is that in any way a satisfactory explanation of what maths is, or where mathemarical concepts exists or how marhs came to be? Does maths only exist in electrical logic gates?
Doesn’t seem at all right does it? Yet that’s precisely the same leap of logic you just used.
Now before you reply with “ah, but that’s totally different” carefully examine why you think it’s different for consciousness…
In addition, there are more than just electrical impulses going on in the brain. Why do you choose electrical or only electrical? Do you think all electrical systems are conscious? What about a computer? What about your house electrical system? Do you draw a distinction? If so, where is the distinction? Can you accurately describe what exactly about certain electrical systems and not others gives rise to direct subjective experience and qualia? What is the precise mechanism that leads to electrons providing a conscious subjective experience? Would a thinking simulation of a brain experience the same qualia?
If you really can’t see what I’m getting at with any of this, perhaps you might be a philosophical zombie… not actually conscious yourself. Just a chemical computer firing some impulses that perfectly simulates a conscious entity, just like an AI but in meat form. Carefully consider: how do you personally know if this is or isn’t true?
For starters: your logical steps from brain uses electricity -> consciousness is in the brain -> therefore consciousness is in the electrical impulses is a non-sequitur.
To illustrate: CPUs blah blah mathematics
Okay, fine. Consciousness is exclusively in the brain. Now your whole metaphor falls apart, because mathematics is not exclusively in the CPU. It is not subjective. It does not arise from the existence of the CPU. It is a concept separate from the CPU, or indeed any matter.
Now before you reply with “ah, but that’s totally different” carefully examine why you think it’s different for consciousness…
I thought about it, and my conclusion is “it’s because I’m not a fuckin moron” .
In addition, there are more than just electrical impulses going on in the brain.
Pedantry. “Electrical impulses” is a close enough phrase to describe a host of related but slightly different things.
All the rest of your questions are stupid ridiculous garbage based on some weird fixation you have with electricity. Like I said, it’s a phrase I used to avoid giving a 3 semester lecture on the minutiae of everything going on in the brain.
My comment just touched the tip of an iceberg that is an entire realm of philosophical and scientific debate that has occupied some of the brightest minds, across multiple disciplines, for decades. But sure, it’s just stupid ridiculous garbage 🙄
Philosophy, as a field, is full of idiots and I have no respect for it.
But also the premise dealt with the tip of the iceberg and nothing more. The extent of our conversation is (heh) just the tip.
“Consciousness is electrical impulses in the brain”. That’s it. The extent of our debate is whether this is true or not. Not how those impulses give rise to consciousness, which is what the greater debate (among those who are not idiots) is about.
Petroleum is what makes cars move, obviously. That’s it!
All those engineers and mechanics who waffle on about physics, laws of motion, and engines and stuff are all a bunch of idiots. I have no respect for them. I don’t need to know about that stuff to talk about how cars work!
You just put petrol in it, it burns and it moves. Burning petrol is what makes cars move. That’s all we’re talking about here! The extent of our debate is whether or not petrol makes cars move. Not how it makes cars go, that’s a wider debate for non-idiots.
(Electric cars? Nonsense. Where’s the gas tank?)
(Boats? No, they’re completely different. I mean yes you put the same fuel in them, but they’re clearly not cars, so it’s not the same.)
Instead of dismissing philosophers as idiots (which might be arguable!) why don’t you actually address the arguments raised? Explore it logically as a scientist.
Do you not see the point they’re making?
“Electrical impulses” isn’t an explanation of consciousness any more than gas (petrol) is the cause of locomotion of vehicles.
It’s involved, sure, but is it a complete explanation, a good explanation, or even necessary for locomotion to happen?
If you look in a brain and see electrical impulses are required for consciousness, is it any different to looking inside an engine and seeing that gas is necessary for it to move? Take them away and they both stop.
You can put petrol in a canister but the canister doesn’t move. Even if you set fire to it. You can put electrical impulses in a computer, but the computer isn’t conscious, even if you make it “think” with AI.
Or is it? How do you know? Does “electrical impulses” get you any closer to knowing?
Think a bit more deeply about what you are actually arguing. But watch out: you’re in danger of becoming a philosopher!
You are wading in with extreme arrogance in an area you clearly know very little about.
Many of the most prominent ideas in the field of consciousness are from physicists, biologists, and other scientific fields. The issues are in some cases fundamental to the philosophy of science itself. This is the very bleeding edge of science, where hard physics and metaphysics collide.
Why do you think consciousness remains known as the “hard problem”, and still a considered contentious mystery to modern science, if your simplistic ideas can so easily explain it?
Do you think your naive ideas have not already been thoroughly debated and explored by scientists and philosophers over years of debate and research? The extremely simplistic and basic points you have raised (even ignoring the fallacious ones) are easily invalidated by anyone with even a basic grasp of this field (or indeed basic logic or scientific methodology).
Besides the above, you have clearly not understood the main point of my comment, not engaged in any actual logical debate or analysis of the issues raised (indeed you don’t even to comprehend or recognise what these are) and demonstrated a near total ignorance of modern theories of consciousness.
You had a chance to open your eyes to a whole realm of knowledge and discovery in a fascinating field at the cutting edge of modern science and reason and you just utterly failed to engage with it, handwaving it away with ignorance and stupidity.
How does this answer the hard problem of consciousness? How does this prove to us that the brain is just electrical signals and there is nothing more to consciousness?
Did you know that while reading this your brain is sending off chemical and electrical signals to help you to understand the words and their meaning? Your brain is made up of networks of small cells called neurons that communicate electrochemically to enable you to think, feel, and interact with the world around you.
Again, it has been yet to be proved.
If it seems so obvious to you, please go on and prove it. You’ll die a nobel laureate rather than an armchair dbag.
What proof do you want? We can explain everything in the brain. We know how neurons work, we know how they interact. We even know, where specific parts of “you” are in your brain.
The only thing missing is the exact map. What you are lacking is the concept of emergence. Seriously, look it up. Extremely simple rules can explain extremely sophisticated behavior.
Your stance is somewhere between “thunder go boom! Must be scary man in sky!” And “magnets! Can’t explain how they work!”.
Stop armchairing and start giving me scientific articles, Doc.
OF WHAT? There’s nothing to give you. I could lay out an exact map of your brain and you would still complain. You obviously just desperately want there to be some magic, because everything else would just implode your world. There is no magic.
Also, if you want your pseudoscientific parlance: non-existence can’t be proven. However, you’re arguing for the existence of something. It’s your burden to prove it.
The burden of proof is on you, not me.
If there’s nothing to give me then I guess you’re agreeing it’s not so straightforward.
You can go away now. 🥂 cheers.
You claim that there is more. There is currently no evidence of “more”.
So you have to provide evidence.
BTW: awesome move, to just unilaterally end the conversation, if you’re actually challenged. Totally not ignorance, nope, that’s a scientist right there.
Youre a joke.
Here. Your turn.
https://iep.utm.edu/hard-problem-of-conciousness/#:~:text=The hard problem of consciousness is the problem of explaining,directly appear to the subject.
First of all, “why” is simply not a valid scientific question. “How” is the only relevant term.
Secondly, this is a philosophy article. Philosophy is not a science, to explain a brain. We don’t fully understand quantum physics, would you ask a philosopher about that?
And finally: insulting another person, because they question your belief. Awesome behavior. Do you want to assemble a mob next to burn me at the stake?
Literally try Google. I’m not here to educate you.
Bye!
What are you smoking? It’s been proved, inasmuch as “it’s daytime when the sun is out” has been proved.
Our brain is made up of neurons firing electrical impulses.
Consciousness is in the brain.
Therefore, somewhere in those electrical impulses is consciousness.
Strange you get so defensive. Maybe it’s because your psyche can’t handle the fact that there’s nothing after death, and you need to cling to whatever faint hope you have that there might be such thing as a soul?
No it hasn’t, and if you don’t see why, and why your explanation is incredibly simplistic and insufficient as an explanation of consciousness, you may not fully realise or understand the problem.
I don’t believe in life after death etc. and I believe consciousness is indeed manifested somewhere in the brain (and tied to those electrical impulses in some way), yet find your explanation utterly insufficient to address the “hard problem” of consciousness. It doesn’t explain qualia, or subjective experience.
Now obviously we do seem to have proved that consciousness is somehow related to such electrical impulses and other processes in the brain… but to say that we even begin to understand how actual subjective conscious experience arises from this is simply not true.
For starters: your logical steps from brain uses electricity -> consciousness is in the brain -> therefore consciousness is in the electrical impulses is a non-sequitur.
To illustrate: CPUs are made up of logic gates that utilise electricity to perform many operations. We know mathematical calculations are done in the CPU. Therefore mathematics is in the logic gates. Does that sound right to you? Is that in any way a satisfactory explanation of what maths is, or where mathemarical concepts exists or how marhs came to be? Does maths only exist in electrical logic gates?
Doesn’t seem at all right does it? Yet that’s precisely the same leap of logic you just used.
Now before you reply with “ah, but that’s totally different” carefully examine why you think it’s different for consciousness…
In addition, there are more than just electrical impulses going on in the brain. Why do you choose electrical or only electrical? Do you think all electrical systems are conscious? What about a computer? What about your house electrical system? Do you draw a distinction? If so, where is the distinction? Can you accurately describe what exactly about certain electrical systems and not others gives rise to direct subjective experience and qualia? What is the precise mechanism that leads to electrons providing a conscious subjective experience? Would a thinking simulation of a brain experience the same qualia?
If you really can’t see what I’m getting at with any of this, perhaps you might be a philosophical zombie… not actually conscious yourself. Just a chemical computer firing some impulses that perfectly simulates a conscious entity, just like an AI but in meat form. Carefully consider: how do you personally know if this is or isn’t true?
Damn homie, you’re way more patient with people who are confidently wrong than I am.
Good looks 😎
Oh god you’re a philosopher. I don’t know if I have the energy for the level of bullshit about to be thrown my way.
Okay, I’ll give it a shot.
Okay, fine. Consciousness is exclusively in the brain. Now your whole metaphor falls apart, because mathematics is not exclusively in the CPU. It is not subjective. It does not arise from the existence of the CPU. It is a concept separate from the CPU, or indeed any matter.
I thought about it, and my conclusion is “it’s because I’m not a fuckin moron” .
Pedantry. “Electrical impulses” is a close enough phrase to describe a host of related but slightly different things.
All the rest of your questions are stupid ridiculous garbage based on some weird fixation you have with electricity. Like I said, it’s a phrase I used to avoid giving a 3 semester lecture on the minutiae of everything going on in the brain.
My comment just touched the tip of an iceberg that is an entire realm of philosophical and scientific debate that has occupied some of the brightest minds, across multiple disciplines, for decades. But sure, it’s just stupid ridiculous garbage 🙄
You probably think you sounded really clever.
Philosophy, as a field, is full of idiots and I have no respect for it.
But also the premise dealt with the tip of the iceberg and nothing more. The extent of our conversation is (heh) just the tip.
“Consciousness is electrical impulses in the brain”. That’s it. The extent of our debate is whether this is true or not. Not how those impulses give rise to consciousness, which is what the greater debate (among those who are not idiots) is about.
Petroleum is what makes cars move, obviously. That’s it!
All those engineers and mechanics who waffle on about physics, laws of motion, and engines and stuff are all a bunch of idiots. I have no respect for them. I don’t need to know about that stuff to talk about how cars work!
You just put petrol in it, it burns and it moves. Burning petrol is what makes cars move. That’s all we’re talking about here! The extent of our debate is whether or not petrol makes cars move. Not how it makes cars go, that’s a wider debate for non-idiots.
(Electric cars? Nonsense. Where’s the gas tank?)
(Boats? No, they’re completely different. I mean yes you put the same fuel in them, but they’re clearly not cars, so it’s not the same.)
I specifically called out philosophy as being full of idiots rather than literally any other field for a reason.
For example, your post.
Instead of dismissing philosophers as idiots (which might be arguable!) why don’t you actually address the arguments raised? Explore it logically as a scientist.
Do you not see the point they’re making?
“Electrical impulses” isn’t an explanation of consciousness any more than gas (petrol) is the cause of locomotion of vehicles.
It’s involved, sure, but is it a complete explanation, a good explanation, or even necessary for locomotion to happen?
If you look in a brain and see electrical impulses are required for consciousness, is it any different to looking inside an engine and seeing that gas is necessary for it to move? Take them away and they both stop.
You can put petrol in a canister but the canister doesn’t move. Even if you set fire to it. You can put electrical impulses in a computer, but the computer isn’t conscious, even if you make it “think” with AI.
Or is it? How do you know? Does “electrical impulses” get you any closer to knowing?
Think a bit more deeply about what you are actually arguing. But watch out: you’re in danger of becoming a philosopher!
You are wading in with extreme arrogance in an area you clearly know very little about.
Many of the most prominent ideas in the field of consciousness are from physicists, biologists, and other scientific fields. The issues are in some cases fundamental to the philosophy of science itself. This is the very bleeding edge of science, where hard physics and metaphysics collide.
Why do you think consciousness remains known as the “hard problem”, and still a considered contentious mystery to modern science, if your simplistic ideas can so easily explain it?
Do you think your naive ideas have not already been thoroughly debated and explored by scientists and philosophers over years of debate and research? The extremely simplistic and basic points you have raised (even ignoring the fallacious ones) are easily invalidated by anyone with even a basic grasp of this field (or indeed basic logic or scientific methodology).
Besides the above, you have clearly not understood the main point of my comment, not engaged in any actual logical debate or analysis of the issues raised (indeed you don’t even to comprehend or recognise what these are) and demonstrated a near total ignorance of modern theories of consciousness.
You had a chance to open your eyes to a whole realm of knowledge and discovery in a fascinating field at the cutting edge of modern science and reason and you just utterly failed to engage with it, handwaving it away with ignorance and stupidity.
Oh, do provide a source if you don’t mind.
https://kids.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frym.2019.00062
Article geared towards high school, which is where you should have learned this
… You’re kidding right?
How does this answer the hard problem of consciousness? How does this prove to us that the brain is just electrical signals and there is nothing more to consciousness?
I am not finding that here at all.
First sentences:
Oh good point that solves the still open hard problem of consciousness.
Silly me.
Ok bye.
Removed by mod
haha ok
Enjoy thinking you know more than you do and being confidently incorrect around researchers.
Just gonna block ya now. Have a nice life 😊
And no one was talking about the hard problem of consciousness. Just that it’s electrical impulses in the brain.
I was.
You’re replying to me, dipshit.
Well stop bringing up unrelated shit and then claiming I didn’t address it. Of course I didn’t address it.