Consciousness and SCIENCE

[strongbad]

Also how do you feel about consciousness?

We had a mini unit on consciousness in my cognitive neuro class today, and here were some of the take away points. I don't have references for these unfortunately; they were just things that my professor said.

-Consciousness becomes increasingly complex as an organism's brain becomes more complex (Monkey's have been shown to have theory of mind, crows have been shown to have 3rd order problem solving skills, etc)
--Some neuroscientists believe that even a single neuron posses some form of consciousness (though this is more controversial)

-Consciousness is simply a by-product of brain complexity and has no survival benefits. My professor brought up the zombie analogy, which is apparently used by philosophers. Imagine a zombie that can perform all basic survival functions: Motor skills, reflexes, whatever. What use does it have for consciousness?

-We have the illusion of free will

What does boyah think? Are we robots?
[spoiler]or are we dancersp[/spoiler]

[silvertone]

everything can be mathematically determined

[ncba93ivyase]

saying free will exists as we like to imagine requires some supernatural force since the chemical reactions in the brain need to be 100% reproducible in order to properly function

there's no proof such a thing exists

[strongbad]

everything can be mathematically determined

agreed

[snoorkel]

I believe in souls

[klappa]

Imagine a zombie that can perform all basic survival functions: Motor skills, reflexes, whatever. What use does it have for consciousness?

To improve upon those things. ez

[The artist formally known]

Daniel Dennett, he explains consciousness like I've never heard before

http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_dennett_on_our_consciousness?language=en

[silvertone]

I believe in souls

and god is real

[YPrrrr]

saying free will exists as we like to imagine requires some supernatural force since the chemical reactions in the brain need to be 100% reproducible in order to properly function

there's no proof such a thing exists

I would say the lack of free will requires some supernatural force (or if we are merely animals acting upon instinct which would be wrong) unless you have some odd definition of free will

[silvertone]

the christian god creates free will sometimes.

[Kalahari Inkantation]

free will is an illusion but that doesn't mean it's worthless

[Travis]

free will is an illusion but that doesn't mean it's worthless

Yo WHAAAAAAAAAT?
Yo WHAAAAAAAAAT?
Yo WHAAAAAAAAAT?
Yo WHAAAAAAAAAT?
Yo WHAAAAAAAAAT?
Yo WHAAAAAAAAAT?
Yo WHAAAAAAAAAT?
Yo WHAAAAAAAAAT?

[rdl]

we steer ourselves but everything else is unconscious