A nobel prize if you could prove it, which you cannot currently.
Literally the biggest, hairiest problem in computation right now. Only thing keeping us from blowing the lid off AGI is not knowing or even remotely understanding what consciousness is.
“Consciousness is a much smaller part of our mental life than we are conscious of, because we cannot be conscious of what we are not conscious of. How simple that is to say; how difficult to appreciate! It is like asking a flashlight in a dark room to search around for something that does not have any light shining upon it. The flashlight, since there is light in whatever direction it turns, would have to conclude that there is light everywhere. And so consciousness can seem to pervade all mentality when actually it does not.”
-Julian Jaynes
The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind
I think another good analogie is the human eye. Only the center has high resolution, everything around it is rather shitty, but you never realize that, because the stuff you focus on is always in the center.
Try to look at your self into your eyes the mirror while you are not looking at yourself :)
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.
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.
It’s electrical impulses in our brains.
What do I win?
A nobel prize if you could prove it, which you cannot currently.
Literally the biggest, hairiest problem in computation right now. Only thing keeping us from blowing the lid off AGI is not knowing or even remotely understanding what consciousness is.
One of my favorite quotes about this subject:
“Consciousness is a much smaller part of our mental life than we are conscious of, because we cannot be conscious of what we are not conscious of. How simple that is to say; how difficult to appreciate! It is like asking a flashlight in a dark room to search around for something that does not have any light shining upon it. The flashlight, since there is light in whatever direction it turns, would have to conclude that there is light everywhere. And so consciousness can seem to pervade all mentality when actually it does not.”
-Julian Jaynes
The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind
I think another good analogie is the human eye. Only the center has high resolution, everything around it is rather shitty, but you never realize that, because the stuff you focus on is always in the center.
Try to look at your self into your eyes the mirror while you are not looking at yourself :)
Our brain is literally nothing but electrical impulses.
We don’t know what specific arrangement of impulses, but we know 100% that it’s electrical impulses.
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.
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?
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.