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What Is Consciousness?


exo_doc

Foolish Earthling
For you Uber-Geeks out there here is a researcher named Stuart Hameroff (his website
http://www.quantumconsciousness.org/)
giving a lecture on the brain, brain functions, consciousness, and a little bit about quantum computing:


The guy seems to know what he's talking about, and presents excellent info to back up what he presents. It's a little on the heavy side, but I found it intriguing. I thought at least it would begin some good discussions on consciousness and it's connections to the paranormal.
 
Some of you might like a book called Bridging Science and Spirit by Norman Friedman. Deals with David Bohm, Ken Wilber, and Jane Roberts-Seth's views on reality.

Here's an excerpt of the books last remarks.

"All energy contains consciousness. If we accept that simple statement, it would indeed change our world. What we call matter is a gestalt of consciousness, and consciousness is light. So: All is light, and light is consciousness, and that is All That Is."

Might not make sense unless you read the book, but thought I'd give it a try. It might also read like fluff to some, or merely trading off words, but I think it sums it up nicely using the English language at least. In the end you can always inquire about the nature of what's given. As an example, what is light? Someone could say energy. What's energy? One could say Consciousness. What is consciousness? To know that beyond giving the word energy, or light and running in circles over and over again, you have to tap into your self, or your own consciousness to know I guess.

Or, just forget all that and be happy with the definition that consciousness is awareness. But then what's awareness? I'll be here all day, so I'll just say it's a word lol.
 
I gave it some detailed consideration: I just thought that it [Integrated Information Theory] is so fundamentally flawed, and obviously so, that nobody would be giving it a second glance. I am hoping it will disappear into the ether of its own accord.

I quoted you here because I'm not really interested in getting into the host of other issues on the C & P thread, including its politics, and the "paranormal" end of it ( at least not at this point ), but would still like to know what you think the "fundamental flaw" is in the IIT ?
 
"All energy contains consciousness. If we accept that simple statement, it would indeed change our world. What we call matter is a gestalt of consciousness, and consciousness is light. So: All is light, and light is consciousness, and that is All That Is."
On what basis could anyone say that?

When I expend energy am I killing consciousness?

What happens when I transform kinetic energy into potential energy? Have I put it to sleep?

If I use mass-energy equivalence, do I make the universe smarter when I blow up a nuclear bomb?

Do black holes make the universe stupider?
 
As an example, what is light? Someone could say energy.
Light is electromagnetic radiation.
What's energy? One could say Consciousness.
Energy is a property of mass and gives the ability to do work, or to change mass' temperature.
What is consciousness?
That's a good question.

Wikipedia says that it's the quality or state of awareness.

Seems reasonable.

So consciousness is neither energy nor light.

There is no consciousness-energy-light equivalence.
 
Light is electromagnetic radiation.

Energy is a property of mass and gives the ability to do work, or to change mass' temperature.

That's a good question.

Wikipedia says that it's the quality or state of awareness.

Seems reasonable.

So consciousness is neither energy nor light.

There is no consciousness-energy-light equivalence.

Glad to hear someone with a grounded sense of analysis weigh-in on the issue. I think it's reasonable to propose that consciousness is composed of some kind of energy analogous to the way a magnetic field is, but saying that because consciousness is made of energy means that anything made of energy is conscious is a logical fallacy - one of those things that the New Agey Guru Pseudo Philosophers who promote their nonsense theories tend to overlook. But that being said, even if consciousness is composed of some sort of energy, that still doesn't describe what it is. As your Wikipedia quote indicates, consciousness is a "quality" or "state".

Simply reducing consciousness to it's constituent components will not tell us anything more about what it is than describing what a car is by saying it's mostly metal, plastic, and glass. At the same time simply calling it a "state" doesn't do enough either. A car might be said to be "state" of metal, glass, and plastic, but for that to have meaning we need to consider all the engineering, organization, and most importantly its function. Without those things delineated, we'd still be pretty much in the dark about it if we didn't already know what we we're talking about.
 
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I quoted you here because I'm not really interested in getting into the host of other issues on the C & P thread, including its politics, and the "paranormal" end of it ( at least not at this point ), but would still like to know what you think the "fundamental flaw" is in the IIT ?

For others interested in this topic, in consciousness in general - in my opinion there is a lot of good content on the Consciousness and the Paranormal thread.

I would note that this whole forum is full of politics (people = politics) and it's also a paranormal discussion forum so, yes, that's also going to be a part of practically every thread on the forum!

Unless one is able to exert total control over a thread, there will always be a whole host of issues that one could engage in ... or not. You can always filter and ignore as needed.

So for those interested in consciousness, I say come on in - the waters's just fine!
 
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