34568Y131 Philosophers HaveEncapsulated ThisRiddle

{Q&@} IN A TRICK QUESTION: what happens in the mind that doesn't happen in the brain? If nothing happens in the mind except what happens in our massive network of neurons - then why do we need the mind? If something does indeed happen in the mind óver & above what happens in the neural network - where the hell does it hàppen? Suppose I ask you what Homer Simpson thought about Bill Clinton and the Monica Lewinsky scandal. You have probably never thought about this before, so your mind now needs to fuse two previously unrelated memories, perhaps conjuring up an image of Homer drinking beer while watching the president give his 'I did not have sexual relations with that woman' speech. Where does this fusion take place? Some brain scientists argue that it happens in the 'global workspace' created by the interaction of many neurons. Yet the word 'workspace' is just a metaphor. What is the reality behind the metaphor? Where do the different pieces of information actually meet and fuse? According to current theories, it certainly doesn't take place in some Platonic fifth dimension. Rather, it takes place, say, where two previously unconnected neurons suddenly start firing signals to one another? A new synapse is formed between the Bill Clinton NEURON & THÉ Homer Simpson NEURON!? But if so, why do we need the conscious experience of memory over and above the physical event of the two neurons connecting? We can pose the same riddle in mathematical terms. Present-day dogma holds that organisms are algorithms, and that algorithms can be represented in some mathematical formulas. You thus also can use numbers & mathematical symbols to write the series of steps a vending machine takes to prepare a cup of tea, & the series of steps a brain takes when it is alarmed by the approach of a lion. If so, and if conscious experiences fulfil some important function, they must have a mathematical representation. For they are an essential part of the algorithm. When we write the fear algorithm, and break 'fear' down into a series of precise calculations, we should be able to point out: 'Here, step number ninety-three in the calculation process - this ìs the subjective experience of fear!' But is there any algorithm in the huge realm of mathe-matics that contains a subjective experience? So far, we don't know of any such algorithm. Despite the vast knowledge we have gained in the fields of mathematics & computer science, none of the data-processing systems we have created needs subjective experiences in order to function, and none feels pain, pleasure, anger or love. Maybe we need subjective experiences in order to think about ourselves? An animal wandering the savannah & calculating its chances of survival & reproduction must represent its own actions & decisions to it-self, & sometimes communicate them to other animals as well. As the brain tries to create a model of its own decisions, it gets trapped in an infinite digression, and abracadabra! Out of its loop, consciousness pops out. And what about our universal need to guess, try out, communicate, endlessly piece together & destroy, suppose, play, create, pray, dance, sing, tell, make up & include in this 'all reflecting' game of bones, flesh & 'thrones'...



01 mei 2019 - bewerkt op 06 mei 2019 - meld ongepast verhaal
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