JREF Homepage Swift Blog Events Calendar $1 Million Paranormal Challenge The Amaz!ng Meeting Useful Links Support Us
James Randi Educational Foundation JREF Forum
Forum Index Register Members List Events Mark Forums Read Help

Go Back   JREF Forum » General Topics » Science, Mathematics, Medicine, and Technology
Click Here To Donate

Notices


Welcome to the JREF Forum, where we discuss skepticism, critical thinking, the paranormal and science in a friendly but lively way. You are currently viewing the forum as a guest, which means you are missing out on discussing matters that are of interest to you. Please consider registering so you can gain full use of the forum features and interact with other Members. Registration is simple, fast and free! Click here to register today.

Tags brain , consciousness , mind

Reply
Old 22nd April 2012, 01:58 AM   #121
DevilsAdvocate
Illuminator
 
DevilsAdvocate's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 3,651
Originally Posted by Bodhi Dharma Zen View Post
It is commonly accepted that the brain, somehow, produces the mind, at least in the JREF of course. If this is the case, where is the mind? It is located in the brain? The experience that makes you feel you, its inside your head?

What do you think about it?

Discuss.
The mind is an collective abstraction. This is like asking, “If I have three apples, where is the ‘three’?”

It is commonly accepted that trees, somehow, produce the forest. If this is the case, where is the forest? You can’t see the forest for the trees.

My professor of philosophy of mind put it in terms of a university. A vistor wants to see our university. He is shown the dorms, the classrooms, the administration buildings, the library, the caefteria, the grounds, the sports center. Then the vistor says, “Thank you for showing me all of these things, but where is the university?”

Let’s say I have a wooden chair. It is a chair. You can sit on it. But then I take a chainsaw to it (not while you are sitting on it). It is little pieces of wood that you can’t sit on at all. Then I throw the pieces in a fire. The pieces turn to ash. Then I throw the ash into the wind and the ashes are scattered all over. There is no more chair. What happened to the chair? Where did the “chair” go?
__________________
Heaven forbid someone reads these words and claims to be adversely affected by them, thus ensuring a barrage of lawsuits filed under the guise of protecting the unknowing victims who were stupid enough to read this and believe it! - Kevin Trudeau
DevilsAdvocate is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 22nd April 2012, 02:08 AM   #122
DevilsAdvocate
Illuminator
 
DevilsAdvocate's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 3,651
Originally Posted by I Ratant View Post
It's in my ears when I hear, or don't hear, the paper being tossed into the yard in the early morning.
It was in my left big toe the day I opened the door, and the bottom of the door tore off part of the nail.
It moves around my body.
I found poetry.
it's in my ears
when I hear
or don't hear
the paper being tossed
into the yard
in the early morning
it was in my left big toe
the day I opened the door
and the bottom of the door
tore off part of the nail
it moves around my body
__________________
Heaven forbid someone reads these words and claims to be adversely affected by them, thus ensuring a barrage of lawsuits filed under the guise of protecting the unknowing victims who were stupid enough to read this and believe it! - Kevin Trudeau
DevilsAdvocate is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 22nd April 2012, 02:38 AM   #123
DevilsAdvocate
Illuminator
 
DevilsAdvocate's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 3,651
Originally Posted by Roboramma View Post
Feynman had a nice thing about how science can make beautiful things more beautiful because they can be appreciated first on the level of outward beauty that everyone sees and then on further and further levels of beauty that come with a deeper understanding.

A flower is beautiful in it's appearance, but, for instance, an understanding of the co-evolution of flowering plants and pollenating insects adds another layer to that beauty.

I find that to be quite a strong point, but it leads to the view that mythology can also add (false) beauty. There is something beautiful about the idea of Apollo's chariot, and while the sunset may still be beautiful without that (and have another level of beauty when we understand what it really is), it's nevertheless true that there is beauty in ideas.

Personally I think that the universe is, in general, more beautiful that our primitive ideas and stories about it. But those things did (do) have a certain beauty of their own.
Nice post. I am reminded of some of my musician friends who refuse to learn how to play some of their favorite songs. Once they learn to play a song, they can only hear the structure of the song—chord progressions, notes, beats—but can never again actually hear the “song”. This happens frequently in the arts. It is difficult for a comedian to laugh at jokes because they are analyzing the structure of the joke. Artists are praised by other artists for their work because of the structure of their painting, while non-artists only see “something my kid could do”.

There is that “je ne sais quoi” feeling of mysticism that we can apply to any unanalyzed collective abstraction.
__________________
Heaven forbid someone reads these words and claims to be adversely affected by them, thus ensuring a barrage of lawsuits filed under the guise of protecting the unknowing victims who were stupid enough to read this and believe it! - Kevin Trudeau
DevilsAdvocate is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 22nd April 2012, 08:07 AM   #124
Bodhi Dharma Zen
Advaitin
 
Bodhi Dharma Zen's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Here
Posts: 3,809
Originally Posted by LogicFail View Post
I would state that you are claiming that "we" or our "experiences" are not in our mind.
huh? what on earth does that mean?

and then some even have the nerve to claim that I "fiercely attack" naive realists...
__________________
Im too busy living, why waste my time believing?
Bodhi Dharma Zen is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 22nd April 2012, 09:07 AM   #125
Bodhi Dharma Zen
Advaitin
 
Bodhi Dharma Zen's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Here
Posts: 3,809
Originally Posted by Lowpro View Post
This part is true, coming from my own experience in learning about what naive realism means. It's not a competing theory nor does it serve to disintegrate what we have as scientific knowledge. It only serves as a "caveat emptor" to the knowledge we have.
So, if I understand you correctly, you are saying that some Naive Realists feel that Model Dependent Realism is a competing theory, when in fact is just a point of view regarding knowledge (exactly what Naive Realism is without the proponents actually realizing it). And so, its postulates come "without guarantee"...? Oh I don't know maybe I misunderstood your post.

Originally Posted by Lowpro View Post
It doesn't mean green light doesn't exist and doesn't remove our knowledge of it, it's just that "caveat emptor" in reality vs. perception. Sure our perceptions can be extremely extremely correlated to reality, and sometimes not too! But that's not a bad thing, nor is it woo, it's just something that you have to consider.
Actually this is what Model Dependent Realism is all about... we have no way to know if our perceptions correspond, in any way, to reality, all what matters is that the model is useful. No model is more "real" than other, they are more or less useful, that's about it.
__________________
Im too busy living, why waste my time believing?
Bodhi Dharma Zen is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 22nd April 2012, 09:10 AM   #126
Bodhi Dharma Zen
Advaitin
 
Bodhi Dharma Zen's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Here
Posts: 3,809
Originally Posted by LogicFail View Post
I think an individual pondering something is fine, but the projection at others of a philosophical construct as fact is akin to religion and just like religion, worthless.
Edited by kmortis:  Removed personal comments


What do you think "materialism" is? What do you think a "World View" is? What do you think a "theory" is?




[SNIP]
__________________
Im too busy living, why waste my time believing?

Last edited by kmortis; 23rd April 2012 at 08:58 AM. Reason: Removed to comply with Rule 12 & Rule 0
Bodhi Dharma Zen is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 22nd April 2012, 09:14 AM   #127
Bodhi Dharma Zen
Advaitin
 
Bodhi Dharma Zen's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Here
Posts: 3,809
Originally Posted by Lowpro View Post
Well I am describing representative realism now, but again I got there because I was, as my argument then in another thread months ago, described as arguing for naive realism (at the time I wasn't aware of it, as BDZ alluded to in a previous post). Once I learned more, I became aware of naive realism.

Basically what I was showing was how I got from naive realism in my argument to representative realism

Also, I should say that I am not comfortable using naive realism and representative realism to describe what I am trying to say purely because I don't think I have a handle on the theories completely enough to prepare myself for the consequences of subscribing to either, which is a pitfall that I think BDZ often tries to illuminate to people.
I think most of us have been Naive Realists at some point, it might be the next step coming from some form of "post religious" beliefs. What I have been arguing for years at the JREF is that Naive Realists ARE NOT Skeptics.

Such position, which apparently the JREF should be all about, is much more adequately represented by Model Dependent Realism.
__________________
Im too busy living, why waste my time believing?
Bodhi Dharma Zen is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 22nd April 2012, 09:21 AM   #128
MarkCorrigan
Winter is Coming
 
MarkCorrigan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Middle of nowhere, UK.
Posts: 7,121
The mind is to the brain as the movement of the car is to the engine as far as I'm aware.
__________________
Naturalism adjusts it's principles to fit with the observed data.
It's a god of the facts world view. -joobz

Now I lay me down to sleep, a bag of peanuts at my feet.
If I should die before I wake, give them to my brother Jake.
MarkCorrigan is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 22nd April 2012, 09:25 AM   #129
Bodhi Dharma Zen
Advaitin
 
Bodhi Dharma Zen's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Here
Posts: 3,809
Originally Posted by TeapotCavalry View Post
A cursory glance on naive and representative realism, for those in the dark :

YouTube Video This video is not hosted by the JREF. The JREF can not be held responsible for the suitability or legality of this material. By clicking the link below you agree to view content from an external website.
I AGREE
Nice video. I believe some people forget, or are unaware about that every depiction we have about reality is (no matter if we want it or not) sort of a theory of knowledge, or better, an assumption about that certain pseudo arbitrary form of knowledge is the best epistemic depiction we can have about what "reality is".

Of course, every theoretical model brings its own ontology, and what I find amusing is that, most of the time, people is unaware of this fact.
__________________
Im too busy living, why waste my time believing?
Bodhi Dharma Zen is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 22nd April 2012, 09:37 AM   #130
Bodhi Dharma Zen
Advaitin
 
Bodhi Dharma Zen's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Here
Posts: 3,809
Originally Posted by TeapotCavalry View Post
I know what you mean. This is the very thing I try to avoid myself. Only a rare few philosophical ideologies describe my positions fully, most of them carry unnecessary baggage that I couldn't defend. So whenever I make a case, I never argue for an ideology, I argue for my interpretation of reality.
Indeed, that happens. When Model Dependent Realism came out to the light I was relieved, as it exposes most of my core ideas with the necessary simplicity.
__________________
Im too busy living, why waste my time believing?
Bodhi Dharma Zen is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 22nd April 2012, 09:40 AM   #131
Bodhi Dharma Zen
Advaitin
 
Bodhi Dharma Zen's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Here
Posts: 3,809
Originally Posted by LogicFail View Post
The above description of direct reality is inaccurate as whatever the brain may do to our perception (say by hallucination or optical illusion) is merely a relation of our own personal physical limitations. (the way our eyes work, the way our brain works) This doesn't exclude the thing from being as it we perceive it.
Actually, this is a good depiction of what Naive Realism is all about. I hope it is clear that it is not a derogatory depiction of a philosophical approach to reality, but just a description. Have you read the article at Wikipedia? There are a few more readings I can recommend.

Originally Posted by LogicFail View Post
Oh dear, I've gone and gotten all involved in this.......crap
LOL.
__________________
Im too busy living, why waste my time believing?
Bodhi Dharma Zen is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 22nd April 2012, 09:46 AM   #132
Bodhi Dharma Zen
Advaitin
 
Bodhi Dharma Zen's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Here
Posts: 3,809
Originally Posted by Paul2 View Post
I need to clarify what's going on in this thought experiment. Please confirm if I have it right:

1. The brain is disconnected from the body, right? No physical connection.

2. The brain is physically connected to a machine.

3. The machine is physically connected to the body that is missing the brain. So we have brain - machine - body. In effect, we've put a machine between the body and the brain.

4. Then, the machine, the body, and the brain go on a train.

5. The question is, where would we say the subject is?

It's not clear why being on a train is relevant.

Also, do you intend a distinction between where the subject would say he/she is, and where another person would say where the subject is?
The brain is in a vat at a laboratory attached to a machine for its life support, its body its at the train, and there is an advanced remote connection between the body and the brain (sort of an advanced WiFi) And yes, there are at least two questions at hand, where do we (as external observers) point at when we want to say where the subject is. And where does the subject points to when questioned about where "he is".
__________________
Im too busy living, why waste my time believing?
Bodhi Dharma Zen is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 22nd April 2012, 09:49 AM   #133
Bodhi Dharma Zen
Advaitin
 
Bodhi Dharma Zen's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Here
Posts: 3,809
Originally Posted by LogicFail View Post
See, IMO, regardless of our ability to process information, that has no effect on the reality of the object.

I think reality exists without humans and without long drawn out philosophical mumbo jumbo attempting to describe it.
Funny thing is that your depiction in itself, and without you being aware of it, IS PHILOSOPHICAL "mumbo jumbo"
__________________
Im too busy living, why waste my time believing?
Bodhi Dharma Zen is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 22nd April 2012, 10:09 AM   #134
Bodhi Dharma Zen
Advaitin
 
Bodhi Dharma Zen's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Here
Posts: 3,809
Great post.

Originally Posted by annnnoid View Post
There appear to be two well-defined points of view on this issue (the OP). There are those who speculate (the majority)…..as in: ‘…localized somewhere in the general vicinity of brain or thereabouts ….maybe….if I had any idea what the question even means …’ (and who actually does...and does it even mean anything???)
Good questions. I didn't want to go that deep of course, being this the science forum at JREF. The intention is to find out and discuss where actual beliefs are, based on what we know by scientific research.

Originally Posted by annnnoid View Post
….and then there are those few who might actually know. Whether there is, in fact, something to know is (amongst the philistine) endlessly debatable. What is indisputable is that there is something to not know ….that being, what the heck is the answer to the OP…or whether the question is even coherent. From the responses so far there does appear to be a consensus that there is no definitive answer to the OP nor any definitive understanding of the question ('experience' - whatever that is - is localized in a brain which apparently produces 'it' in some way as yet unknown).
I would say that there is a "general consensus" about the identity of a brain to "be" in the brain. But in general I agree that the main problem is that we tend to take for granted that we have indisputable answers to what "experience really is".

Originally Posted by annnnoid View Post
The likelihood of there being one of the later (a ‘knower’) at JREF is probably ….unlikely. I suppose we could then speculate whether there even is an answer to the question and / or if it is possible to actually know what that answer is. Not academically…as in ‘scientifically speaking…experience is this variety of ontological reality and it occurs thus in relation to x-y-z electro-bio-chemical phenomenon’…but as in ‘before this point there is not me…after this point experience occurs’….where ‘point’ only becomes defined when ‘experience’ does ( The inevitable paradox of what exists prior to the ability to reference experience could obviously only have a speculative resolution...until it didn't).
And, in the end, I believe it goes even deeper than this. The World View in vogue http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_view depicts sort of a reality which is (pretty much) what we think about it. We have learned to equate our mental model to what we call reality, with this in mind, every science advancement is always viewed at the scope of the current paradigm, and I believe that the problems start here.

Originally Posted by annnnoid View Post
Sounds dangerously woo’y. Metaphysical mind-traps. Not exactly speculative though. ‘We’ begin somewhere. Human experience / awareness is, judging by all the evidence available, anything but a homogenous geography. It has various trajectories…all of which implicate degrees and variations of the meaning of experience. Experience doesn’t just ‘occur’….’somewhere’. It occurs with varying degrees of authenticity, varying degrees of intensity, and different ‘qualities’. Thus it is not at all unrealistic to suggest that ‘authentic intense’ will produce a significantly different insight into the OP than ‘dysfunctional indifferent’.
I loved this part. Yes, I agree. It most be measured against other kind of ontological concepts, not one based (basically) on ancient Greek philosophical works. But I would like you to expand what you mean by "authentic intense" and "dysfunctional indifferent".


Originally Posted by annnnoid View Post
….’ The truth ‘….hmmmmmmmmmm. I wonder how often this fallacy pops up at JREF. ‘Science is THE TRUTH’. I'd say that's stretching the truth a bit. Science is, at best, nothing more than our best guess so far. A vast model of a still vaster (is that a word?) ‘thing’. Our model is not the thing, it is only a representation of our ability to model the thing. The only ‘truth’ involved is the degree to which you and I accurately model ourself (the only ‘thing’ we actually are). Experience the 'truth' of experience and maybe there's some chance the truth of 'truth' might introduce itself.
Actually not even that, science is a set of tools, that happen to be the best set of tools we have to manipulate, predict and describe experiences. But most people confuse science with a body of knowledge (the mentioned World View). But yes, I do agree with what you say.

Originally Posted by annnnoid View Post
For something ‘extremely illusory’ it’s awfully persistent and substantive. Seems to begin when you’re born (before there is even any awareness of awareness)…is the central feature in every single experience any ‘self’ ever has…and endures pretty much till your last breath.
Indeed. Not that this is noted to often, because of the baggage we constantly carry. I often worry about the (apparent) extreme necessity of having a complex World View to "explain" things for us, at an ontological level. That's why I love so much the Model Dependent Realism theoretical approach to reality.

Originally Posted by annnnoid View Post
Better not repeat this too often around here, science is not supposed to be an ideology.
LOL.
__________________
Im too busy living, why waste my time believing?
Bodhi Dharma Zen is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 22nd April 2012, 10:13 AM   #135
Bodhi Dharma Zen
Advaitin
 
Bodhi Dharma Zen's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Here
Posts: 3,809
Originally Posted by Halfcentaur View Post
Looking at the history and frequency of people who come here challenging what science can show us, you have to be intentionally obtuse or self deluded to expect a reception that is different than what you got, and you then created a post using an arrogant tone of victory over the mean old skeptics. What the hell do you expect from human beings? You're creating a self fulfilling trap just to ridicule people and then patting yourself on the back.

The documentary "the secret you" is one of my favorites.
Fair enough, you are right. Maybe sometimes I'm to direct. On the other hand, you can't deny that it is fun as we all get "emotionally connected" with the thread, so to speak
__________________
Im too busy living, why waste my time believing?
Bodhi Dharma Zen is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 22nd April 2012, 10:14 AM   #136
Bodhi Dharma Zen
Advaitin
 
Bodhi Dharma Zen's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Here
Posts: 3,809
Originally Posted by Halfcentaur View Post
Is this thread intended to be a discussion about the sensations and frame of reference of intuitive awareness or is it to illustrate flaws in reasoning and personal error?
The former, please excuse my modals.
__________________
Im too busy living, why waste my time believing?
Bodhi Dharma Zen is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 22nd April 2012, 10:24 AM   #137
Bodhi Dharma Zen
Advaitin
 
Bodhi Dharma Zen's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Here
Posts: 3,809
Originally Posted by DevilsAdvocate View Post
The mind is an collective abstraction. This is like asking, “If I have three apples, where is the ‘three’?”

It is commonly accepted that trees, somehow, produce the forest. If this is the case, where is the forest? You can’t see the forest for the trees.

My professor of philosophy of mind put it in terms of a university. A vistor wants to see our university. He is shown the dorms, the classrooms, the administration buildings, the library, the caefteria, the grounds, the sports center. Then the vistor says, “Thank you for showing me all of these things, but where is the university?”

Let’s say I have a wooden chair. It is a chair. You can sit on it. But then I take a chainsaw to it (not while you are sitting on it). It is little pieces of wood that you can’t sit on at all. Then I throw the pieces in a fire. The pieces turn to ash. Then I throw the ash into the wind and the ashes are scattered all over. There is no more chair. What happened to the chair? Where did the “chair” go?
As much as I like the metaphors they do not apply. I believe there is a lot of confusion regarding this subject, and of course it is expected that it should be that complex, after all, every theory, every belief, every smile, every tear, all the stars and complex models regarding quantum mechanics, all we know, believe feel, it is somehow "contained inside" the little "I", that some people want to render a non existent illusion of some kind. But no, in the end, all we really have are experiences, observations... it is EVERYTHING ELSE which is a projection, an idea, even an illusion.


Originally Posted by DevilsAdvocate View Post
I found poetry.
it's in my ears
when I hear
or don't hear
the paper being tossed
into the yard
in the early morning
it was in my left big toe
the day I opened the door
and the bottom of the door
tore off part of the nail
it moves around my body
Yes... sometimes poetry is so much closer.
__________________
Im too busy living, why waste my time believing?
Bodhi Dharma Zen is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 22nd April 2012, 10:36 AM   #138
I Ratant
Penultimate Amazing
 
I Ratant's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 15,305
Originally Posted by DevilsAdvocate View Post
I found poetry.
it's in my ears
when I hear
or don't hear
the paper being tossed
into the yard
in the early morning
it was in my left big toe
the day I opened the door
and the bottom of the door
tore off part of the nail
it moves around my body
.
I approve of that! LOL!!!!!
Waxing anything is not part of my experience, and poetic would be low on that list...
I Ratant is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 22nd April 2012, 12:01 PM   #139
BravesFan
Banned
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Ocean Springs, Ms
Posts: 1,784
Originally Posted by Bodhi Dharma Zen View Post
Logic failed, indeed. I get your name now.

What do you think "materialism" is? What do you think a "World View" is? What do you think a "theory" is?




Hint: You hate it.


look you little jackwagon, this is the third personal attack, reported and ignored.

Your apparent lack of understanding anyone elses point of view is ridiculous . my obtuse little friend. Have fun talking to the mods.
BravesFan is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 22nd April 2012, 12:34 PM   #140
Bodhi Dharma Zen
Advaitin
 
Bodhi Dharma Zen's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Here
Posts: 3,809
Originally Posted by LogicFail View Post
look you little jackwagon, this is the third personal attack, reported and ignored.

Your apparent lack of understanding anyone elses point of view is ridiculous . my obtuse little friend. Have fun talking to the mods.
I suppose I'm on ignore by now.. oh well.. you attack and talk behind my back making jokes about what you pretended me to say.. then, every time I asked you for an argument I received straw man attacks, and now you are the offended one. Well, it was your choice... if at any point you want to come back and have an interesting discussion, you will be welcomed.
__________________
Im too busy living, why waste my time believing?
Bodhi Dharma Zen is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 22nd April 2012, 02:10 PM   #141
Lowpro
Illuminator
 
Lowpro's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Birmingham, AL
Posts: 4,543
Originally Posted by Bodhi Dharma Zen View Post
The brain is in a vat at a laboratory attached to a machine for its life support, its body its at the train, and there is an advanced remote connection between the body and the brain (sort of an advanced WiFi) And yes, there are at least two questions at hand, where do we (as external observers) point at when we want to say where the subject is. And where does the subject points to when questioned about where "he is".
There's a pragmatic answer to this you know, and if you watched that BBC horizon the answer again will be pragmatic, not philosophical.

If the subject's brain is in a vat then he will percieve himself in the body wherever it is, similar to the BBC horizon video where the main guy thought he was in the other guy's body thanks to the sense deprivation and cameras.

Now, the pragmatic answer to the observer...the guy's in both places obviously -.- the brain's in the vat, the body (probe) is out probing.
__________________
"If I actually believed that Jesus was coming to end the world in 2050, I'd be preparing by stocking up on timber and nails" - PZ Myers
Lowpro is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 22nd April 2012, 03:44 PM   #142
Halfcentaur
Philosopher
 
Halfcentaur's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 5,965
Has anyone here suffered from or familiar with Alice in Wonderland Syndrome?
Halfcentaur is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 22nd April 2012, 03:46 PM   #143
Halfcentaur
Philosopher
 
Halfcentaur's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 5,965
Originally Posted by Bodhi Dharma Zen View Post
The former, please excuse my modals.
Thank you for attempting to come to some common ground.
Halfcentaur is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 22nd April 2012, 04:09 PM   #144
marplots
Philosopher
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 5,420
Originally Posted by Halfcentaur View Post
Has anyone here suffered from or familiar with Alice in Wonderland Syndrome?
No, but I did a round of Alice in Chains syndrome. Best forgotten.
marplots is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 22nd April 2012, 04:22 PM   #145
Lowpro
Illuminator
 
Lowpro's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Birmingham, AL
Posts: 4,543
Originally Posted by marplots View Post
No, but I did a round of Alice in Chains syndrome. Best forgotten.
oh come now, AiC aren't bad...
__________________
"If I actually believed that Jesus was coming to end the world in 2050, I'd be preparing by stocking up on timber and nails" - PZ Myers
Lowpro is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 22nd April 2012, 08:43 PM   #146
Bodhi Dharma Zen
Advaitin
 
Bodhi Dharma Zen's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Here
Posts: 3,809
Originally Posted by Halfcentaur View Post
Has anyone here suffered from or familiar with Alice in Wonderland Syndrome?
Wow no, sounds both scaring and intriguing... have you?
__________________
Im too busy living, why waste my time believing?
Bodhi Dharma Zen is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 23rd April 2012, 12:09 AM   #147
Stomatopoda
Muse
 
Stomatopoda's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 862
This should really be in Religion&Philosophy
Stomatopoda is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 23rd April 2012, 02:15 AM   #148
punshhh
Illuminator
 
punshhh's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Rural England
Posts: 4,165
Originally Posted by DevilsAdvocate View Post
There is that “je ne sais quoi” feeling of mysticism that we can apply to any unanalyzed collective abstraction.
Try applying it to existence itself.

Cultivating a subtle understanding and appreciation of art is very rewarding in deepening the capacities of the mind.
punshhh is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 23rd April 2012, 07:28 AM   #149
Bodhi Dharma Zen
Advaitin
 
Bodhi Dharma Zen's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Here
Posts: 3,809
Originally Posted by Stomatopoda View Post
This should really be in Religion&Philosophy
Disagree.

First of all, it is WRONG that Philosophy shares a place in the forum with religion... one is a discipline to learn to think, to explore what constitutes knowledge, to analyze the properties of language and to make theoretical frameworks that allows us to explore the universe using tools like science... and the other one is a collection of myths for lesser intelects.

That said, the study of what constitutes our identity is a scientific endeavor, so this is the right forum. Thanks.
__________________
Im too busy living, why waste my time believing?
Bodhi Dharma Zen is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 23rd April 2012, 07:35 AM   #150
Bodhi Dharma Zen
Advaitin
 
Bodhi Dharma Zen's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Here
Posts: 3,809
Originally Posted by Lowpro View Post
There's a pragmatic answer to this you know, and if you watched that BBC horizon the answer again will be pragmatic, not philosophical.
Well, pragmatism... IS a philosophy I don't know what happened at the JREF, I consider that it is absurd that "religion" can share a subforum with "philosophy", in a way, that renders them to be at the same (relative) category and many members at the JREF believe that philosophy is some kind of nonsensical rambling... yeah.. right...

Originally Posted by Lowpro View Post
If the subject's brain is in a vat then he will percieve himself in the body wherever it is, similar to the BBC horizon video where the main guy thought he was in the other guy's body thanks to the sense deprivation and cameras.
Exactly my point, one that it might not be obvious at first sight, because we are so accustomed to our normal reference point that these kind of questions are starting to arise (thanks to philosophical inquiry using science as a tool).

Originally Posted by Lowpro View Post
Now, the pragmatic answer to the observer...the guy's in both places obviously -.- the brain's in the vat, the body (probe) is out probing.
Now, this is an interesting analysis. I would have to disagree, but it is certainly a good point. I believe the guy, the personality, his "sense of who he is" is located at the train, but that it wouldn't be able to be there without the connection to its brain.
__________________
Im too busy living, why waste my time believing?
Bodhi Dharma Zen is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 23rd April 2012, 09:59 AM   #151
marplots
Philosopher
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 5,420
Commenting on the BBC horizon thing, you said:
Originally Posted by Bodhi Dharma Zen View Post
Exactly my point, one that it might not be obvious at first sight, because we are so accustomed to our normal reference point that these kind of questions are starting to arise (thanks to philosophical inquiry using science as a tool).
So is your question, "Where is your experience?" or is it "Where does it feel like your experience is?"

Different questions.
marplots is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 23rd April 2012, 12:00 PM   #152
punshhh
Illuminator
 
punshhh's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Rural England
Posts: 4,165
Originally Posted by Bodhi Dharma Zen View Post
It is commonly accepted that the brain, somehow, produces the mind, at least in the JREF of course. If this is the case, where is the mind? It is located in the brain? The experience that makes you feel you, its inside your head?

What do you think about it?

Discuss.
Are you considering that the human mind is present in spacetime, or that its somewhere else?
punshhh is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 23rd April 2012, 12:09 PM   #153
TeapotCavalry
Thinker
 
TeapotCavalry's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Estonia
Posts: 212
Originally Posted by marplots View Post
So is your question, "Where is your experience?" or is it "Where does it feel like your experience is?"

Different questions.
Precisely!

Originally Posted by Bodhi Dharma Zen View Post
I believe the guy, the personality, his "sense of who he is" is located at the train, but that it wouldn't be able to be there without the connection to its brain.
The guy, the personality, his "sense of who he is" are "located" in the brain, he just feels he's on the train, because his body, senses are. The experience still occurs in his brain.
TeapotCavalry is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 23rd April 2012, 12:54 PM   #154
JoeBentley
Self Employed
Remittance Man
 
JoeBentley's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Norfolk, VA
Posts: 1,778
- Ask question a simple but loaded question with an obvious answer.
- Get simple direct answer.
- Ask question again using more words and vaguer language
- Get the same simple answer because you didn't actually change your base question.
- Ask the question yet again, wording it even vaguer this time. Use word salad and wall of text.
- Yet again get the same simple answer.
- Ask the question again, but add solipsistic special pleading.
- Yet again get the same simple answer.
- Ask the same question yet again. At this point start making up neat sounding but useless phrases like "Outside of plane of space/time" or "Beyond the realm of the comprehensible" or "Outside the veil of the formless horizon of the energy of the mind."
- Yet again get the same simple answer.
__________________
- Opinions require evidence and no before you ask defining something as "Something doesn't require evidence" doesn't count.
- In extreme cases continuing to be wrong when you've been repeatedly proven to be wrong is a form of rudeness.
- Major in philosophy. That way you can also ask people "why" they would like fries would that.
JoeBentley is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 23rd April 2012, 12:54 PM   #155
Bodhi Dharma Zen
Advaitin
 
Bodhi Dharma Zen's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Here
Posts: 3,809
Originally Posted by marplots View Post
So is your question, "Where is your experience?" or is it "Where does it feel like your experience is?"

Different questions.
Originally Posted by TeapotCavalry View Post
The guy, the personality, his "sense of who he is" are "located" in the brain, he just feels he's on the train, because his body, senses are. The experience still occurs in his brain.
Are there really two questions? Let's see.. if you feel something, this feeling is part of the experience... So, I believe there is just one question; Where is your experience?, which includes of course everything you believe, you think, you feel, you sense, etc.

Originally Posted by Lowpro View Post
Now, the pragmatic answer to the observer...the guy's in both places obviously -.- the brain's in the vat, the body (probe) is out probing.
I brought this post by Lowpro again as its relevant, he has a slightly different guess... I would say that, no, he can't be in both places simultaneously and what introduces the "noise" is the link to the brain and the belief about it "somehow contains" the experience.

IMO; "experience" is something located at the location is happening, in this case, the train. The consciousness of the subject is right there, not in any other place... now.. that if we cut the link to the brain the consciousness would return to the brain (assuming that consciousness can happen without any propioceptive or senses information) is correct, as the brain (in relation to the senses) is what allows experience to happen.
__________________
Im too busy living, why waste my time believing?
Bodhi Dharma Zen is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 23rd April 2012, 12:57 PM   #156
Bodhi Dharma Zen
Advaitin
 
Bodhi Dharma Zen's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Here
Posts: 3,809
Originally Posted by JoeBentley View Post
- Ask question a simple but loaded question with an obvious answer.
- Get simple direct answer.
- Ask question again using more words and vaguer language
- Get the same simple answer because you didn't actually change your base question.
- Ask the question yet again, wording it even vaguer this time. Use word salad and wall of text.
- Yet again get the same simple answer.
- Ask the question again, but add solipsistic special pleading.
- Yet again get the same simple answer.
- Ask the same question yet again. At this point start making up neat sounding but useless phrases like "Outside of plane of space/time" or "Beyond the realm of the comprehensible" or "Outside the veil of the formless horizon of the energy of the mind."
- Yet again get the same simple answer.
Really, straw mans are obtuse and negligent. Read the thread and you are welcomed to discuss, other than that, you have no business here.
__________________
Im too busy living, why waste my time believing?
Bodhi Dharma Zen is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 23rd April 2012, 01:23 PM   #157
Lowpro
Illuminator
 
Lowpro's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Birmingham, AL
Posts: 4,543
Originally Posted by Bodhi Dharma Zen View Post
IMO; "experience" is something located at the location is happening, in this case, the train. The consciousness of the subject is right there, not in any other place... now.. that if we cut the link to the brain the consciousness would return to the brain (assuming that consciousness can happen without any propioceptive or senses information) is correct, as the brain (in relation to the senses) is what allows experience to happen.
Well are we dealing again with experience being equal to the word perception? Because I agree that the brain, assuming all all PNS activity were being transmitted "perfectly" to the brain even with the distance the PERCEPTION would probably be that the subject would perceive his or herself on the train, not as a brain in the vat. This is simple to explain; the brain itself doesn't have the "probe" of the body to determine where it is (maybe it does if there are receptors in and around the brain that determine location, but that's a minor consideration to the experiment you're talking about) regardless all perception would determine that you are indeed on the train.

However, ALL that perception IS transmitted to the brain where the perceptions are summated. That's why I actually think the one subject being in two places at once is accurate.

Example: Let's take the BBC Horizon video to an extreme. Let's have the one guy with the screens be labeled (A) and the guy with the camera labeled (B). We already see the effects of when the two are standing across from eachother, A receives the sight stimuli from B and the brain interprets it as it being his own stimuli. Well let's send B on a train then. A will perceive B as still being himself throughout the train ride, at least visually. A might as well JUST be the brain in the vat at this point too! But it's still the stimuli of B's movements being summated in A's brain. For all intents and purposes he might as well be in both places. It'd be basically a very very very complex periscope/fiberoptic eye. B is a prosthesis of A. A does the perceiving, and B is just the probe that transmits the stimuli to be perceived.
__________________
"If I actually believed that Jesus was coming to end the world in 2050, I'd be preparing by stocking up on timber and nails" - PZ Myers

Last edited by Lowpro; 23rd April 2012 at 01:27 PM. Reason: bolded to make it less confusing....maybe
Lowpro is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 23rd April 2012, 01:47 PM   #158
TeapotCavalry
Thinker
 
TeapotCavalry's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Estonia
Posts: 212
Originally Posted by Bodhi Dharma Zen View Post
IMO; "experience" is something located at the location is happening, in this case, the train. The consciousness of the subject is right there, not in any other place... now.. that if we cut the link to the brain the consciousness would return to the brain (assuming that consciousness can happen without any propioceptive or senses information) is correct, as the brain (in relation to the senses) is what allows experience to happen.
experience
"n.
1. The apprehension of an object, thought, or emotion through the senses or mind: a child's first experience of snow.
2.
a. Active participation in events or activities, leading to the accumulation of knowledge or skill: a lesson taught by experience; a carpenter with experience in roof repair.
b. The knowledge or skill so derived.
3.
a. An event or a series of events participated in or lived through.
b. The totality of such events in the past of an individual or group."

I think you use "experience" as the underlined part, and I use it as the bolded part. That's all there is to it.

Btw, where would you say the experiences of dreams happen? At the place the dreamer perceives himself to be?

Last edited by TeapotCavalry; 23rd April 2012 at 01:48 PM. Reason: grammar
TeapotCavalry is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 23rd April 2012, 02:32 PM   #159
I Ratant
Penultimate Amazing
 
I Ratant's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 15,305
Originally Posted by TeapotCavalry View Post
experience
"n.
1. The apprehension of an object, thought, or emotion through the senses or mind: a child's first experience of snow.
...
.
I watched a feral kitten's first experience with standing water. It jumped from a low wall into a shallow puddle... and, if it could have raised all four feet at the same time...
I Ratant is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 23rd April 2012, 02:47 PM   #160
Lowpro
Illuminator
 
Lowpro's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Birmingham, AL
Posts: 4,543
Originally Posted by TeapotCavalry View Post
Btw, where would you say the experiences of dreams happen? At the place the dreamer perceives himself to be?
It's like the MMAAAAAAAAAAATRIIIIIIIIIIXXXXXX!!!
__________________
"If I actually believed that Jesus was coming to end the world in 2050, I'd be preparing by stocking up on timber and nails" - PZ Myers
Lowpro is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Reply

JREF Forum » General Topics » Science, Mathematics, Medicine, and Technology

Bookmarks

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump


All times are GMT -7. The time now is 02:21 AM.
Powered by vBulletin. Copyright ©2000 - 2013, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
© 2001-2012, James Randi Educational Foundation. All Rights Reserved.

Disclaimer: Messages posted in the Forum are solely the opinion of their authors.