27 May 2013

Neuroscience and consciousness

I think that this is pretty much the same argument as John Searle makes against reductionism of mind to brain.
Even if neuroscience one day tracks every single neuron firing in real time, you won't be watching consciousness. You'll have more precise correlations to play with, yes. But people will still experience pain and say "Ouch!", not "Oh, no worries: it's just neuron cluster 148 lighting up." Face to faith: When we meditate or use our powers of perception, we call on more than just a brain :
 And the article notes that the hard problem remains -the insideness of what we experience  isn't merely physical. This leaves -in terms of options for philosophical approaches- dualism or emergent monism. I still tend towards the latter.

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"Spend and tax" not "tax and spend"

 I got a response from my MP which got me kind of mad. You'll see why as I reproduce it here. Apologies for the strange changes in types...