tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2916532122185648082.post6933036470965159147..comments2023-03-31T00:42:14.692-07:00Comments on Conversations With Chris Bernard: Consciousness, Ourselves and Our WorldMolly Broganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02864214690848523445noreply@blogger.comBlogger89125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2916532122185648082.post-85910869265051980852009-10-12T13:01:54.579-07:002009-10-12T13:01:54.579-07:00I don't often approve links, but yours leads t...I don't often approve links, but yours leads to an important document. Thank you so much.Molly Broganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02864214690848523445noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2916532122185648082.post-10943050054832861622009-10-12T13:01:14.089-07:002009-10-12T13:01:14.089-07:00It's really very simple when viewed from the v...It's really very simple when viewed from the vantage of the indivisibility of the appearing phenomena from consciousness.<br /><br />The wide-open relaxed space that gently cradles all thought is the self-knowing capacity of existence.<br /><br />All the mental anguish that ultimately leads nowhere is a result of the very basic misunderstanding about the fundamental nature of reality that is WideOpennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2916532122185648082.post-52172374309934596992009-10-01T14:12:50.031-07:002009-10-01T14:12:50.031-07:00I think that consciousness is not just a static co...I think that consciousness is not just a static consciousness that existentially is... Instead I think that consciousness is an active process.... similar to the concept of self esteem. Self esteem is less a noun than a verb. One has self esteem when they are actively engaged in a process of self esteem regulation. Thus if I am right it is more accurate to say that one who has self esteem has Gibbsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2916532122185648082.post-36495131857532685982009-10-01T14:10:56.928-07:002009-10-01T14:10:56.928-07:00Yes, I see your point. From my view, consciousnes...Yes, I see your point. From my view, consciousness just is, and our viewpoint is the filter. As you say, the difference between us.Molly Broganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02864214690848523445noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2916532122185648082.post-5218746101478848282009-10-01T14:10:03.861-07:002009-10-01T14:10:03.861-07:00Also, the undifferentiated, ineffable, omniscient,...Also, the undifferentiated, ineffable, omniscient, realm of all possibility can be experienced in sleep or deep meditation and contemplation.<br /><br />The atonement thing - that everything is connected with everything else - appears to me to be obvious. But so what? Individuals must still individually reckon with the meaning of that experience which is different for different people.?In Gibbsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2916532122185648082.post-88070114480288514182009-10-01T14:05:33.240-07:002009-10-01T14:05:33.240-07:00Yes, and I think we generate meaningful connection...Yes, and I think we generate meaningful connections by the experience of consciousness, not the intellectual speculation of consciousness, as has been suggested in a couple different threads. I believe that states like cosmic consciousness (experience all time and others and all that is) can and are experienced in sleep and deep meditation or contemplation. Also, the undifferentiated, ineffableMolly Broganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02864214690848523445noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2916532122185648082.post-6198402300527269392009-10-01T14:03:34.350-07:002009-10-01T14:03:34.350-07:00Doesn't everything in the body have a physiolo...Doesn't everything in the body have a physiological component? But that is not the point about consciousness.<br /><br />Whatever else consciousness is - is that it's essence is the awareness of awareness plus. The plus factor are the idiosyncratic meanings we consciously and unconsciously attribute to any of our individual experiences. So that the mystery of consciousness I believe is Gibbsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2916532122185648082.post-3403278814392171602009-10-01T14:01:44.280-07:002009-10-01T14:01:44.280-07:00In Don Quixote the only player who knew what was r...In Don Quixote the only player who knew what was really going on was the horse. With Wallace it's his dog Grommet, Orn. There are many statements that we cannot know about something or another.Neilnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2916532122185648082.post-84275359970379472142009-09-30T13:34:12.412-07:002009-09-30T13:34:12.412-07:00consciousness is existential. It is not something,...consciousness is existential. It is not something, let alone something that could be placed inside of something else. That would make it spatial and temporal. It is existential in meaning and fact. It is a reference to the fact of having been or of being. So until consciousness occurs then you aren't or if you prefer, you weren't- without it you can't be. There is some wiggle room Justinnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2916532122185648082.post-15100858042500990462009-09-30T13:28:40.845-07:002009-09-30T13:28:40.845-07:00There may be something in what you say Allan, ther...There may be something in what you say Allan, there may not be. The problem I have with your interpretation is really just this bit:<br /><br />'So it is occurring to me that if you take these individual cells and combine them into a body there would be no reason to expect anything more than a functioning blob of cells in the form of a body.'<br /><br />We know for example that when we Leenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2916532122185648082.post-24284772156032966812009-09-30T13:23:57.782-07:002009-09-30T13:23:57.782-07:00If you realize (start from the fact that) consciou...If you realize (start from the fact that) consciousness is not a mechanism then the fact that manipulating a mechanism affects it does not mean its a mechanism or that there is a *mechanical* linkage to it.<br /><br />Furthermore if you understand what a mechanism means to include roughly it "being an object" and you understand that "consciousness" means to be an "Justinnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2916532122185648082.post-56739878062109906942009-09-30T13:19:20.700-07:002009-09-30T13:19:20.700-07:00consciousness; in following this line and some TV...consciousness; in following this line and some TV programs and or other assimulted data (no I am not borg.) One of the strange things was that the body is made of of billions of individual cells none of which have consciousness.. this basic fact I believe to be true. So it is occurring to me that if you take these individual cells and combine them into a body there would be nor reason to expectAllannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2916532122185648082.post-70849038515263068092009-09-15T13:52:59.486-07:002009-09-15T13:52:59.486-07:00I think we can see in small segments how conscious...I think we can see in small segments how consciousness changes collectively but the actual measurement of such seems out of reach as global boundaries still define our means of communication and even that would have to pass the Archy level of truth scrutiny. The facades of the great Republic and Socialist nations leave behind a huge bewilderment when the communication convolutes behind the Ulyssesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2916532122185648082.post-24214085353859529202009-09-15T13:52:50.788-07:002009-09-15T13:52:50.788-07:00I think we can see in small segments how conscious...I think we can see in small segments how consciousness changes collectively but the actual measurement of such seems out of reach as global boundaries still define our means of communication and even that would have to pass the Archy level of truth scrutiny. The facades of the great Republic and Socialist nations leave behind a huge bewilderment when the communication convolutes behind the Ulyssesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2916532122185648082.post-72234432872759728532009-09-15T13:04:56.157-07:002009-09-15T13:04:56.157-07:00The trick will be to avoid the dangers of mob psyc...The trick will be to avoid the dangers of mob psychology where everyone starts to act as if they were anonymous or hidden and they loose their "ethical" footing.<br /><br />Some may say we need to make the internet completely non-anonymous. I hate that idea. I think we need to make it completely anonymous except for anyone who acts at the head of any form of pyramidical organization. Justinnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2916532122185648082.post-70366659969289269612009-09-15T12:50:16.333-07:002009-09-15T12:50:16.333-07:00There used to be a laboratory joke that the stuff ...There used to be a laboratory joke that the stuff you were swilling down the sink was what you were really looking for. There are a lot of moments in science that I'm inclined to think 'bugger, that explains a lot' of - viewpoints that are somehow 'better'. Sometimes, such moments have left me wondering how I had managed to be so inadequate before. When it comes to Neilnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2916532122185648082.post-74053007714639027102009-09-15T08:26:17.331-07:002009-09-15T08:26:17.331-07:00Dawkins is just a money-grubber. He has not offer...Dawkins is just a money-grubber. He has not offerred anything really new to the argument and his faith is just as strong as those he condemns. He may be bright but he still has a big propblem with internal consistency, which, to me, makes most of his work yesterday's rubbish dressed as haute-cuisine. <br /><br /><br /> The ancient art of competition requires an opponent. This, in Patnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2916532122185648082.post-79139392311325403902009-09-14T17:08:22.778-07:002009-09-14T17:08:22.778-07:00I like Albert Einstein's quote on why most peo...I like Albert Einstein's quote on why most people don't experience consciousness.<br /><br />“A human being is part of a whole, called by us the Universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our Dexter Francoishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04740748860140647097noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2916532122185648082.post-38581322692767458812009-09-14T12:08:33.746-07:002009-09-14T12:08:33.746-07:00I am not sure there is "false" conscious...I am not sure there is "false" consciousness, but that we deem it so, and this may be relative. The Dennett video struck me because I thought it illustrated nicely the idea of viewpoint. I could feel myself change, or had a change in feeling once I "saw" what he was leading me to see. At first, I could not see it, then I could. And once I could, my viewpoint changed. ThisMolly Broganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02864214690848523445noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2916532122185648082.post-55659047485185523132009-09-14T12:04:43.415-07:002009-09-14T12:04:43.415-07:00Perhaps it's not false consciousness at all bu...Perhaps it's not false consciousness at all but simply irrational reasoning, discretion gone wild or living an indoctrinated lie.Ulyssesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2916532122185648082.post-76952194576639177592009-09-14T12:04:02.901-07:002009-09-14T12:04:02.901-07:00I suppose most of our experience of the why contin...I suppose most of our experience of the why continuum has been disappointment - largely because it's been about manufacturing consent - the human sciences have certainly played their part in this. There has been some focus on what gets 'hard-wired' in the brain, leading to the notion that religion is and that this togetherness is an evolutionary advantage. I tend to like notions of Neilnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2916532122185648082.post-45789584116422383412009-09-14T11:59:47.863-07:002009-09-14T11:59:47.863-07:00LOL!! Could well be. The last time I had a pint ...LOL!! Could well be. The last time I had a pint of ale, I was sick as a dog. I just can't seem to tolerate alcohol anymore. I suppose God is preparing me for a long dry spell. ;-) <br /><br />the fact that we exist in a continuum implies that the system is teleological. Thus the need for our 'whys' to be answered. I fear, though, that most of the answers will elude us while we&#Patnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2916532122185648082.post-18755828550545072712009-09-14T11:58:03.257-07:002009-09-14T11:58:03.257-07:00Tubulins are targets for anticancer drugs like Tax...Tubulins are targets for anticancer drugs like Taxol and the "Vinca alkaloid" drugs such as vinblastine and vincristine. The anti-gout agent colchicine binds to tubulin and inhibits microtubule formation, arresting neutrophil motility and decreasing inflammation. The anti- fungal drug Griseofulvin targets mictotubule formation and has applications in cancer treatment. Visions of myself Neilnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2916532122185648082.post-85904203484908752262009-09-14T11:37:47.309-07:002009-09-14T11:37:47.309-07:00The nervous system contains a substance, tubulin, ...The nervous system contains a substance, tubulin, which creates a quantum-scale interface to consciousness, which is actually contained in the Calabi-Yau space. The brain forms the interface between that consciousness-space and our space-time through our bodies. This, of course, is given a string theory paradigm, which is not proven experimentally but is the only theory on paper that fills in (orPatnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2916532122185648082.post-2865737823800976892009-09-14T11:34:26.160-07:002009-09-14T11:34:26.160-07:00These would be examples of people doing philosophy...These would be examples of people doing philosophy in a modern way. The subject is alive and well - my guess is we have to put in some hard work to change our personal positions and be able to think more originally. Many arguments put forward as contrasting positions can be seen to have similar roots (a technical feature of Wittgenstein).<br /><br />Stotz, K. and Griffiths, P. E. (2008). “Neilnoreply@blogger.com