Can the power of thought move a hand?

_{Denyse O'Leary

June 29, 2014

Mind, Neuroscience, News}

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A young American paralysed in a swimming accident has become the first patient to move his hand using the power of thought after doctors inserted a microchip into his brain.

Ian Burkhart was able to open and close his fist and even pick up a spoon during the first test of the chip, giving hope to millions of accident victims and stroke sufferers of a new bionic era of movement through thought.

Onlookers described the moment he was able to move by the sheer force of concentration as like watching “science fiction come true”.

But wait, isn’t the mind an illusion?

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Comments

BA77 @ 12 Thank you for the interesting information. Here's a related text that you already know:
Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:5-7 (ESV)

I want you to be free from anxieties 1 Corinthians 7:32-34 (ESV)

And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek His kingdom, and these things will be added to you. Luke 12:22-31

And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.” Luke 12:10-12 (ESV)

But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:40-42 (ESV)

And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations. And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. Mark 13:10-11 (ESV)

and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Matthew 10:18-20 (ESV)

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Matthew 6:25-34 (ESV)
However, still there was something that worried Paul, the Apostle: his concern about others.
And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. 2 Corinthians 11:28 (ESV)
Dionisio_{June 30, 2014
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sounds like a welcome advancement to overcome a problem. I say we have souls that are meshed to our memory. its the memory that is affecting the body. We don't move out arm. We think to move it and the memory, which has recorded how to do this some years after birth etc, then does it. The conduit can be said to be sparks but its the memory that is the middleman. In this stuff they are just on the other side of the memory. the thoughts don;t affect the chip. Its the memory that affects the chip.Robert Byers_{June 30, 2014
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Dionisio, this may interest you: I was somewhat surprised to learn that the negative mental states of stress, anxiety, and even ‘loathing’, have been shown to have a pronounced detrimental effect upon one's health:
Anxiety May Shorten Your Cell Life - July 12, 2012 Excerpt: These studies had the advantage of large data sets involving thousands of participants. If the correlations remain robust in similar studies, it would indicate that mental states and lifestyle choices can produce epigenetic effects on our genes. http://crev.info/2012/07/anxiety-may-shorten-your-cell-life/ Networks of Genes Respond to Social Experiences - October 13, 2013 Excerpt: It is subjective mind and perception that changes genes, not just external situations. http://jonlieffmd.com/blog/networks-of-genes-respond-to-social-experiences How those marital rows can be bad for your health by JENNY HOPE – December 2005 Excerpt: Married couples who constantly argue risk damaging their health, according to a study. It found that marital rows can prolong the time it takes the body to heal itself after an injury. One argument alone can slow this process by a day. And the study claims that when married couples feel consistently hostile towards one another, the delay in the healing process can be doubled. - per Daily Mail Negative Thoughts Linked to Physical Health Issues - Dr. Caroline Leaf - (Part 1 of 3) - video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYgr1rTEf_w The Healing Power of Positive Words By Linda Wasmer Andrews - Jun 08, 2012 Excerpt: When researchers analyzed the autobiographies of famous deceased psychologists, they found that those who used lots of active positive words (such as lively, enthusiastic, happy) tended to outlive their other colleagues. Within this category of words, the biggest boost came from humor-related terms (such as laugh, funny, giggle), which were associated with living six years longer, on average. In contrast, passive positive words (such as peaceful, calm, relaxed) and negative words (such as worried, angry, lonely) didn’t affect longevity. http://health.yahoo.net/experts/allinyourmind/health-power-positive-words
Whereas conversely, it is found that the positive mental state of happiness, love, caring, and nurturing, have a pronounced positive effect on health,,
The health benefits of happiness - Mark Easton - 2006 Excerpt: "It's not just that if you're physically well you're likely to be happy but actually the opposite way round," said Dr Cox. (Extensive studies show that) "If you are happy you are (much more) likely in the future to have less in the way of physical illness than those who are unhappy". - per BBC Are Religious People Happier Than Atheists? - 2000 Excerpt: there does indeed appear to be a link between religion and happiness. Several studies have been done, but to give an example, one study found that the more frequently people attended religious events, the happier they were; 47% of people who attended several types a week reported that they were ‘very happy’, as opposed to 28% who attended less than monthly. http://generallythinking.com/are-religious-people-happier-than-atheists/ Atheism and health Excerpt: A meta-analysis of all studies, both published and unpublished, relating to religious involvement and longevity was carried out in 2000. Forty-two studies were included, involving some 126,000 subjects. Active religious involvement increased the chance of living longer by some 29%, and participation in public religious practices, such as church attendance, increased the chance of living longer by 43%.[4][5] - per Conservapedia ABC News - The Science Behind the Healing Power of Love - video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6t1p-PwGgE4 Social isolation and its health implications January 2012 Excerpt: Studies show that social isolation and/or loneliness predict morbidity and mortality from cancer, cardiovascular disease, and a host of other diseases. In fact, the body perceives loneliness as a threat. Research from the University of California suggests that loneliness or lack of social support could triple the odds of being diagnosed with a heart condition. Redford Williams and his colleagues at Duke University directed a study in 1992 on heart patients and their relationships. They discovered that 50% of patients with heart disease who did not have a spouse or someone to confide in died within five years, while only 17% of those who did have a confidante died in the same time period.12 http://www.how-to-be-healthy.org/social-isolation-and-its-health-implications/
Moreover the positive effect of a caring attitude is found to work both ways, in that not only does the person receiving loving care from another person heal more quickly, but it is also found that people of a happy, charitable, loving, nature also receive the tangible benefits of a longer and healthier life in return:
Study finds it actually is better (and healthier) to give than to receive – February 4, 2013 Excerpt: A five-year study by researchers at three universities has established that providing tangible assistance to others protects our health and lengthens our lives. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-healthier.html
Perhaps this tangible effect of love on health goes a long way towards explaining why women, who, IMHO, are generally more loving and caring than men are, (i.e. moms and mother Teresa come to mind), live on average five to 10 years longer than men do. Of course from a Theistic perspective this tangible effect of love is to be expected, whereas from a materialistic perspective, well to put it mildly, from a materialistic perspective of survival of the fittest, dog eat dog, it is very counter intuitive: Verse and music:
1 Corinthians 13:1-8 If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, [love] is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.,,, For King & Country "The Proof Of Your Love" - Live Music http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pr9YVD05x8M
bornagain77_{June 29, 2014
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Can we consider "commitment to love an unlovable person" a voluntary or involuntary act? Is that commitment a material or immaterial entity? Does it translate onto visible (physical) actions? How does that happen?Dionisio_{June 29, 2014
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OOPs, wrong link: here is the correct one,, Erwin Schrödinger - "Do Electrons Think?" (BBC 1949) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCwR1ztUXtUbornagain77_{June 29, 2014
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To turn the question around a bit: BRUCE GORDON: Hawking’s irrational arguments – October 2010 Excerpt: This transcendent reality cannot merely be a Platonic realm of mathematical descriptions, for such things are causally inert abstract entities that do not affect the material world,,, Rather, the transcendent reality on which our universe depends must be something that can exhibit agency – a mind that can choose among the infinite variety of mathematical descriptions and bring into existence a reality that corresponds to a consistent subset of them. This is what “breathes fire into the equations and makes a universe for them to describe.” Anything else invokes random miracles as an explanatory principle and spells the end of scientific rationality.,,, Universes do not “spontaneously create” on the basis of abstract mathematical descriptions, nor does the fantasy of a limitless multiverse trump the explanatory power of transcendent intelligent design. What Mr. Hawking’s contrary assertions show is that mathematical savants can sometimes be metaphysical simpletons. Caveat emptor. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/oct/1/hawking-irrational-arguments/bornagain77_{June 29, 2014
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There are many actions I can't really control. They are " deterministic", "involuntary", even against my wishes sometimes. Heartbeat, digestion, hair falling out. Other actions I can control. Speech & Movement seem the biggies. Determined and voluntary. Pacemakers have been around a long time. Biomed devices that assist the "involuntary" actions are not so new. But this new "brain implant" device is helping assist the Free Will stuff. Pretty nifty.ppolish_{June 29, 2014
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Planck and Bohr were talking in such terms from the outset, BA. Incidentally, interesting to read that Planck's grandfather and great-grandfather were both theology professors.Axel_{June 29, 2014
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As with non-local quantum effects arising outside of time and space, so to are the effects of consciousness. Though we may not know 'how' these effects arise, that they do arise free of any materialistic constraints within space and time we do know. But much the same can be said of causes and effects that arise within space time in that we know much about what happens and very little about 'how' it happens. notes: Looking beyond space and time to cope with quantum theory - 29 October 2012 Excerpt: "Our result gives weight to the idea that quantum correlations somehow arise from outside spacetime, in the sense that no story in space and time can describe them," http://www.quantumlah.org/highlight/121029_hidden_influences.php What Does Quantum Physics Have to Do with Free Will? - By Antoine Suarez - July 22, 2013 Excerpt: What is more, recent experiments are bringing to light that the experimenter’s free will and consciousness should be considered axioms (founding principles) of standard quantum physics theory. So for instance, in experiments involving “entanglement” (the phenomenon Einstein called “spooky action at a distance”), to conclude that quantum correlations of two particles are nonlocal (i.e. cannot be explained by signals traveling at velocity less than or equal to the speed of light), it is crucial to assume that the experimenter can make free choices, and is not constrained in what orientation he/she sets the measuring devices. To understand these implications it is crucial to be aware that quantum physics is not only a description of the material and visible world around us, but also speaks about non-material influences coming from outside the space-time.,,, https://www.bigquestionsonline.com/content/what-does-quantum-physics-have-do-free-will Quantum Mechanics - Double Slit Experiment. Is anything real? (Prof. Anton Zeilinger) - video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayvbKafw2g0 Prof. Zeilinger makes this rather startling statement in the preceding video: "The path taken by the photon is not an element of reality. We are not allowed to talk about the photon passing through this or this slit. Neither are we allowed to say the photon passes through both slits. All this kind of language is not applicable." Anton Zeilinger …the “paradox” is only a conflict between reality and your feeling of what reality “ought to be.” Richard Feynman, in The Feynman Lectures on Physics, vol III, p. 18-9 (1965) Acts 17:28 For in Him we live, and move, and have our being; as also certain of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’bornagain77_{June 29, 2014
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The question might be, how does an immaterial mind create electrical impulses?
One option could be that the mind generates thoughts, which then get converted to electrical impulses, by activating and operating brain mechanisms that are not completely understood yet. If the brain mechanisms don't function well, because some components or connections are damaged, then the thought does not produce the intended result. As neuroscience research advances, more light should be shed on those complex mechanisms, hence more clues could be revealed. However, at this point, this seems far beyond our capacity to comprehend. I have to admit my suggestion is highly speculative. I'm an ignorant on this subject (well, on most subjects). I just believe that it was a mind that created the laws of physics that allow electrical impulses to be generated and transmitted. But that's a belief that transcends the domain of science.Dionisio_{June 29, 2014
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Dr. Craig Hazen, in the following video at the 12:26 minute mark, relates how he performed, for academics, a ‘miracle’ by raising his hand,,
The Intersection of Science and Religion - Craig Hazen, PhD - video http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=xVByFjV0qlE#t=746s
If anyone doubts that raising your hand is a miracle, Dr. Benjamin Carson, in the following video, describes the amazing process involved in the brain/body just to raise your hand:
Ben Carson - Thought Process - 2:39 minute mark of video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qdo6rT064KA&feature=player_detailpage#t=148s
Of related interest:
“As I remarked earlier, this may present an “insuperable” difficulty for some scientists of materialists bent, but the fact remains, and is demonstrated by research, that non-material mind acts on material brain.” Sir John Eccles - Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1963 - (as quoted in Cousins, 1985, pp. 61-62,85-86) Aquinas’ First Way 1) Change in nature is elevation of potency to act. 2) Potency cannot actualize itself, because it does not exist actually. 3) Potency must be actualized by another, which is itself in act. 4) Essentially ordered series of causes (elevations of potency to act) exist in nature. 5) An essentially ordered series of elevations from potency to act cannot be in infinite regress, because the series must be actualized by something that is itself in act without the need for elevation from potency. 6) The ground of an essentially ordered series of elevations from potency to act must be pure act with respect to the casual series. 7) This Pure Act– Prime Mover– is what we call God. http://egnorance.blogspot.com/2011/08/aquinas-first-way.html Or to put it much more simply: "The ‘First Mover’ is necessary for change occurring at each moment." Michael Egnor – Aquinas’ First Way http://www.evolutionnews.org/2009/09/jerry_coyne_and_aquinas_first.html
The following video is also very helpful in understanding the "First Mover" argument:
The Laws of Nature (Have Never ‘Caused’ Anything) by C.S. Lewis – doodle video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_20yiBQAIlk
Moreover, in direct contradiction to materialistic presuppositions, it is now found that 'mental states' can have pronounced effects on genetic expression:
Scientists Finally Show How Your Thoughts Can Cause Specific Molecular Changes To Your Genes, - December 10, 2013 Excerpt: “To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper that shows rapid alterations in gene expression within subjects associated with mindfulness meditation practice,” says study author Richard J. Davidson, founder of the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds and the William James and Vilas Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “Most interestingly, the changes were observed in genes that are the current targets of anti-inflammatory and analgesic drugs,” says Perla Kaliman, first author of the article and a researcher at the Institute of Biomedical Research of Barcelona, Spain (IIBB-CSIC-IDIBAPS), where the molecular analyses were conducted.,,, the researchers say, there was no difference in the tested genes between the two groups of people at the start of the study. The observed effects were seen only in the meditators following mindfulness practice. In addition, several other DNA-modifying genes showed no differences between groups, suggesting that the mindfulness practice specifically affected certain regulatory pathways. http://www.tunedbody.com/scientists-finally-show-thoughts-can-cause-specific-molecular-changes-genes/
Reaching all the way down to control even genetic expression is completely contrary to materialistic assumptions that hold we are merely helpless victims of our genes, whereas on Theistic presuppositions, where the 'soul/mind' is primary, this level of control is expected.bornagain77_{June 29, 2014
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If the Doctors could access the chip remotely and cause the arm to move, who's Free Will should take credit? Make the guy pick his nose.ppolish_{June 29, 2014
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A young American paralysed in a swimming accident has become the first patient to move his hand using the power of thought after doctors inserted a microchip into his brain. The didn't implant it in the mind,they implanted it in the brain. The question might be,how does an immaterial mind create electrical impulses?velikovskys_{June 29, 2014
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Can the power of thought move a hand?
Isn't that what most of us do everyday? The thoughts are converted to electrical impulses through a very simple mechanism that was the product of a cosmic fluke, then those impulses are converted to mechanical movements through interconnected muscles, tendons, bones, etc., that together form simple mechanisms that were the product of another cosmic fluke. Probably thoughts are also products of another cosmic fluke. Even the cosmic flukes were products of previous cosmic flukes, and so on. Very simple. Piece of cake, isn't it?Dionisio_{June 29, 2014
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