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Closing in on consciousness?

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This post at LiveScience illustrates an interesting aspect of the attempts of materialist science to understand consciousness.

It’s actually just a list of “ some of the best contenders for a theory of consciousness.” And they are not very good.

Consciousness is one of those fields where, every so often, someone can claim that we have just about figured it out. And that’s not true.

But the main thing to see is that it doesn’t matter.

The field, as presently constituted, exists to keep out serious analysis, not further it. That won’t change any time soon.

(At least we haven’t heard recently from perceptronium man. 😉 )

See also: What great physicists have said about immateriality and consciousness

2 Replies to “Closing in on consciousness?”

  1. 1
    bornagain77 says:
    July 31, 2014 at 7:53 pm

    The notion of materialistic science ever ‘Closing in on consciousness’ reminds me of the story of Baron von Münchhausen who claimed he could pull himself (and the horse he was sitting on) out of a swamp by his own hair.

    Or as Dr. Eben Alexander put it:

    (Harvard neurosurgeon) Dr. Eben Alexander Says It’s Time for Brain Science to Graduate From Kindergarten – 10/24/2013
    Excerpt: As long as scientists hold onto that simplistic (materialistic) thinking they are going to be mired down to never, ever explain consciousness or the enigmas of quantum mechanics. But there are a lot of scientists out there who do get it,,,
    The pure scientific materialist model that I worshiped for so many years has absolutely nothing to offer up in terms of explaining how consciousness might emerge from the physical brain.,,,
    consciousness is a far deeper, more profound mystery than “kindergarten level” scientific materialism offers up.,,
    It’s time for brain science, mind science, physics, cosmology, to move from kindergarten up into first grade and realize we will never truly understand consciousness with that simplistic materialist mindset.
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....51093.html

    Or as Max Planck so aptly put it:

    I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as a derivative of consciousness. We cannot get behind consciousness. Everything that we talk about, everything that we regard as existing postulates consciousness.
    Max Planck

    So simple a child can see it, and yet the swamp is filled with materialistic PhDs tugging away at their hair trying vainly to pull themselves out. 🙂

    Baron von Münchhausen in the swamp – painting
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M.....00x789.jpg

  2. 2
    Axel says:
    August 2, 2014 at 5:39 pm

    Good metaphor, BA!

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