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From: MrPhiloscience
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  • Karl achieved enlightenment

  • He has a point. I mean, if we didn't have a brain, we wouldn't be able to do anything, so the brain is feeding us information so that we can.

  • Kony 2012! look it up. Also, Karl ... are you mental?

  • Haha i know what Karl means, its just the way he words it is so funny. Some times I feel bad for him because he gets ripped for being so dumb... poor guy... but very entertaining. lol

  • He raises a vital question and then farts the definition down his leg.

  • referencing the smiths

  • Scumbag brain

  • i searched for tortoise on a skatebaord after this

  • hahaha 2:01 really struggling

  • I, for one, welcome our new onion overlord.

  • @whosaidwhatwhen As do I!!

  • an article about his dilemma, we do have 2 minds!

    citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/­download?doi=10.1.1.180.292&re­p=rep1&type=pdf

  • @dezzre I couldn't open the page, though I imagine that you are referring to property dualism, no? If so, it's more of a philosophical hypothesis than an actually fact. It concerns the nature of consciousness as opposed to the physical properties of the brain.

  • Well it's pretty much a fact that there is no such thing as free will right? The brain controls you, and the rest of the body controls the brain which in turn is controled by outside forces. I agree tho, Karl often ask clever questions.

  • @Apanzon Where did you get a silly idea like that?

  • @DimentalLabs What is so silly about it? Read gamegloss's response, and then check up on determinism.

  • @Apanzon It ultimately comes down to a question of determinism. If every event adheres to cause and effect and the passage of time is linear, then it is safe to say that free will does not exist.

    But we know that elementary particles behave in very strange way that seem to defy our conventional understanding of physics. This could have mind-bending implications in regard to free will, the passage of time, nature of physical space, and even the nature of what we consider intrinsically real.

  • I think he is right aha

  • "you are your brain"? No way - what about all the other bits? And what about the MIND? Because that is NOT the brian. Further, the self, or ego, (my identity) is distinct from the mind, since there are things in my mind which I disavow or repress. Besides, I cannot be identical with my mind, since my legs are parts of me, but not parts of my mind. Gervais, at about 2:49, IDENTIFIES mind and brain, but this is an elementary mistake: the brain is a lump of stuff in space, the mind aint.

  • "do i control my brain or does my brain control me?" = MIND BLOWN

  • We are all the onion. Best sermon i've ever heard.

  • Actually Karl is closer to the truth than most of us realize.

  • @bafmd he references Descartes' "Observer" argument. Ricky often has the "parrot" thing going on, where he states things as being true nobody REALLY knows ....other times it's like "I slipped on the ice, why?", Ricky "Cause the ice is slippery". That's not the right answer. Your body's weights puts pressure on the top layer of the ice, which transforms it into a layer of water instantly; this is the slippery substance - water on ice, not the ICE itself. Karl often asks pretty CLEVER questions

  • There s a lot of fairly presumptive statements on the nature of consciousness here. While i hardly disagree with a lot of what Gervais says, its interesting to note that Karls theories and question actually sit comfortably at the heart of the consciousness debates that continue to rage.

  • He makes a good point though. Happens to me all the time. I'll be thinking of one thing then the next minute something totally different. I won't know where it came from. I didn't consciously want it there, it just came to me. I'm having a hard time explaining it like he is. :)

    There's always two "you's". There is You, and then there's your Brain. your Brain is not you. it's about (sub)consciousness. They tend to fight sometimes. For example, trying to remember that actors name. Scumbag brain.

  • @gredangeo yup, there's the layer analogy (like, you do not consciously think about holding a pen while writing or people looking at the keyboard while typing, but "someone" thinks about it). There's the Corpus Callosum, connecting both your brain halfs. Some people were born without it or it was cut.....and the patient develops schizophrenia and has two personalities at the same time. So yeah, you are basically two people ALL THE TIME, you are just not aware, cause one of them always wins.

  • What I love is that Ricky and Steve often do get what Karl is trying to say but they keep playing devils advocate to tease out even more gems of insanity. And Karl is an endless mine of that!

  • Bullies.

  • And here I am thinking this video is about the people who covered a report on the Macbook Wheel.

  • He is just referencing consciousness and subconscious but he can't describe it.

  • @garrett707 exactly

  • @garrett707 yeah but that would be boring if ricky just said that, they know.

  • @garrett707 or a soul

  • Spirit.

  • I thought about this ages before I heard Karl, it must be some other way of thinking or something.

  • Mr pilkington can make me smile at any time.. Legend

  • everyone should have a friend like karl, hours of great conversations

  • This whole observation reminds me of Ricky from trailer park boys

  • @markwilliamlewis hahaha I never put that together, he totally does sound like Ricky when he's trying to explain to Bubbles how his brain is always talking to itself

  • i hope steve and ricky are just trying to be funny, because there is a lot of truth in what karl was saying

  • @unstable0 Of course they are, it's called comedy

  • From now on, I will end all stories about me with "When suddenly...ONION."

  • i think carl was thinking as in terms of philosophy not having 2 brains in your head

  • I'm sorry, but I really find Karl's inability to comprehend how thought works really annoying.

  • @Kaizerworks It's not an inability to comprehend thought, he is thinking about conscious and unconscious thought. Sometimes unconscious thought feels like you aren't in control it. Your stupidity is actually pretty annoying.

  • @tidalwavedave305 *thumbs up*

  • one of the videos in the related/featured box at the end of the video, is a lecture by sisyphusredeemed. i recommend his channel for discussion of these topics in depth

  • Karl could be a philosopher

  • im high as fuck, and his bullshit makes sense

  • The Smiths - 'Does the body rule the mind or does the mind rule the body?... I don't know'

  • Suddenly.... ONION.

  • Karl Pilkington, The Onion, And The Problem of Free Will - the long anticipated sequal to The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe.

  • Even morissey said it, does the body rule the mind or does the mind rule the body.

  • "Who's in charge?"

  • Karl is closer to the truth than Ricky .....ID,ego & Super ego ;)

  • you have your concious mind and your subconcious. Concious is present, free-ish, and your subconcious is what Everything is filtered through. Your subconcious probabley reminded youof the onion

  • When suddenly, onion!

  • Karl has got a point

  • ONION! "angel choir"

  • and that's why when you die, nothing happens!

  • This show is one of comedy. I like to assume that Ricky and Stephen genuinely know that their friend Karl isn't actually an idiot - just like most of us know he's not an idiot. They're making fun of him because it's FUNNY, not because they truly think he's a moron.

  • I'm surprised ricky is dissing this idea given that he has a degree in philosophy. This is one of the biggest questions in renaissance philosophy.

  • It's a little less funny when after I think what Karl's brain really told him is "it would be funny to talk naively as if I didn't know what a brain does"

    For all we know, Karl could secretly be a comic genius.

  • If you believe in a soul this might make sense, otherwise it's just another load of rubbish

  • Karl's right, and he's a genius

  • As soon as he said "I was thinking the other day" i knew this was gnna b guud

  • The part that got me was when he said "there's not like, two brains, the thinking brain then another "meta" brain"

    and I thought to myself, "Isn't that EXACTLY what a lot of theories say, more or less?"

  • 3 peoples brains told em to dislike this

  • And, tbh, if Ricky has a degree in philosophy and is really as intelligent as he 'jokes' about being, then he MUST know about dualism as it's pretty basic stuff! He's just making Karl look stupid by exploiting his bad expression of ideas for comedy. Which, I guess is what the show's all about. So it's not necessarily a bad thing. I just feel sorry for Karl :(

  • @fvjnfdsjvae Dualism, as you said, is pretty basic stuff. The comedy arises from Karl's choice of wording more than anything. It's like he really does believe he and his "brain" are two seperate things. The word "subconscious" would have done.

    It's just banter at the end of the day, they will take the piss for anything.

  • @fvjnfdsjvae Actually Karl's misunderstanding is still a misunderstanding even in dualism. Who is in control you or your brain is still a pretty big mistake to say. If my mind is me and it is only experiencing through the medium of my brain, as dualism suggests, then my brain is in no more control than say my car is in control when I am driving it.

  • @nospacesallowed Karl can't be misunderstanding dualism if he hasn't even heard of it before! He's philosophising and thinking of his own theories. Also, dualism states that the soul and the physical body are separate things, with many dualists believing that they have no interaction with each other (see my first comment). And the brain can be in control, or at least influence decisions, in the same way a car can limit your driving choices by its maximum speed and the possibility of malfunction

  • @fvjnfdsjvae So why is it on Ricky to expound on a principle that Karl did not express and Ricky does not agree with. I am not sure what your complaint is. If Karl says why is it that the Government can use the force, Does Ricky need to explain the different theories of governments, or is it just that he should make fun of him saying the force and then explain Ricky's thoughts.

    The issue is the word control indicates an entity acting on its own, a consciousness that makes choices.

  • Aw, I hate how they just reject his points because they think of him as an 'idiot' without considering them properly... "Dualism is an ancient concept and deeply rooted in Greek thought. The Greeks held that a man's soul was of an entirely different essence than his body. Furthermore, they held that these dual entities had no interaction with one another. Indeed, the Greeks saw them as alien to one another, the body being the prison house of the soul. " He's really not as stupid as they make out

  • its so annoying when your onion lobe kicks in

  • There, Cartesian Dualism.

  • "It's not like there's you, then there's a brain, then there's an extra one looking down at it y'know the meta-brain looking down from above it." HA HA HA

  • Karl is right, Ricky is wrong, there is a part of our brain which isnt "controlled by us" it actually control body heat, heart beat, hormons etc.

  • "Tortoise on a Skateboard" could be a rock band

  • Does the body rule the mind or does the mind rule the body? I dunno...

  • Confucius say - 'No sushi, belly hungry.'........

  • and now whenever i see a onion i remember ricky saying "onion"

  • Comedy at its finest.

  • madness

  • If you think this is profound you are a fucking idiot.

  • to be fair this is actually a really valid philosophical point by karl. shows he's actually really clever.

  • Karl does say some hilariously silly things, but this wasn't the first time I thought the other two just laugh off whatever Karl says without listening. Ricky's idea that the brain just controls everything isn't the default viewpoint in biology anymore either. The body being composed of systems that act in coordination and opposition is an alternative, perfectly valid way to look at humans.

  • @Impulse725 Im pretty sure they touch on this aswell in a separate show where they talk about the operation where someone got their brain "cut" in half and the left side (brain) controls the right side(body) and vice versa, So Im guessing its just to aggravate Karl. On a personal note multiple specialist systems working in coordination sounds a lot better (though my opinion means nothing) than a materialist cartesian theatre (cartesian theatre is just lazy thinking.)

  • what is that at 0:00 ??

  • i... kind of agree in a way...

  • the sense of self alludes karl for years to come

  • The thing is... there's definitely the case for a debate on the conscience and the sub-conscience and the brain's control over the conscience and stuff like that but... Karl doesn't understand it like that. He's probably just thinking of the numbskulls, with a little him and a brain that reminds him of stuff. Lest we forget, this is the same man who put sausages in a toaster to warm them up.

  • "Pilkington actually makes a pretty profound observation here"

    Not really, but you don't seem to be the person to judge after this gem - "that illustrates the problem of free will"

    Well now, does it? No.

  • He touches on both behaviourism and determinism. He's actually a very deep and thoughtful person. In ancient Greece he would be considered a philosopher.

  • @jeffreykins Well, In ancient Greece, THIS . IS . SPARTA.

  • I agree with Karl.

  • I was thinking of a tortoise on a skateboard this whole time

  • Just got a shirt with the brain quote on it!

  • There's nothing profound about the observation, but then there's nothing intellectual about dismissing it offhand as a stupid, idle thought. Gervais is practically right (as in, in terms of practicality) but scientifically, and philosophically, well, no one reading these comments really knows.

  • @tetryst I'm not saying that he's completely right, but take a look at Sam Harris' comments on free will on his 'Ask Me Anything #2' video. It's a genuinely difficult idea to come to terms with.

  • @ubernaffa

    I never thought so. I am my brain. Further, I am the physical processes that make up my brain and body. I'm not slaved to these things, I am these things. Deterministic universe or not, my will is not slaved to anything I wouldn't call "me".

  • @Fordi Fair comment. However, I would argue that freedom involves choice, at some level. So if our consciousness is merely being informed of the result of a decision, not actively taking part in it, I would lobby that the above doesn't qualify as freedom. But I don't know enough about the brain to form a conclusive opinion. I am not a neuroscientist. ;)

  • /watch?v=oSAKlAu-CUw karl pilkintons rage on susan!!

  • I get what he's talking about

  • There are 2 sides to the brain one can override the other look it up

  • OVEN.

  • It's funny- Gervais and Merchant are the ones who seem foolish here...

  • love it when ricky gets mad :L

  • I love Ricky but he really is an intellectual snob. He's the kinda guy that would have taken the piss for saying the earth was a sphere a few hundred years ago.

  • @DTX85 I agree there and he probably would also, Ricky- Dismisses anything that is a bit out of the ordinary like ect paranormal.. Karl- Deep thinker, sometimes has a valid point sometimes comes out with rubbish, Steve- Suck up to ricky, often takes his side against karl and everything ricky says steve will agree with, But anything karl says he will disagree with

  • Ironically, he has given an example of one of the finest thought experiments that's used to demonstrate the genuine absence of free will.

  • @ubernaffa Yes but he's got a head like fucking orange

  • @ubernaffa It's hilarious. Completely inadvertently. I know that there has been work done that demonstrates that our brains are controlled by chemistry and free will does not exist. Philosophically it's a difficult concept - easy to grasp, but difficult to believe.

  • @ubernaffa yes. It has been proven that our brains make decisions before our concious minds are aware of the decision. Brain controls us.

  • @arseymcpherson

    But the question is if the conscious mind and the whatever that actually decides are indeed both parts of us. I would think that we are truly our brains, and our conscious mind is a manifestation of that. So technically we have free will, and make decisions and stuff, but the part of your mind you can easily comprehend doesn't know about it until after the decision has been made.  Just IMO

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  • Whenever I see one of these videos pop up, it always seems like Pilkinton's the smart one, but cursed with an inability to explain himself...the concepts flying miles over the heads of Gervais/Merchant.

    I'm reminded of an experiment where it turned out that the left and right hemisphere's of a brain could hold two opposing beliefs (religiously, politically etc.) Obviously we are our minds, but we aren't conscious of the vast majority of the stuff that goes on inside our brains.

  • the difference between self and character in combination with the unconscious.

    the body ages, the character changes but the self remains the same.

    Pilkington is brighter than you Gervais.

  • hairy chinese kid

  • "You are your brain" is essentially the modern scientific paradigm known as monism.

  • My amazing new hoddie has karl pilkington's beautiful face on it then "So am I in charge of my brain or is my brain in charge of me?". It's so loveable <3

  • i know what he means... just sayin :/

  • Karl is onto something there. Gervais and Merchant are so used to him saying illogical things that they totally miss it when an interesting question pops out concearning the ego and the id. And yes, comedy podcast. So no, I don't expect anything else.

  • @ashpewl Except the ego, super-ego, and id really have nothing to do with memory or forgetting an item on a grocery list.

  • @Ramona0087 Not a shopping list no, but ego is intrinsically linked to memory.

  • @ashpewl Not sure how it is linked to memory, as the ego acts to realistically fulfill the ids basic pleasures. I just don't see where the "question concerning the ego and the id" is within this video. It seems more to do with short-term memory.

  • why does karls brain look like testicles!

  • ..so i'm an onion?

  • Why didn't they draw a tortoise on a skateboard?!

  • Ricky ruins these clips. STFU!

  • @fuzztubeyou if it wasn't for Ricky Gervais you would never have heard of Karl Pilkington. YOU shut the fuck up.

  • " you are your brain. If you are anything you are your mind, your brain your collection of memories your personality, your not what you look like" if more people knew this the world would be a more productive place. thanks ricky

  • they do just bully karl

  • Karl would make an amazing troll.

  • Comment removed

  • This show is entertaining and fascinating. XD

  • Karl comes off a lot more philosophical than Ricky and Steve here.

  • @jerryhello100 How can ricky say so simply that there isn't a duality. He, a philosophy student in Uni.

  • you were thinking of a tortoise on a skateboard lol

  • karl actually has a point here. while it is true that all of our thoughts/emotions etc. are a product of the brain, there wouldn't be any input to process if it weren't for the rest of the body... so in a way, you have to consider the entire nervous system as in "control".

  • Karl switches writing hands. at 0:32, he's left-handed, but at 1:30, he writes 'onion' with his right hand

  • You ARE the brain. And all the rest of "your" body. You and your body is the same thing. There is no distinction.

  • anyone notice how close this is to Still Ill by The Smiths "Does the body rule the mind or does the mind rule the body, i don't know" Ricky is a huge Smiths fan too haha :P bet he wouldn't take the piss out of Morrissey for it :P

  • Karl si the funniest and most intelligent member of this group, these people don't know shit

  • @keir193 yea but did you write that or did your brain?

  • "Does the brain control you or are you controlling the brain? I don't know if I'm in charge of mine."

  • subconscious?

  • I used to think the brain was the most amazing, wonderful organ in my body.

    Then I remembered who was telling me this...

  • @ThePeaceableKingdom me too. then i discovered masturbation

  • @ThePeaceableKingdom thats a good one

  • @realworldish Thanks. I wish I could claim I thought it up, but it's a line by the '80s comedian Emo Philips. It did seem apropos, though...

  • I would have liked to have seen a tortoise on a skateboard at the end there... :(

  • The Smiths - does the body rule the mind, or does the mind rule the body..I dunno

  • Karl You are great! I love that you question what most of us are too jaded to question. Thank you.

  • D her e så syykt syra!! hahahah! love it!

  • lmao at Ricky's expression when he said, "You did!"

  • Okay, I do understand that this is created for the purposes of comedy. And that it's to that end all efforts are directed. But it's reductionist pricks like gervais that make intelligent and sincere conversation so hard to come by. There's always got to be one person that feels the urge to give a simple answer and say "and that's all it is", to complex issues. And gets louder or just repeats themselves whenever any vaguely dissenting view is presented. But again, comedy show.

  • @existenceisrelative So true. Whenever i try and have an interesting conversation with people about the complexities of the universe there's always one intellectually arrogant, cynical bastard that has to simplify everything.

  • I think there is a metabrain.

  • @Edubbplate ALL HAIL THE METABRAIN!

  • i actually totally get what karl is saying lol

  • 1:20

    OH GOD! that onion! LOLL!

  • 'righ

    youre not your brain. YOU experience feelings via the brain.

    take a functioning body and brain with no consciousness, thats a machine. it doesnt care, pleasure, pain, arent felt. theres only physiological responses to any stimulus. nobody there to say ouch or yum yum.

    the part that likes or dislikes is more than a computer program. eat a nom nom or slap yer head of a wall for proof and that innit. theres a 'me' at that time - permanent or not. I think.

  • @HLecterPHD Cogito ergo sum.

  • @HLecterPHD "take a functioning body and brain with no consciousness, thats a machine." It's exactly the same with consciousness. In the end, all we are are electrical signals taking input from the environment and calculating that information to form a physical reaction or thought.

    If you think about it, we're not even truly conscious, we're just a really complicated machine taking something in and putting something out.

  • @sttate hmm yeah but where do the electrical signals go. and if we're just matter does that mean matter is conscious and cares and experiences. did the consciousness come from matter or is it an intrinsic part of matter. did matter possibly even come after consciousness.

  • @HLecterPHD They go to and from your brain to and from receptors (if this is the right term) all over your body.

    "and if we're just matter does that mean matter is conscious and cares and experiences." As far as we are concerned we do care and experience, but that's at the human level, our normal way of thinking.

    Ask yourself, "Is a clock conscious?". As in the end that is all we are, biological clockwork. Just because we're far more complex doesn't mean there's a soul all of a sudden.

  • @sttate ok

    Machinery cannot appreciate. The various signals go to and from your body, the brain is just another organ passing those signals.

    Machinery can measure the content of a cake and class it as x or y. The machine will never experience taste. A machine wont be offended or flattered. Experiences exist, if matter really is ALL then experience has to be material and as real as anything.

    Karls Q very intelligent, brain mind question is a whole branch of philos and medicine and religion(s).