Consciousness & Neurophilosophy (Gerald Edelman)

[another1shortdaymore]

there is no consciousness, consciousness is an illusion inferred from that of which one is conscious.

[thelifeofaJonathon]

"We are on the brink on beginning to understand something that belonged only to the philosophers..." I like that a lot, and I feel like that is very true.

[Trailer1220]

So then my consciousness exists not as the neurons themselves, because they remain after ones death, but rather an energetic current traveling across this physical framework??... A framework consisting of cells that serve thousands of functions beyond being merely an on or off switch?? Tip of the iceberg!?? Neuroscience provides more content for philosophical inquiry, not less

[Neueregel]

Philosophy is dead. We killed her. The skies will not be ambiguous anymore but bright . How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Neuroscience is the new Philosophy.

[DJAR1E]

@Neueregel Nietzsche would lol.

[AEVautomatic]

He is a great hero. If only others would aspire to be as such.

[8by8state]

I really like the embryonic stuff in his dissertation bright air brilliant fire.that's what I find most inspiring about his work.thinking about the role of consciousness when we are just a collection of cells.rolling up into sheets! Moving as layers,rolling up then branching out! Manifestations of consciousness?

[garbidz]

Why all this talk about Gore-Tex?

(read Edelman&Tononi: "A Universe Of Consciousness -How Matter Becomes Imagination")

[garbidz]

He is discriminating against animals and also using a lot of words I do not understand at all.

[gen6k]

glittering gibberish. its hard determinism bro, causality throughout~

[comatose603]

He totally ignores dealing with Intentionality as well. He states TNGS is compatible with propsitional attitudes, but that line of thought is riddled with problems as Dennett explained in his Beyond Belief essay.

He's also a hypocrite over Computationalism. He states brain != computer; yet builds his Darwin series of robots to test his TNGS. Clearly there are other possibilities for a computational model of the brain besides GOFAI. He must be smoking to much of Searle's ontological crack.

[diegocaleiro]

the most intelligent commentary I read in youtube. Good to know there are minds out there.

[comatose603]

Ironic I got -1 tagged, people confuse criticism with persecution to easily. To me its just an unintentional slight of hand trick by Edelman:

'how does the brain construct semantic content?' 'how do we solve the qualia issue if there is such a thing?'

TNGS!

Sorry if everyone here finds TNGS a full answer, but I for one need more then that; as outlined, but again: 'what is it about reentant neurology, as opposed to non-reentrant neurology, that makes for subjective experience?' etc.

[AEVautomatic]

@comatose603 why why why why why.

[comatose603]

Edelman's theory begs the question, 'what is it about reentant neurology, as opposed to non-reentrant neurology, that makes for subjective experience?'

He's also a closet Cartesian Materialist. His theory implies some in out dichtomy and a finish-line.

cont...

[nadoeloiskat]

Philosophy RULES!!!

It makes kind of explanation of the meaning of life itself but in another side it just makes it worse and more complicated and proofs that eventually there is no meaning or goal..

[0ThouArtThat0]

He's right that philosophers hate epiphenomenalism. let me summarize what I heard Edelman say: "consciousness is not causal because it is an entailment of the 'dynamic core' within the brain and body, which acts in a world of which it is composed. consciousness is a process, so it cannot be causal (unless a thermodynamically open system can somehow become causally efficacious)."

Isn't everything a process? What exists outside the process? Since when did materialism have a monopoly on causality?

[0ThouArtThat0]

Edelman said he thinks every attempt to explain how the brain works should appeal to evolution. His appeal was that the 'dynamic core' provided vastly more sensorimotor discriminations to our mammalian ancestors and so was adaptive.

What are these discriminations but qualitative states of consciousness? If consciousness is not causally implicated in behavior, how could phenomenological discriminations increase fitness?

[0ThouArtThat0]

I think it is feasible that highly complex autopoietic systems (like the cell, or mammals) are capable of producing patterns which are more than the sum of their parts. Emergent processes (like consciousness) can generate top down feedback to complement the sensory channels from our environment with appropriate motor responses. Consciousness definitely isn't a thing, I'm with Edelman there. It is not a thinking substance separate from body. Consciousness is the ongoing process.

[cardellacole4]

@0ThouArtThat0 i dont think consciousness is a thing because being below the atomic it cant be classed as a thing , i dont think consciousness is an emergent thing , but that matter is what emerges out of the sub atomic, as mind is what emerges from the consciousness field of the sub atomic , the conscious field of the sub atomic streams of electro magnetic energy are fused with the physical atomic as the experience of time, so mind for me is the emergent

[cardellacole4]

@cardellacole4 the brain is you could say the material dross that builds up around the sub attomic and atomic fusion laying down the pathways of memory, the body with its senses then are the billions of years of formation as a facsimile of the real

[DrDeist]

@0ThouArtThat0 "He's right that philosophers hate epiphenomenalism."

Philosophers tend more to hate the idea than do most folks but that's probably because philosophers understand the term while most folks don't. In any case Edelman is on to something here - although he's not the only one exploring these ideas.

[chiaraelettra]

è un genio. posato, limpido e simpatico, come sono i grandi uomini di scienza.

[EverettsVLOG]

i found his rambling about entropy and enthalpy irrational.

[otonanoC]

Edelman is my idol and mentor!!

(You might also want to check out Rolf Pfeifer).

[spawnfan101]

Thanks for yet another great upload zencat! The exploration of consciousness is quickly becoming my favourite subject.