What is Consciousness?

[kasbushkaahma]

i dont even know what the comments mean

[ManyInfiniteComments]

I have no problems believing in god, just not a "god" or any other human made up explanation that defines it. When people venture towards a god, it's usually their cultural region specific god with alot of human baggage and emotion. Since we cannot prove the existence of god we can only go by what we can detect, any other "feeling" is biased. We all have feelings but last time I check humans tend to do crazy things including killing each other because of "feelings".

[superjew1000]

Hello I am intreastead in every point of view on this matter please pm me and we will talk about this like gentlemen.

[olunda]

On the questionable premise of free will, he builds his argument from ignorance.

Doesn't hold water.

[musicequalstruth]

This doesn't make a lot of sense. Instead check out:

Dr. John Hagelin and the Discovery of the Unified Field

to better understand the nature of consciousness and it's role in the structure of the universe.

[Austyg]

4:36 "That what [visum sic] I call consciousness. It is that physical phenomena that induces a change at its ON, and I recognize that . . ."

[Austyg]

What does he mean? What is a phenomenon "at its on"?

[corsair0001]

lol, Fail, If this guy actualy has a doctorate then it's not in the relavent feild.

[adkjuice]

Consciousness is the neurochemical reactions along with electrical charges in our brain that we use to precive and anlyze our 5 senses.

[dragonflyatrest]

The question is not about the reaction.

what causes the action?

That is the main question in this video.

[adkjuice]

The action is caused by the presence of these chemicals and macromolecules,which arose through millions of years of Evolution.

[NavinJohnson90]

That's perception. Though. That is not consciousness. Nice try trying to sound smart though.

[Nowitzki25]

the brain is the link between consciousness and the body, proof for ghost. the mind can live outside of the body

[Spanky00Cheeks]

Just a big slippery slope of making half correct assumptions and making more assumptions from them.

"What causes neurons to move for a thought to occur?" Almost makes you think its our magical soul or something.

Study how computers function and you will see how you can have logical "thought" without a magical soul.

And our brains are just as bug prone as Windows, so there goes the theory of creation by magical, all knowing, perfect being.

A seizure is basically a biological way of rebooting.

[lonerook860]

Humans are not computers because they are far more complex structures of energy. It could be the essence of energy is mind, and the structures of energy dictate the behaviour of this mind.

[Spanky00Cheeks]

"It could be the essence of energy is mind, and the structures of energy dictate the behaviour of this mind."

That the most meaningless and uneducated thing i have ever heard; something that Cheech and Chong would have said when high.

Please give me your definition for energy, and for mind, and then then explain how you think they are directly related. What the hell do you mean by an energy structure. Stop doing drugs.

[lonerook860]

We know that awareness is a property of living forms.

Living forms consist of energy which we see manifest through macro-level chemical processes.

It is not a stretch to suggest that energy, when organised in a certain fashion produces the phenomena of a consciousness and identity.

You can see this in action when a human infant is born, it then becomes aware.

We simply do not have a language yet to accommodate this property of energy so apparent when 'structured' in a human form.

[Spanky00Cheeks]

Matter, heat, electricity etc are forms of energy, so ya, when energy arranges in a specific way, we call it life. Like assembling an engine, with fuel, turning it on: it will run.

But life does not guarantee Consciousness/Intelligence. Bacteria, plants, viruses, and other basic life forms are not really C./I. You need a bio-electro-hormonal central processor (Brain) to have consciousness like we know it.

suggesting consciousness in energy is foolish; we use to think weather was gods wrath.

[lonerook860]

The brain is energy rearranged in a certain way. What makes you suggest that humans are different from other living forms when it comes to the capacity for conscious awareness? Life does not guarantee consciousness as we know it, because we are only the human structure of consciousness, which you yourself state is formed from energy. Other higher mammals also show behaviours that point to self awareness, which suggests that gradations of consciousness exist across the natural order.

[Spanky00Cheeks]

I didnt say there was a difference between us and them, i said every life form is different, and that the really low forms are not conscious, just a biological process which keeps then reproducing. there is virus DNA in our dna. search Retrovirus.

WHAT ARE YOU REFERRING TO, IN DETAIL, when saying the word ENERGY?

And what is your point? This video , if i remember correctly, suggests that there is a magical force controlling natural processes such as brain function. I was refuting that.

[lonerook860]

The point I was making is we cannot find a particular empirical justification for when a lower life form stops being a machine and starts to think. There are different levels of thinking or brain states across nature - which is hard for us to grasp because we only have a language for human thought. We have no idea what it is like to be an elephant, or a dolphin and their kind of brain states - they would not have a language to how we think either.

[lonerook860]

By energy I refer to basically the substance of the universe, which is synonymous with an expanding space-time continuum. I agree there is no reason to suggest some kind of supervenient 'soul' but awareness exists nonetheless, which makes it a property that exists in the universe. Since the universe is simply energy caught in an expanding multi-dimensional fabric, if consciousness is a property of the universe which it is, then it is a property of energy.

[theroamingfoot]

sorry, ignore that last one.

[theroamingfoot]

come from any previous, external cause. It would have been created all on its own. Mass-energy equivalence, expansion of the universe, and the decay of the atom are all events that result from external stimuli. It would be presumptuous to assert that the scientific community would wholeheartedly back you on your claim of spontaneity. I do not understand what you mean by wave-particle duality. I know what it is, but please explain its argumentative significance.

[theroamingfoot]

You do realize of course, Dr. Singh, that your understanding of consciousness would violate the Law of Conservation of Mass/Energy. In order for a thought to be motivated by spontaneous energy, with no previous, external cause, that energy would have to be created all on its own, something any respectable physicist would scoff at.

[allisone00]

Spontaneity is a degree of freedom (misdefined as randomness) that exists in nature. No respectable physicists can ignore the spontaneity of wave-particle duality, spontaneity of mass-energy equivalence, spontaneous expansion of the universe, spontaneous decay of the atom etc., which are all well-known physical phenomena having inherent spontaneity or consciousness or free will. None of them violate the laws of conservation. An awakening is needed for inanimate physics to become lifelike.

[theroamingfoot]

How exactly do you distinguisuh between spontaneity and randomness? If a ball (or a particle, for that matter) rests on a table, that ball will not move unless acted upon. If the ball suddenly jumped from its position without any predictable cause, such an event would surely baffle even the most astute physicist. It would be random, because it would totally lack predictability. This scenario is plainly impossible because the ball's sudden jump would represent energy that did not (continued)

[theroamingfoot]

come from any external source. Energy would have been created out of nowhere. Mass-energy equivalence, expansion of the universe, and the decay of the atom are not spontaneous because they are the direct result of external stimuli. I do not understand what you mean by wave-particle duality. I know what it is, but please explain its argumentative significance.

[allisone00]

Physics and all physicists accept the existence of the universal laws , which exist entirely at their own free will with no external cause (God is not an acceptable external cause in science). Randomness is a property only of the inanimate matter that has no spontaneity or free will. Only the inanimate matter needs an external stimulus to effect a change. The ultimate cause or stimulus of any motion or change is non-material spontaneity or free will just like a car needs a driver to move.

[Spanky00Cheeks]

"I do not understand what you mean by wave-particle duality. I know what it is, but please explain its argumentative significance."

he thinks that quantum particles have souls and can decide if they feel like being a particle or a wave, just to confuse the scientists.

[Spanky00Cheeks]

"having inherent spontaneity or consciousness or free will."

So quarks have souls and free will, and can make up their mind what to do?

We don't understand them yet, but we should be cautious not to give them supernatural explanations.

Remember: 3000 years ago, people thought that bad weather, thunder or drought was an expression of gods anger. Now we understand the weather, and now we are giving free will to inanimate/unconscious quantum particles that we are yet to understand.

Foolish.

[archdeaconj]

We have here the interesting notion that (to put it crudely) elementary particles manifest some kind of rudimentary free WILL. At the same time, it is the WILL of the observer, at some deep level of his being, that collapses the probability wave function of the particle so that it behaves in this way rather than that.  Does this represent a kind of negotiation, as it were, a battle one could almost say, between particle and observer?

[Sueezedtight]

Likely more related to interpretive skills.

The perception of the event affects the outcome by molding it to the perspective of the observer.

Free will is illusory, in the sense that we can affect cosmic energy flow. We can partake of it and by our presence, be part of the overall ramifications. Since we cannot opt ou" of the process, consciousness is just the awareness and recognition of what we are and how we must be.

That recognition is part of the process as well as our evolutionary nature.

[shiki5876]

Who is the ginger gimp? He seems a pathetic human.

[naganokumas]

It's not really a mystery anymore. It's fascinating and marvellous to appreciate. But it might take some effort, thinking, and time to appreciate it. It's slowly becoming no longer a mystery.

'Poof! There it is!', thanks to GOD. This scenario only takes away from what is marvellous and fascinating about it.

Assuming 'GOD' exists, don't you think 'he' would be disappointed in you only enjoying the fireworks, and not appreciating the effort that went into it?

[naganokumas]

Dr Singh sounds like an expert on assumption due to a lack of understanding.

His ignorance on science, evolution etc aside, he seems to have found a captive audience with this interviewer.

He only refers to the early universe rather than later manifestations to suggest that consciousness is difficult to contemplate.

Understanding the history of life, evolution etc makes it much easier to consider. But, sadly, he suggests that there is no evidence.

Use your brain. You're lucky to have one.

[naganokumas]

You should see MY bellybutton.

You were born with a complex brain. Many other organisms weren't due to the inadequacies of their limb on the tree of life. Homo Sapiens aren't the only ones with emotions.

Watch any higher level animal react to the death of a friend. They are feeling it, too.

Existentialism. You must have acquired a complex brain to consider it. Think about it.

[gavbag1234]

How can anthing have an existance if it had to be viewed in order to exist? If living things exist to percieve a notion of themselves and other people then that basically nagates an originality of perception and consciousness? Something had to exist before anything else did in order to created the universe? Is the universe just one consciousness experienceing itself subjectively?

And why are they on the moon?

[exploreruk07]

The body has an inteligence of its own. Thought is thinking you

[twinpinesmall]

when i dream, my mind constructs a reality so convincing that i cannot tell the difference. light, shadow, gravity, emotions...all so real. perhaps the universe has only to be thought into existence.

[bhn45r]

I wonder who thought it into existence....It had to be us...We are god....any conscious is from the same consciousness.

[journeysolo]

Thought it self according to Mande cosmology.