Locating Subjects of Experience in the Natural Order - Part 1 of 7

A very interesting thought experiment by Rick Grush, a professor of philosophy at University of California, San Diego.


http://mind.ucsd.edu/

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Rick
• Grush
• philosophy
• mind
• experience
• Kant
• Descartes
• materialism
• Daniel
• Denett
• thought
• experiment
• time
• travel
• brain
• cognitive
• science

[kristy2120]

is this from a course that professor grush instructs at ucsd? if so, would you tell me the name and number of it?

[riversonthemoon]

@kristy2120 This is from a podcast of a research lecture he presented at UCSD on April 7, 2006. I don't know whether he incorporates it into any of his courses. I'm not even sure what courses he is teaching now since he hasn't updated his Home Page for a while. You could email him and ask him yourself. Click on the link in the description for his Home Page and email address.

:-)

[randyhelzerman]

w.r.t. the submarine example: you might interview some of the guys who are trained to operate those unmanned aircraft they are using in Iraq and Afghanistan... I wonder if their point of view shifts to where the plane is flying...

[riversonthemoon]

I suppose it does, in a sense, but since they still have a lot of sensory input from their immediate environment, including their body, it might not qualify. But you've raised an interesting question. In so far as *any* image generation qualifies as at least a partial rendering of an environment, like the sensory input drive is, does even a photograph qualify in some sense as a perspective? What do you think? What about Virtual Reality?

Thanks for opening another can of worms for me!

:-)

[qigong1001]

these themes are explored in "victim of the brain" by a Dutch filmaker. It has Dennet and Hofstadter in it. I'm sure you've seen it. if not, then its on GOOGLE VIDEO and you tube . Love this stuff!

[riversonthemoon]

I haven't seen it yet. Sounds fascinating. I've read some of Dennet's books on philosophy of mind and he always has interesting things to say. I'll be sure to check it out as soon as I get the chance. Thanks a lot.

[kristy2120]

@riversonthemoon alright, thanks for your reply! :)

[lupocephalic]

It just puzzles me as to why some people don't ponder these questions.

Anyway... I leave you with a quote from "The Pixies" ...

"Your head will collapse if there's nothing in it,

and you'll ask yourself,

Where's my mind?"

[riversonthemoon]

Glad you like it. It gets even more interesting. Part 2 coming soon.

[riversonthemoon]

Yes. I've heard of him, and watched some of his terribly frustrating videos. Never got into a debate with him, as I've read a few debates he's had with others and I decided it wouldn't be worth going through the motions of dancing with him, correcting points and finally getting blocked.

Since he believes in a soul, he would probably reject the premises of this thought experiment. I have no idea, tbh.