Consciousness and Quantum Voodoo

A response to a video by Conferencereports titled, "The Hard Problem of Consciousness".
In this video, I try to address Fred's frustration about the difficulty of talking about consciousness, by formulating a simple definition of it.
I also provide my theory of how the brain produces consciousness, sans any reliance on "quantum voodoo", and instead relying on the electromagnetic paradigm.

www.jeffkosmoski.com

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• consciousness
• hard
• problem
• quantum
• computation
• neurons
• electromagnetic
• electromagnetism
• qualia
• column
• cartesian
• descartes
• dualism

[TheJohnVandivier]

I like your video! I have a response I would like u to seriously consider and maybe do a video on.

It seems to me that science recognizes experience as equivalent to consciousness, however I believe this fails to account for "will". I think the true self and consciousness are not found in the "experience-er" but in the "will-er" if you will! After all even machines react to stimuli! Also I believe irrationality is the unique human trait, not rationality. What do you think?

[jeffkosmo]

@TheJohnVandivier

(1)

Thanks for the comments!

I actually touch on this notion in my book (Evolving Towards the Truth). I refer to the self as being more like a community, than a monolithic, singular entity.  Among these contributors is a group of "desire modules" (sex, eat, socialize, fear, etc.). But on top of all of these sits a "Top Level Optimizer"; it's responsibility is to optimize pleasure and minimize pain, in the long run. In addition to this intellectual module (cont'd @ 2)

[jeffkosmo]

@TheJohnVandivier

(2)...cont'd - is a module I refer to as "the likener". It's kind of an "analogy engine" or metaphor machine. When we're curiously inspecting some new person, place or thing, we really don't ask "What is this?" Instead, we ask, "What is this like?". I.e., what else in my memory banks does this object resemble, and in what ways. And how is it different.

I also agree with your skepticism about the term "rational". cont'd @ (3)

[jeffkosmo]

@TheJohnVandivier

(3) cont'd - I think it's more accurate to say that we "rationalize", whatever has been deemed most optimal by the Top Level Optimizer.

Cheers,

Jeff

[isabel2a]

Regarding electromagnetism: wouldn't NMR devices seriously disturb brain function?

[jeffkosmo]

@isabel2a

I haven't heard of NMRs having any effect; however, there's a therapy known as Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation that is apparently used for depression and chronic pain.

I don't know a lot about how NMRs actually work, but it may be that the frequencies at which they work are so high that they don't affect the brain - for the same reason that radio frequencies don't either.

[ThisOneIsTaken]

Isn't the sensory deprivation thought experiment just as Condillac's sensible statue?

[wkrepelin]

I would be careful though about making claims about EM without quantitative models or empirical data just because of how very well EM is understood (It's a very complete theory and it IS a Quantum Mechanical theory as well. So when you invoke EM you must invoke Quantum Mechanics. EM is just another quantum phenomenon).

[wkrepelin]

As a consequence of that definition of computer many things, both analog and quantum, can be considered computers of one sort or another (either specific purpose or general purpose). For instance, your whole body is a computer that takes in visible light and outputs just the information to form your image in different spectra (among many other input/output functions) .Anyway, really enjoyed the video even though, and probably because, it is pretty far out of my field (Which is Quantum Phys LOL).

[wkrepelin]

Hey man, cool video. About the brain as a computer. The brain is a general purpose computer by definition. A computer takes in one kind of information, performs a "computation" which converts the information and then the computer "outputs" the new information that results from that conversion. That's why an abacus is not a computer but really just a "storage device" (like a hard drive) where the mathematician is the "computer" and is using their brain like a processor and random memory unit.

[otonanoC]

I guess I will put these here. Consider both of these responses.

watch?v=btQBJ8LdoSg

watch?v=AgQgfb-HkQk