Neurons cannot be responsible for awareness

Discussion in 'Philosophy' started by res_smoke, Jun 9, 2016.

  1. #1 res_smoke, Jun 9, 2016
    Last edited: Jun 9, 2016
    The argument is simple:- mere spatial relations can never be responsible for the awareness of contiguity (such as how a mere spatial relationship between a pencil and desk, for example, does not suffice to produce awareness in either thing of the other).

    Yet, the only kind of relationship neurons or a neuron can ever have with another, like dendrites receiving stimuli, axons conducting currents, the release of peculiar neurotransmitters, glial cell functioning etc., etc., are merely spatial ones. And therefore, the spatial modifications of neurons, i.e., their spatial processes, cannot be responsible for our awareness of things.
     
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  2. I don't think the workings of the brain are sufficiently understood well enough to know whether this is true. Our brains might produce our awareness by a means we are yet to even fathom. It's why I find neuroscience such an interesting science - there is so much yet to discover and learn.
     
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  3. Indeed it is simple logic, but is it sound?

    Your first premise seems most reasonable, the second i wouldnt be so sure about.

    Either the constituant parts of the whole possess the potential for the resulting effect or there is an interplay of natural and supernatural. A third possibility, which is unreasonable (if not the same as the natural/supernatural interplay) is that the parts can cause an emergant property in the whole that is not possessed in the parts.

    If you think about it, a tv remote can send an infrared signal to a receiver and turn on your tv, this is possible because some assortment of parts are tuned to sense the incoming light signal and produce a response. This is more than spatial awareness, but a transfer of information. Likewise a neuron can produce a charge passing along information to a neighboring neuron, more than just its spatial position.

    So it seems to me, fundamentally, this reality and the constituant parts are producing effects that were hitherto latent.

    Like an outdated graphics card trying to run a video game in uhd. Even if it is receiving uhd information, it will only be able to process in lower detail at normal speed (not actualizing all the latent information) or in full detail at a slower speed (thus lagging and missing the time component of the information).

    Im playing devils advocate here, not pretending i have got it all figured out.



     
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  4. Spatial awareness would be akin to perception, whereas time relativity would correlate reception. As the brain is a fixed internal organ, the space is limited and finite. With that limited set of instructions, neural pathways respond to stimuli in temporal space not restricted to the boundaries of outer space. Because the brain never physically interacts with any object outside the cranium, the static interference of sensation simulates it's sense of awareness.

    But I'm no neuroscientist, just playing with the topic on my own noggin.
     
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  5. rofl,that guy is still around?
     
  6. Fairly certain. Either that.. or there is someone elsewhere on the internet with this view point and personality that has a simple minded fan base who mimics him. Most likely the former though, cause he could never let go.
     
  7. He hasnt been around for... Probably a year

     
  8. Probably more like he isn't using a persona that you recognize.. dude would hold the record for number of different screen names, if it was a thing.
     
  9. Theirs a great book i read that relates to what the op is talking about. Its called "The mind & The Brain: Neuroplasticity and the power of mental force" by Jeffrey M Schwartz, M.D., and Sharon Begley. Its all about whether or not the mind is a creation of the brain or separate from it. Very interesting read. The only problem is it goes into gruesome detail about the experiments on monkeys that lead to this knowledge =(. I think this relates though to what your talking about with awareness and all.
     
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