consciousness - your opinions

LabR@t

LabR@t

LabR@t

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Having just read a interesting book on the theme of consciousness This Book

It has intrigued me on the whole concept of consciousness.

What is consciousness how would you define it? Science knows nothing about it religion has its views on it but has no factual evidence and if you dig deep enough within structured religion they have common ground going back to the beginning of religion with the first religion of animism.

We know more about distant galaxies and stars that the consciousness withing each of us, do animals have consciousness is it the same as ours? Do inanimate objects have a kind of consciousness hence the belief of holy/mystical/magical places and artifacts?

Opinions ?


edit title should be 'your opinions'
 
We are all made from the same stuff, it is not such a leap to suggest that our conciousness is inextricably linked to everyone and everything else in the Universe.

It is simply another form of Energy.
 
Consciousness is something which everyone possess spiritually. To be conscious of something, in its basic sense, is to have knowledge of that thing on some level. Consciousness truly resides in the soul rather than the mind.

You have two layers of consciousness, a causal layer and a subtle layer, or subconscious. Everyone has access to their subconscious inner self through empirical knowledge of the universe based on reincarnation and transition from state to state. Accessing your own subconscious is one of the best ways of connecting with your true self and the Absolute.
 
There is no such "thing" as consciousness it is a functional description of our experience; which is itself a property of a brain.

Once we understand how the brain works then the question of what is consciousness will be seen as absurd. Much the same as asking why a square has squareness; it just is and would be absurd to try and understand squareness without referring to the square.

In my opinion ;)

If your interested get hold of a book called Mind and the Mirror of Nature by Richard Rorty. It is quite complex and has some difficult terminology but it offers an explanation of how the mind is basically a big category mistake created by Descartes.
 
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I believe this would be better suited in Speakers Corner, to filter out the inevitable horde of GD monkeys.

I know nothing academically speaking on this topic, the following is my own conjecture.

The sub-concious is the binary language of the brain. It's function is to accept and interpret reams of sensory data and from that data regulate and maintain the survival of the body. Instinct is any action taken to subvert imminent-danger without involving the concious. Emotions exist in this layer as complex binary data (think bitmap graphics) without meaning.

The conciousness (inner monologue) is the symbolic human language, according to the region in which we live*, that we can use to interact with and affect the inner working of the brain. Information flow goes both ways. The sub-concious presents pictorial-emotive images to the conciousness which applies symbolic reasoning to them. If the library of symbols of the conciousness is incomplete or lacking, the person is unable to convey the emotion or meaning. Likewise, symbolic reasoning of the concious can be passed to the sub-concious to affect, subvert or alter automatic behaviour.


*think something, but don't type it, read something, but don't speak it. That inner-monologue is your conciousness.
 
Isnt it a kind of category mistake to think of consciousness without considering its antecedents ie the physical brain processes which define, change and cause it to be? (both conscious and unconscious)

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/mind-identity/

Theres all different levels of awareness. my awareness right now. Different kind of awareness when driving a car etc.
 
Its weird.

Like colours, perspective, language, dont exist anwhere else except in our head.

There was that Horizon program on a little while all about illusions and the way our brains interpret world its basically all based on best guesses.

I think consciousness works on levels, like there's a higher, you, that you arent aware of(hence dreams).

I also think rats and animals are conscious, especially tigers. Theres a video on youtube of a tiger jumping and attack the human on an elephant. That shows a scary amount of awareness.
 
jp_bl_68 said:
No. I'm sure a degree of intelligence is required for consciousness.
Click to expand...

The book explains that it may as we are all made from the same thing, I can't put across very well but it make sense to me.

I have also read Aldous Huxley's "doors or perception" & "heaven and Hell" which although I struggled a bit with the prose were very enlightening on this consciousness / perception and I highly recommend both of those books to those intrigued.
 
The fact that you can alter your own consciousness to such wildly varying degrees by way of ingesting chemical substances suggests that it's a physical and electrochemical phenomenon, and nothing to do with a "soul" or suchlike, IMO.

If your consciousness truly was tied to a "soul", then surely some otherwise nice people wouldn't become absolute tools when drunk?
 
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