Meaning of life and Consciousness ?
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Perhaps I worded that badly, I meant to say self-aware and conscious to the point that we are, not necessitating any specific level of either of those.
As to whether we are conscious or self-aware, that is a huge debate, and one which I haven't yet formed a considered opinion on. AFAIK, the main problem is with whether the illusion of self-awareness differs from self-awareness in any meaningful or definable way.
Soul is just memories, People with dementia effectively lose their conscious and self awareness and no longer serve a purpose of life.
I guess a soul would be from a religious stand point, which makes a human conscious.
But until we start human cloning we wont know that unless we learn to speak sheep and speak to dolly to ask her if anything is ticking in her head.
I don't believe the soul is memories, the soul can access memories but memory stays within the physical body. When your connection to that physical body is lost the exact nature of the memories is also lost. I believe we take with us a more simplified almost instinctive version of memories - a pattern so to speak - which is where I think deja vu often comes from when we recognise the pattern.
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No
You are getting mixed up with the mind and the self. These have no connection with Soul
The incorporeal essence of a person or living thing (the Soul) is still present in a dementia sufferer
Why do you relive in a soul?
I don;t see any scientific reason to need one.
Also I don;t see any religious reason to need one. Religious texts where written when understanding of biology and physics were extremely limited. when books say the separation of soul, why can it not just be God taking an imprint of your synapses and pathways and remaking it, or inserting it. He is all powerful and can do anything he wants, why does there need to a soul in the traditional sense.
Because I don't believe the physics of this universe/dimension whatever you want to call it allow for reasoning, I believe they are firmly rooted in cause and effect and no matter how complex a construct the human body is I still believe that the physical body is ruled by cause and effect which leaves no room for reasoning or self awareness. Which to me suggests something external, that we are an observer of this body so to speak I use soul as its something people recognise and have some concept of but I think its a bit different to what people generally think when they refer to the soul.
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but with cause and effect you can get reasoning. A computer can make a choice and reason which choice is better through it's programming.
Just like we reason and make choices abased on our programming. every thing in life leaves memory and creates new pathways in the brain. We are making choices based on past outcomes and statistics. We still have teh animal brain which we have little control of which regulates are basic needs and tells us when something needs doing, it is then upto our high brain to decide how best to deal with it or to ignore it.
I don't see why you think you need more than cause and effect.
Just like we reason and make choices abased on our programming. every thing in life leaves memory and creates new pathways in the brain. We are making choices based on past outcomes and statistics. We still have teh animal brain which we have little control of which regulates are basic needs and tells us when something needs doing, it is then upto our high brain to decide how best to deal with it or to ignore it.
I don't see why you think you need more than cause and effect.
A computer can't make a choice, just like it can't actually generate a random number. It can only follow its programming through a complex chain of logic which all boils down to simple binary cause and effect. At the heart of any programming language it comes down to "if x then y else z".
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it can make a choice though. Look at Asimo it makes thousands of choices.
Do you think we are any different. life experiences make new path ways in the brain and we make a choice based on our individual programming, which boils down to chemical and electrical messages.
The only difference is are base programming and computing power is far more advanced. Most of which is governed by the animal brain which we have no influence over and until you learn through life experiences, the animal brain makes the choices.
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A soul, or spirit, cannot exist because it is a self-contradictory idea. According to experts on the subject (free thinkers, religious teachers etc), a soul cannot be detected by observation because it is immaterial. At the same time, however, a soul is able to transfer information to and from the material world by interacting with it. It is a well acknowledged fact that any interaction that involves material can be observed and recorded.
So your saying a soul cannot exist?
Then you say
A soul is able to transfer information to and from the material world by interacting with it.
Which is it?
did you read what he said. Quoting out of context is pointless.
he saying if a souls transfers data to the material world, then it will be detectable. Therefore it doesn't exist.
I think some people are caught up in this cause and effect nonsense. Not everything has a cause and effect.
People are designed/evolved to navigate and choose through cause and effect, that is the reason for the mind.
How can someone deny their own existence?, its interesting.
Our minds are separated from reality by several chains. Scientist are just realising with all these strange illusions that what we experience. Our minds simulate reality from the noise and chaos of inputs.
I think you can only work and understand something if it is inside your mind. The higher brain works on simplifying the chaos and understanding things, consquence/events future past present, then it works upon its perception/simulation changing and manipulating itself and sometime the world outside.
People are designed/evolved to navigate and choose through cause and effect, that is the reason for the mind.
How can someone deny their own existence?, its interesting.
Our minds are separated from reality by several chains. Scientist are just realising with all these strange illusions that what we experience. Our minds simulate reality from the noise and chaos of inputs.
I think you can only work and understand something if it is inside your mind. The higher brain works on simplifying the chaos and understanding things, consquence/events future past present, then it works upon its perception/simulation changing and manipulating itself and sometime the world outside.
Sorry.
I meant that the other point of argument in the metaphysical sense that a soul(intangible) and the person(tangible) is able to interact with its environment.
Oh right.
That argument is flawed. How can you detect something if you don't have any clear parameters on what it is you are detecting?
Yes, i didn't make it clear or did I.
If that was the case we would be able to detect and have evidence to suggest.
Does the soul interact though?
How do we know?
The soul could just be...as in exist without existing