Viewing profile — egjerlow

Ideally, the software should have the following capabilities: * Allow for a moderator with 'muting' rights * Creation of agendas * Giving each speaker an allotted amount of time (m…

This. One of the core tasks of the contemplative lifestyle (which can certainly be practiced outside of monasteries) is to be awakened from all of the things we think we need and d…

Here we go again :)

Let me quote what you said when I asked how we can move from the objective facts of a thing to my subjective experience of that thing: "It's a thing of your imagination: for me, yo…

I don't (or at least didn't mean to) claim that the emerging properties of, say, Conway's game of life are intuitive. What I am claiming is that there is a qualitative difference b…

Ok, I think we either have some communication issues or philosophical differences (if I understand you correctly, you're saying that subjective experience is an illusion? Which to …

>Thanks for trying to explain your belief to me. If we concentrate on exactly your last post, maybe you can understand how I see it: I see again that you claim that you came to tha…

https://www.amazon.com/Philosophy-Mind-Short-Introduction/dp... I'll read GEB :)

I don't claim to be special - what I'm describing goes for all conscious beings, after all (and it could very well be that there are conscious animals). It seems to me you are tryi…

And yet, consciousness is something that remains, regardless of whether we name it as such, and regardless of the specific cells that make up our brains. So it's as if it is the on…

I certainly am interested in this, but I also would like to note that this is not just a matter of something 'more complex' arising and that I lack the imagination necessary to see…

>So my guess is that it deeply matters to you to believe that you are fundamentally different from all other animals. Which is a wishful thinking. :) I urge you to read through thi…

I don't see how this is relevant? I don't have a strong need to believe there is more in the universe than matter. In fact, as mentioned earlier I believed for a long time everythi…

I have no problem with seeing myself 'part of nature' - in fact, I have for the longest time believed that consciousness can be explained in terms of the material universe revealed…

> I have those too, and no offense to you personally, but I call bullshit on both mine and your acquaintances. In case of people I know, there was not one situation for which I cou…

> It's a belief, true, but it's kind of a privileged one, since it's so successful at explaining literally every other thing we observe about the universe. Why brains would be diff…

> as exactly zero other things in the universe that we studied since the dawn of humanity turned out to be magic. Rather, the things that seem somehow magical to us we either expla…

What I'm saying is that consciousness doesn't add anything to the art of 'predicting the future', and plays (as far as I can see) no discernable role in this art.

I'm not really sure what you're arguing here. I would certainly say consciousness is 'something more', and that this something more has to be something non-material (or at least us…

Right, as would all statements of lack of consciousness in anything. That way lies panpsychism. Which of course is a valid belief.

Well, that's a bold claim, and it doesn't really say anything substantial, in my opinion. What does it mean to see yourself? Are the electrical impulses of your brain somehow regis…

That's one of the uses of thinking, yes, but it's hardly the only one, unless by some procrustean method you force all my thoughts to 'really' be about the future. In which case I'…

Why would we need to 'feel' anything from the inside? We could operate perfectly well as 'machines' without having this 'feeling'. Also, consciousness isn't a feeling. It is what m…

What exactly is 'tripping balls' if it is not comprised of electrical signals? Saying consciousness is 'just' this thing or another is, in my mind, making trivial the most profound…

Why would your brain need consciousness to anticipate the future? A computer, which has no consciousness, would be able to do the same.