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comment by mk
mk  ·  4076 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: The Dualist Program, Part 1: A Historical Primer

Another great post.

    Cognition and cogitation are functions of man, not of our brains: This is the thrust of our misconception.

IMO the root of this dualism is not only pervasive in neuroscience, but also in physics, astronomy, and evolutionary biology. In the simplest terms, I believe it is the ultimate reluctance to consider ourselves in position that is not unbiased by our awareness. Even efforts to consider ourselves from a perspective of experimental fact, are usually presented as lessons in humility or exercises in uncommon thinking, rather than a foundation on which to build a consistent model that includes ourselves and everything else.





b_b  ·  4076 days ago  ·  link  ·  

No one can really grasp consciousness, because we can't study it from above. IMO atomizing won't solve this problem in neuroscience or any other discipline.

mk  ·  4073 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I don't suggest atomizing, so much as letting go and letting new definitions emerge, no matter how unsatisfying they might be.

b_b  ·  4073 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Yes, we agree. I was reiterating was I thought you were saying, not contradicting. Our form of consciousness gives us a perspective on the universe that we can't divorce ourselves from. Its an intractable problem.

I had a theoretical physics prof in grad school (incidentally, the smartest person I've personally ever met) who used to always talk about how man had never come up with a purely abstract mathematics. That is, every mathematics system we have created has eventually found an application in physics. He believed this was a result of our type of consciousness, that we're part of the universe and can't imagine anything that isn't.

mk  ·  4073 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    That is, every mathematics system we have created has eventually found an application in physics. He believed this was a result of our type of consciousness, that we're part of the universe and can't imagine anything that isn't.

That is awesome.

I think we need a paradigm shift for consciouness akin to Special Relativity. Just go where the reproducible experiments lead, and bring nothing else.