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#Post#: 1658--------------------------------------------------
Consciousness Cannot Have Evolved
By: guest5 Date: October 20, 2020, 8:25 pm
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Consciousness Cannot Have Evolved
[quote]The sooner we acknowledge it, the sooner we’ll solve the
hard problem of consciousness [/quote]
[quote]The overwhelmingly validated theory of evolution tells us
that the functions performed by our organs arose from associated
increases in survival fitness. For instance, the bile produced
by our liver and the insulin produced by our pancreas help us
absorb nutrients and thus survive. Insofar as it is produced by
the brain, our phenomenal consciousness—i.e. our ability to
subjectively experience the world and ourselves—is no exception:
it, too, must give us some survival advantage, otherwise natural
selection wouldn’t have fixed it in our genome. In other words,
our sentience—to the extent that it is produced by the
brain—must perform a beneficial function, otherwise we would be
unconscious zombies.
One problem with this is that, under the premises of
materialism, phenomenal consciousness cannot—by definition—have
a function. According to materialism, all entities are defined
and exhaustively characterised in purely quantitative terms. For
instance, elementary subatomic particles are exhaustively
characterised in terms of e.g. mass, charge and spin values.
Similarly, the behaviour of abstract fields is fully defined in
terms of quantities, such as frequencies and amplitudes of
oscillation. Particles and fields, in and of themselves, have
quantitative properties but no intrinsic qualities, such as
colour or flavour. Only our perceptions of them—or so the
materialist argument goes—are accompanied by qualities somehow
generated by our brain.
Materialism posits that the quantities that characterise
physical entities are what allow them to be causally
efficacious; that is, to produce effects. For instance, it is
the charge values of protons and electrons that produce the
effect of their mutual attraction. In nuclear fission reactors,
it is the mass value of neutrons that produces the effect of
splitting atoms. And so on. All chains of cause and effect in
nature must be describable purely in terms of quantities.
Whatever isn’t a quantity cannot be part of our physical models
and therefore—insofar as such models are presumed to be
causally-closed—cannot produce effects. According to
materialism, all functions rest on quantities....[/quote]
[quote]Therefore, under materialist premises, phenomenal
consciousness cannot have been favoured by natural selection.
Indeed, it shouldn’t exist at all; we should all be unconscious
zombies, going about our business in exactly the same way we
actually do, but without an accompanying inner life. If
evolution is true—which we have every reason to believe is the
case—our very sentience contradicts materialism.
[/quote]
[quote]The impossibility of attributing functional, causative
efficacy to qualia constitutes a fundamental internal
contradiction in the mainstream materialist worldview.[/quote]
Read more:
HTML https://iai.tv/articles/consciousness-cannot-have-evolved-auid-1302
#Post#: 2337--------------------------------------------------
Re: Consciousness Cannot Have Evolved
By: guest5 Date: November 18, 2020, 9:33 pm
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Study Maps The Odd Structural Similarities Between The Human
Brain And The Universe
[quote]One fascinating quirk of the Universe is that shapes and
patterns can be found in hugely different contexts: the Golden
Spiral can be seen in the human cochlea and the shape of a
spiral galaxy; the fractal geometry of veins echoed in the
branching of lightning.[/quote]
[quote]In a bold new pilot study, an astrophysicist and a
neurosurgeon have bumped it up a notch, using quantitative
analysis to compare two of the most complex systems in nature:
the neuronal network in the human brain and the cosmic network
of galaxies in the Universe.
It's actually not that peculiar a comparison. You may have seen
an image that occasionally gets shared around, showing a human
neuron and a simulated galaxy cluster, side-by-side; the two
look startlingly similar.[/quote]
[quote]But there's a lot more to the human brain - and the
Universe - than how it looks. So astrophysicist Franco Vazza of
the University of Bologna in Italy and neurosurgeon Alberto
Feletti of the University of Verona in Italy have spent the last
few years investigating to determine if the similarities are
more than skin-deep.[/quote]
[quote]What they were looking for were similarities in the
matter density fluctuations between brains and the cosmic web.
And they found that the relative distribution of fluctuations in
the two systems was amazingly similar - although on much
different scales.[/quote]
HTML https://www.sciencealert.com/wildly-fun-new-paper-compares-the-human-brain-to-the-structure-of-the-universe
#Post#: 2363--------------------------------------------------
Re: Consciousness Cannot Have Evolved
By: guest5 Date: November 19, 2020, 7:04 pm
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Scientists Discover Outer Space Isn't Pitch-Black After All
[quote]They then went a step further still, subtracting out
light that they could attribute to all the galaxies thought to
be out there. And it turns out, once that was done, there was
still plenty of unexplained light. [/quote]
[quote]In fact, the amount of light coming from mysterious
sources was about equal to all the light coming in from the
known galaxies, says Marc Postman, an astronomer with the Space
Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. So maybe there are
unrecognized galaxies out there, he says, "or some other source
of light that we don't yet know what it is." [/quote]
[quote]He says for 400 years, astronomers have been studying
visible light and the sky in a serious way and yet somehow
apparently "missed half the light in the universe."[/quote]
[quote]Still, he adds, "Space is dark." Even after all this
analysis, "It's still pretty dark." [/quote]
HTML https://www.npr.org/2020/11/18/936219170/scientists-discover-outer-space-isnt-pitch-black-after-all
[quote]If they say to You, ‘Where did You come from?’, say to
them: ‘We came from the light, the place where the light came
into being of itself, established itself and revealed itself in
their image.’ — Jesus[/quote]
[quote]Be faithful to the light you have, till a higher light is
given to you. Seek more light, and you shall have abundantly;
rest not, till you find. — Jesus[/quote]
[quote]To the light I have attained and in the light I live. —
Mohammed[/quote]
#Post#: 2616--------------------------------------------------
Re: Consciousness Cannot Have Evolved
By: guest5 Date: December 3, 2020, 1:09 am
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[size=12pt]Alan Watts - This Materialist Society ( one of the
best lectures )[/size]
HTML https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VL3x9_gs_EA
#Post#: 3081--------------------------------------------------
Re: Consciousness Cannot Have Evolved
By: guest5 Date: January 2, 2021, 8:34 pm
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Scientists Say Your “Mind” Isn’t Confined to Your Brain, or Even
Your Body
[quote]Exploring how the mind extends beyond the physical
self.[/quote]
[quote] You might wonder, at some point today, what’s going on
in another person’s mind. You may compliment someone’s great
mind, or say they are out of their mind. You may even try to
expand or free your own mind.
But what is a mind? Defining the concept is a surprisingly
slippery task. The mind is the seat of consciousness, the
essence of your being. Without a mind, you cannot be considered
meaningfully alive. So what exactly, and where precisely, is it?
[/quote]
...
[quote]The most immediately shocking element of this definition
is that our mind extends beyond our physical selves. In other
words, our mind is not simply our perception of experiences, but
those experiences themselves. Siegel argues that it’s impossible
to completely disentangle our subjective view of the world from
our interactions. [/quote]
HTML https://getpocket.com/explore/item/scientists-say-your-mind-isn-t-confined-to-your-brain-or-even-your-body?utm_source=pocket-newtab
#Post#: 3596--------------------------------------------------
Re: Consciousness Cannot Have Evolved
By: guest5 Date: January 24, 2021, 2:49 pm
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Researchers say there's evidence that consciousness continues
after clinical death
[quote]Researchers at NYU's Langone Medical Center have
conducted a study of patients who have experienced near-death
experiences, and the results are intriguing and chilling. Dr.
Sam Parnia, the director of resuscitation research at NYU
Langone, joins CBSN to discuss the findings of this mind bending
study.[/quote]
HTML https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnoIf2NwaRY
#Post#: 3607--------------------------------------------------
Re: Consciousness Cannot Have Evolved
By: guest5 Date: January 24, 2021, 4:37 pm
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Electrons May Very Well Be Conscious
[quote]This month, the cover of New Scientist ran the headline,
“Is the Universe Conscious?” Mathematician and physicist
Johannes Kleiner, at the Munich Center for Mathematical
Philosophy in Germany, told author Michael Brooks that a
mathematically precise definition of consciousness could mean
that the cosmos is suffused with subjective experience. “This
could be the beginning of a scientific revolution,” Kleiner
said, referring to research he and others have been conducting.
[/quote]
HTML https://nautil.us/blog/electrons-may-very-well-be-conscious
#Post#: 4244--------------------------------------------------
What are the Archetypes?
By: guest5 Date: February 15, 2021, 8:58 pm
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Carl Jung - What are the Archetypes?
[quote]In this video we investigate what Carl Jung called
archetypes, explaining what they are, how they influence our
lives, their relationship to symbols, and their connection to
religious experiences.[/quote]
HTML https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wywUQc-4Opk
#Post#: 4399--------------------------------------------------
Re: Consciousness Cannot Have Evolved
By: guest5 Date: February 22, 2021, 8:46 pm
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What Self-Awareness Really Is (and How to Cultivate It)
[quote]If self-awareness is such a valuable skill, how come we
know so little about what it is and how to develop it?[/quote]
[quote]Self-awareness seems to have become the latest management
buzzword — and for good reason. Research suggests that when we
see ourselves clearly, we are more confident and more creative.
We make sounder decisions, build stronger relationships, and
communicate more effectively. We’re less likely to lie, cheat,
and steal. We are better workers who get more promotions. And
we’re more-effective leaders with more-satisfied employees and
more-profitable companies. [/quote]
[quote]#1: There Are Two Types of Self-Awareness
Across the studies we examined, two broad categories of
self-awareness kept emerging. The first, which we dubbed
internal self-awareness, represents how clearly we see our own
values, passions, aspirations, fit with our environment,
reactions (including thoughts, feelings, behaviors, strengths,
and weaknesses), and impact on others. We’ve found that internal
self-awareness is associated with higher job and relationship
satisfaction, personal and social control, and happiness; it is
negatively related to anxiety, stress, and depression.
The second category, external self-awareness, means
understanding how other people view us, in terms of those same
factors listed above. Our research shows that people who know
how others see them are more skilled at showing empathy and
taking others’ perspectives. For leaders who see themselves as
their employees do, their employees tend to have a better
relationship with them, feel more satisfied with them, and see
them as more effective in general.
It’s easy to assume that being high on one type of awareness
would mean being high on the other. But our research has found
virtually no relationship between them. As a result, we identify
four leadership archetypes, each with a different set of
opportunities to improve:[/quote]
[img width=1280
height=856]
HTML https://pocket-image-cache.com/direct?resize=w2000&url=https%3A%2F%2Fhbr.org%2Fresources%2Fimages%2Farticle_assets%2F2017%2F12%2F171207_EURICH_THEFOUR.png[/img]
[quote]When it comes to internal and external self-awareness,
it’s tempting to value one over the other. But leaders must
actively work on both seeing themselves clearly and getting
feedback to understand how others see them. The highly
self-aware people we interviewed were actively focused on
balancing the scale. [/quote]
[quote]The bottom line is that self-awareness isn’t one truth.
It’s a delicate balance of two distinct, even competing,
viewpoints. (If you’re interested in learning where you stand in
each category, a free shortened version of our multi-rater
self-awareness assessment is available here.)[/quote]
[quote]#2: Experience and Power Hinder Self-Awareness
Contrary to popular belief, studies have shown that people do
not always learn from experience, that expertise does not help
people root out false information, and that seeing ourselves as
highly experienced can keep us from doing our homework, seeking
disconfirming evidence, and questioning our assumptions.
And just as experience can lead to a false sense of confidence
about our performance, it can also make us overconfident about
our level of self-knowledge. For example, one study found that
more-experienced managers were less accurate in assessing their
leadership effectiveness compared with less experienced
managers.
Even though most people believe they are self-aware, only 10-15%
of the people we studied actually fit the criteria.
Similarly, the more power a leader holds, the more likely they
are to overestimate their skills and abilities. One study of
more than 3,600 leaders across a variety of roles and industries
found that, relative to lower-level leaders, higher-level
leaders more significantly overvalued their skills (compared
with others’ perceptions). In fact, this pattern existed for 19
out of the 20 competencies the researchers measured, including
emotional self-awareness, accurate self-assessment, empathy,
trustworthiness, and leadership performance.
Researchers have proposed two primary explanations for this
phenomenon. First, by virtue of their level, senior leaders
simply have fewer people above them who can provide candid
feedback. Second, the more power a leader wields, the less
comfortable people will be to give them constructive feedback,
for fear it will hurt their careers. Business professor James
O’Toole has added that, as one’s power grows, one’s willingness
to listen shrinks, either because they think they know more than
their employees or because seeking feedback will come at a cost.
But this doesn’t have to be the case. One analysis showed that
the most successful leaders, as rated by 360-degree reviews of
leadership effectiveness, counteract this tendency by seeking
frequent critical feedback (from bosses, peers, employees, their
board, and so on). They become more self-aware in the process
and come to be seen as more effective by others. [/quote]
[quote]#3: Introspection Doesn’t Always Improve Self-Awareness
It is also widely assumed that introspection — examining the
causes of our own thoughts, feelings, and behaviors — improves
self-awareness. After all, what better way to know ourselves
than by reflecting on why we are the way we are?
Yet one of the most surprising findings of our research is that
people who introspect are less self-aware and report worse job
satisfaction and well-being. Other research has shown similar
patterns.
The problem with introspection isn’t that it is categorically
ineffective — it’s that most people are doing it incorrectly. To
understand this, let’s look at arguably the most common
introspective question: “Why?” We ask this when trying to
understand our emotions (Why do I like employee A so much more
than employee B?), or our behavior (Why did I fly off the handle
with that employee?), or our attitudes (Why am I so against this
deal?).
The problem with introspection isn’t that it is ineffective—it’s
that most people are doing it incorrectly. [/quote]
Read the entire article here:
HTML https://getpocket.com/explore/item/what-self-awareness-really-is-and-how-to-cultivate-it?utm_source=pocket-newtab
#Post#: 4986--------------------------------------------------
Re: Consciousness Cannot Have Evolved
By: guest5 Date: March 20, 2021, 12:12 pm
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Consciousness Goes Deeper Than You Think
[quote]Awareness can be part of it, but it’s much more than
that.[/quote]
[img width=1280
height=854]
HTML https://pocket-syndicated-images.s3.amazonaws.com/5dc06e45a5807.jpg[/img]
[quote]Consciousness may never arise—be it in babies, toddlers,
children or adults—because it may always be there to begin with.
For all we know, what arises is merely a metacognitive
configuration of preexisting consciousness. If so, consciousness
may be fundamental in nature—an inherent aspect of every mental
process, not a property constituted or somehow generated by
particular physical arrangements of the brain. Claims, grounded
in subjective reports of experience, of progress toward reducing
consciousness to brain physiology may have little—if anything—to
do with consciousness proper, but with mechanisms of
metacognition instead. [/quote]Entire article:
HTML https://getpocket.com/explore/item/consciousness-goes-deeper-than-you-think?utm_source=pocket-newtab
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