Consciousness?

[Dizzy_Dreams]

Researcher proposes new theory of consciousness

Electromagnetic energy in the brain enables brain matter to create our consciousness and our ability to be aware and think, according to a new theory developed by Professor Johnjoe McFadden from the University of Surrey.

www.google.com

So this just popped up on my new feeds... pretty interesting but a little hard for me to comprehend.. does what their saying lead of to think there's no afterlife??

 

[bigdog]

I am like 99.9% sure there is nothing

 

[Weather]

I don't know that it has anything to do with a possibility of afterlife. According to the law of conservation of energy, energy cannot be destroyed; energy simply changes form. If it is energy that gives us consciousness, perhaps that means it continues to exist. But, it's all speculative anyway.

 

[Final_frontier]

I don't know that it has anything to do with a possibility of afterlife. According to the law of conservation of energy, energy cannot be destroyed; energy simply changes form. If it is energy that gives us consciousness, perhaps that means it continues to exist. But, it's all speculative anyway.

If we continue to be conscious(maybe as a ghost), then death is not really a solution, is it?

 

[TheSomebody]

I guess the text says that consciousness is made of energy and matter, which according to thermodynamic physics "nothing is lost, nothing is created, everything is converted". But even by this theory it does not actually guarante that consciousness is infinite, it just proves that the components that make up your consciousness will continue to exist even after your death. But nothing prevents these components from being converted to anything other than consciousness.

 

[Bustedhornet]

If we continue to be conscious(maybe as a ghost), then death is not really a solution, is it?

Well I don't think being a ghost is possible. Who you are and everything you've ever known and experienced is in your brain. That's all gone when you're dead.

But maybe our consciousness comes back in some other form. Maybe it takes an infinite number of iterations of the universe expanding and retracting before energy arranges itself in a way to form consciousness again. I think the proof that this is possible is the fact that we're here right now. Like an instant you became yourself, and like an instant we can become something else.

 

[Spitfire]

Researcher proposes new theory of consciousness

Electromagnetic energy in the brain enables brain matter to create our consciousness and our ability to be aware and think, according to a new theory developed by Professor Johnjoe McFadden from the University of Surrey.

www.google.com

So this just popped up on my new feeds... pretty interesting but a little hard for me to comprehend.. does what their saying lead of to think there's no afterlife??

Thank you for posting. I hadn't really thought much about EM fields role in consciousness. I just read a little more about the theory. I find it an interesting theory too.

The people discussing about it tend to talk beyond me though. Their level of knowledge of the subject...

But maybe our consciousness comes back in some other form. Maybe it takes an infinite number of iterations of the universe expanding and retracting before energy arranges itself in a way to form consciousness again. I think the proof that this is possible is the fact that we're here right now. Like an instant you became yourself, and like an instant we can become something else.

I wonder if in a trillion trillion trillion human earth years, or however long it takes.. after the milky way and andromeda galaxies combine to form one galaxy. If all of the other billions of galaxies were to drift far enough apart from one another...

Then, If conscious beings will look up and question the universe. And they come up with their own conclusions, that their single 'milkydromada' galaxy is the only galaxy in existence.. and they will never know what we know now about the other billions of galaxies out in space.

It makes me wonder? What do we not know about the universe we see before us now, because of how it presents itself in this age?

 

[EssenceFocus]

Oh oh my favourite subject again!

It would like to write a quote from a special source about consciousness , which may be interesting to read.

...""" All right, we shall incorporate this word oversoul. This would be what I would choose to express as essence, which is the same as your oversoul. The reason this has been presented as an oversoul, not just a soul, is that the concept is that the soul is your consciousness. Within that concept, each focus possesses its own consciousness, although this consciousness is incorporated and inseparable from the greater consciousness, which incorporates all focuses. Therefore the term oversoul, which views all of the focuses, or some of the focuses.
Your essence is all creating. It is the most wonderful, creative, and beautiful expression possible of the Creating Universal One and Whole, which is also not a 'thing.' It is not an 'entity.' It is not separate from you. It is you, and you are it, and it is beyond!
You are thinking of your essence as a 'thing' – an 'entity.' As I explained, I am not an entity. You are not, either. An entity denotes a separate thing. You are not a thing.
Your physical manifestation – not vessel – is much more efficient and amazing than you realize. I have said many times before, it is a physical manifestation of essence. Therefore, it possesses great ability.
Also, essence did not create consciousness. Consciousness is. Consciousness creates all. I have expressed the usage of a time frame for your perception in expressing consciousness as original, and essence springing from consciousness. In actuality, there is no time frame. All is simultaneous. All is in a state of becoming, as is also The Creating Universal One And Whole, which is not completed, which is ongoing, which is present always, now.
Essence is a term that is used for your benefit; for your understanding of identification of a tone of consciousness which holds a certain direction, a certain intent for its creation of manifestation. All consciousness holds intent within its own value fulfillment. Essence is that tone which chooses manifestation within personality for certain experiences. This is you. All other manifestations hold consciousness and are aware of self and hold the intent of value fulfillment, even to the tiniest link of consciousness; and together, all of this is the action of The Creating Universal One And Whole, which is not an entity or being. It is an action. It is a movement.""...

 

[greyhound]

I honestly pity materialists who think our brain produces consciousness. I used to be one dyed in the wool. After all, our smartest scientists like Dawkins, Dennett etc tell us we are simply brains and matter so it must be true, right?

Turns out all you need to have is a paranormal type experience yourself to shatter this flimsy illusion. Then a bit of reading into all the evidence that has been ignored by these scientists and it's not hard to become confident that our consciousness is independent of our physical body.

This is a pretty good introduction to the current state of evidence: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18770495-stop-worrying-there-probably-is-an-afterlife

 

[Final_frontier]

I honestly pity materialists who think our brain produces consciousness. I used to be one dyed in the wool. After all, our smartest scientists like Dawkins, Dennett etc tell us we are simply brains and matter so it must be true, right?

Turns out all you need to have is a paranormal type experience yourself to shatter this flimsy illusion. Then a bit of reading into all the evidence that has been ignored by these scientists and it's not hard to become confident that our consciousness is independent of our physical body.

This is a pretty good introduction to the current state of evidence: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18770495-stop-worrying-there-probably-is-an-afterlife

I've thought about this so much and I feel the same. There has to be something independent of the brain to EXPERIENCE what the brain is doing neurologically, something to become "aware" of all the information, probably something immaterial. The brain looks very much like a supercomputer processing tons of information but even supercomputers never become conscious. Although there are people who believe artificial intelligence will someday become conscious, I disagree with them. I have a computer at home, it has lots of movies in it. There is information in it's hard disk but the computer itself is unconscious. The CPU cannot watch or enjoy the movies stored in its system. There is nothing to be "aware" of all the information, or you could say the computer has no "soul". Increase the computing capacity, you simply increase the amount of information, you don't magically add consciousness to it, unless you're saying that information somehow becomes aware of itself. Everything from your thoughts to your emotions to your depression is neurons firing in your brain, but the one suffering(or enjoying) is your "soul".

Or another way of looking at it is. Take a single neuron or brain cell. Do you think it can produce consciousness? Probably not. Take 2 neurons. Now they're communicating and exchanging information. But do you think a single consciousness is produced here? Probably not. Then why do you think billions of neurons communicating with each other can produce a single consciousness? There is only an increase in the total amount of information here. Who or what is being aware of all this?
Thats my 2 cents. Sorry my English is not that good.

 

[albino_elk]

Good to see people alike and not to be a weirdo whos insane xd

 

[Deleted member 17949]

too big brain so didn't read

 

[greyhound]

I've thought about this so much and I feel the same. There has to be something independent of the brain to EXPERIENCE what the brain is doing neurologically, something to become "aware" of all the information, probably something immaterial. The brain looks very much like a supercomputer processing tons of information but even supercomputers never become conscious. Although there are people who believe artificial intelligence will someday become conscious, I disagree with them. I have a computer at home, it has lots of movies in it. There is information in it's hard disk but the computer itself is unconscious. The CPU cannot watch or enjoy the movies stored in its system. There is nothing to be "aware" of all the information, or you could say the computer has no "soul". Increase the computing capacity, you simply increase the amount of information, you don't magically add consciousness to it, unless you're saying that information somehow becomes aware of itself. Everything from your thoughts to your emotions to your depression is neurons firing in your brain, but the one suffering(or enjoying) is your "soul".

Or another way of looking at it is. Take a single neuron or brain cell. Do you think it can produce consciousness? Probably not. Take 2 neurons. Now they're communicating and exchanging information. But do you think a single consciousness is produced here? Probably not. Then why do you think billions of neurons communicating with each other can produce a single consciousness? There is only an increase in the total amount of information here. Who or what is being aware of all this?
Thats my 2 cents. Sorry my English is not that good.

Yes definitely. I agree whole obsession with conscious AI right now is completely misplaced. It's crazy to me how it's a recognized problem in mainstream science that no one knows how neurons are supposed to produce consciousness. Yet everyone is certain that this is in fact what is happening. And despite the major gap between a bunch of neurons firing and this subjective experience, they completely ignore all the evidence from parapsychology that indicates that in fact our consciousness isn't really bounded by our brain.

I think people are going to look back on this 'modern' era and laugh at how foolish we were. The ancient Egyptians had a better understanding of the nature of human consciousness 5000 years ago.

 

[EssenceFocus]

I think people are going to look back on this 'modern' era and laugh at how foolish we were. The ancient Egyptians had a better understanding of the nature of human consciousness 5000 years ago.

Same. I will extend it a bit...when they learn, that there were advanced civilizations on earth way before our time that were even capable of space travel, then they will "laugh" even more I love ancient egypt, indeed they were more advanced, than how we think of them.