Conquer Club

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02120-8

Decades-long bet on consciousness ends — and it’s philosopher 1, neuroscientist 0

Oddly enough, on this very forum, people have claimed that this is not actually a mystery. People boldly claim that the brain is like a computer or that the mind can be uploaded or that freezing brains will be able to bring back consciousness in the future. If they had any actual proof, maybe they could've won a case of wine?

DoomYoshi wrote:https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02120-8

Decades-long bet on consciousness ends — and it’s philosopher 1, neuroscientist 0

Oddly enough, on this very forum, people have claimed that this is not actually a mystery. People boldly claim that the brain is like a computer or that the mind can be uploaded or that freezing brains will be able to bring back consciousness in the future. If they had any actual proof, maybe they could've won a case of wine?

It's only a matter of time. Things are not known until they are known, and then everybody is like, "That was obvious! Why didn't we think of that sooner?"

And then a while later they come up with a new explanation and call people who believed the old one simpletons.

Dukasaur wrote:

DoomYoshi wrote:https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02120-8

Decades-long bet on consciousness ends — and it’s philosopher 1, neuroscientist 0

Oddly enough, on this very forum, people have claimed that this is not actually a mystery. People boldly claim that the brain is like a computer or that the mind can be uploaded or that freezing brains will be able to bring back consciousness in the future. If they had any actual proof, maybe they could've won a case of wine?

It's only a matter of time. Things are not known until they are known, and then everybody is like, "That was obvious! Why didn't we think of that sooner?"

There’s no guarantee they will discover a scientific basis for consciousness.
It may be a “matter of time” or it just might be an unsolvable puzzle.

Sounds like a stupid bet to begin with. Maybe it was made for the fun of it though.

jimboston wrote:

Dukasaur wrote:

DoomYoshi wrote:https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02120-8

Decades-long bet on consciousness ends — and it’s philosopher 1, neuroscientist 0

Oddly enough, on this very forum, people have claimed that this is not actually a mystery. People boldly claim that the brain is like a computer or that the mind can be uploaded or that freezing brains will be able to bring back consciousness in the future. If they had any actual proof, maybe they could've won a case of wine?

It's only a matter of time. Things are not known until they are known, and then everybody is like, "That was obvious! Why didn't we think of that sooner?"

There’s no guarantee they will discover a scientific basis for consciousness.
It may be a “matter of time” or it just might be an unsolvable puzzle.

I suppose you can posit that. Any hypothesis can be put forward as a thought experiment.

Still, I see no reason for it. Biological systems are pretty complicated and difficult to fully understand, but one by one we've figured out every metabolic pathway, every organ. The brain is the most complicated and opaque organ of them all, so it's the last to be fully understood, but there's no reason to assume it won't be. The difference between understanding your brain and understanding your penis is just a difference of degree, not of kind.

Dukasaur wrote:

jimboston wrote:

Dukasaur wrote:

DoomYoshi wrote:https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02120-8

Decades-long bet on consciousness ends — and it’s philosopher 1, neuroscientist 0

Oddly enough, on this very forum, people have claimed that this is not actually a mystery. People boldly claim that the brain is like a computer or that the mind can be uploaded or that freezing brains will be able to bring back consciousness in the future. If they had any actual proof, maybe they could've won a case of wine?

It's only a matter of time. Things are not known until they are known, and then everybody is like, "That was obvious! Why didn't we think of that sooner?"

There’s no guarantee they will discover a scientific basis for consciousness.
It may be a “matter of time” or it just might be an unsolvable puzzle.

I suppose you can posit that. Any hypothesis can be put forward as a thought experiment.

Still, I see no reason for it. Biological systems are pretty complicated and difficult to fully understand, but one by one we've figured out every metabolic pathway, every organ. The brain is the most complicated and opaque organ of them all, so it's the last to be fully understood, but there's no reason to assume it won't be. The difference between understanding your brain and understanding your penis is just a difference of degree, not of kind.

Possibly.

Yet even if you are an atheist you have to accept that there may be things we don’t know in the world of science.
Things that may be understandable but that we (humansO will never know.

Even if said thing is “solvable” it’s possible the puzzle could be so hard that human life will become extinct before we can “solve” it. I’m not talking like we will become extinct in 2 or 20years… I’m saying even if we go on as a species for another 10,000 years it’s possible we could’ve find a solution.