some folks believe that matter creates consciousness.
so at what point does matter create consciousness? how does something go from being no conscious matter to conscious matter?
how do you create something from nothing?
Brain vs. mind:
The
brain is the physical material in your head. It is something like a computer. It has memory, and it can process information, and link one piece of information with another (it actually grows new neurons to do that). It is largely made of fat, so I am proud that I am a fat head.
The mind is the software. It is what we have stored away in our memory, and it is the cross connections that we have made. Even identical twins don't have the same minds, and because their minds are different, they store info in different parts of the brain.
https://www.scienceabc.com/innovation/can-computers-read-minds.html
In the year 2022, a computer analysis of brain waves reconstructed thoughts and images stored in a brain with 96% accuracy. They also made people think what they wanted him to think. . . A French person was made to think "hola" and "ciao," using flashes of light. Some of those with their heads cut open, to study epilepsy, volunteered to have electrodes implanted in their brains to be studied like human Guinnea pigs for this experiment. It is amazing that images can be retrieved from brain waves considering that each brain stores info in different areas.
I suppose that experimenters get very little criticism or their critics might be next on the list of their patients.
Facebook is building tech to read your mind. The ethical implications are staggering.
"Various scientists,
the US military, and companies like
Kernel and
Paradromics are also working in this space. Elon Musk’s company Neuralink recently revealed that it’s developing
flexible “threads” that can be implanted into a brain and could one day allow you to control your smartphone or computer with just your thoughts. Musk said he hopes to start testing in humans by the end of next year." (Quotation of vox.com article, above).
All they have to do is jab tiny glass rods into your brain to see if they can read your thoughts. The richest man in the world (who wants to send people to Mars to live) is the one who wants to do this.
"brain implants have also
brought objects into focus and moved
robotic arms" (Source: vox.com, above).
"companies like Facebook are researching noninvasive methods, like
a system using near-infrared light that could detect blood-flow changes in the brain" (Source: vox.com, above).
Near-infrared means microwave. They can penetrate bone and flesh. Two frequencies superheterodyne, producing the sum and difference of their frequencies. This can be used to detect the speed of blood (an indication of brain activity).
Imagine a world with no crime, where free thoughts are not allowed (vote for me...no dissention--resistance is futile). Nothing can go wrong with computers....Nothing can go wro. . . Noth. . .N. . .reboot. . . reboot.
Babies start with blank slates. But, their minds are especially able to grasp new information. Their senses grasp movements, colors, and shapes. Soon, they piece together the world and begin to understand that the sounds (words) correspond to objects. "Mommy" "bobbu (bottle)," "synchrocyclotron" (I was a precocious baby bent on global domination).
How can we get something from nothing? This is how modern computers are programmed. Chess computers are no longer given every alternative move, rather they are given AI (Artificial Intelligence) learning tools to allow them to learn on their own. This is because there are just too many things to know to play chess. The Shannon A chess program strategy brute force analyzed each and every move. The Shannon B chess program strategy only evaluated the promising moves, with a program to choose which moves were promising and which were not. Strong chess players are able to think many moves in advance, so they can sneak up on computers with sacrifices that will pay off in the distant future.
I think that the Religious Right should not dismiss game theory. The Religious Right (who insist that no one but a member of the National Rifle Association could run for office, and insist that we get lies to motivate wars and torture camps), would benefit from game theory and AI (artificial intelligence) so they could kill people more effectively. God said "thou shalt not kill" and the Religious Right wants to kill for Jesus.
Game theory can also be applied to economics, to find the best way to share limited resources (which is essentially the definition of economics).
The central theme of Socrates was that wisdom can come from discussion. By merely discussing ideas, Socrates reached conclusions. That was obtaining something from nothing.
Is it possible for an inferior being to create a superior being? Take the cube root of 43567 in your head. Difficult? Now use a pocket calculator to do it. Apparently, humans were able to get computers to do certain tasks better than they could.
Some argue that the brain is just a computer, but it is biological rather than made of computer chips.