Tuesday, November 17, 2015
Huh?
Article at NPR is discussing an increasing suspicion that consciousness is not just the product of specific parts of the brain. It's more diffuse, including at least the whole nervous system and possibly a LOT more. Makes sense. The more we learn about plant intelligence and gut biomes and the Grand Blueprint, the more uncomfortable we become with the standard division between Humans and Everything Else.
Unfortunately the author doesn't make a readable argument. He says:
"Put simply, for a conscious organism, there is 'something it is like' to be that organism." It's worth noting that this characterization of what it is for an organism to be conscious — that there is something that it is like to be that organism — was first advanced in the 70s by the philosopher Thomas Nagel.WTF? There is something that it is like to be that organism? The sentence doesn't even parse properly. By my best guess, it's not a statement about the organism itself; it's only declaring that we can draw analogies to some other organism. Says nothing at all about consciousness, let alone the location of awareness. Reminds me of the usual translations of Anselm: "God is that than which nothing greater can be conceived" or Kant: "Act only on that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law." Both of these statements are perfectly empty and meaningless, but the indecipherable formulation makes them sound HEAVY and DEEP.
Labels: Grand Blueprint, Smarty-plants
¶ 5:01 AM
