Just to include Susan Blackmore's biography from www.edge.org;
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SUSAN BLACKMORE is a psychologist and ex-parapsychologist, who - when she found no evidence of psychic phenomena - turned her attention to why people believe in them. She is author of several skeptical books on the paranormal and, more recently, The Meme Machine, and Consciousness: An Introduction.
http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/bios/blackmore.html
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Jared MacKay might not take her seriously, but Richard Dawkins, John Brockman, Steven Pinker and many other academics certainly do.
You don't exist.
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junkyardjew
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Jeremy, you make some good points.
But, in my defence, I present a) susan blackmore's own website. it's linked to from the link you posted http://www.susanblackmore.co.uk/ I think you can see why I might get the impression she wasn't really a serious scientist.
Actually its funny, I was scoffing at the fact that it mentioned alien abductions under "research" but just now I scrolled down, and it turns out I had actually read and enjoyed her article about it a couple of years ago.
As for the rest of the debate, I guess I just get frustrated when I can't find an explanation of human conciousness at the cellular/phsyical level that is both well backed up by research and clear to a layperson (the problem being of course that there maybe the former that isn't the latter, so I don't know).
I'm fascinated by the answers to the question "how does the brain work" that we get from the work of those authors we've mentioned above, but I find it fundamentally unsatisfying as well. Like knowing the answer that comes out of a calculator, but not knowing how the calculator gets that answer.
Although the idea of memes is a powerful one, I can't be satisfied by the assertion that conciousness is made up of interacting memes (and I know what Dawkins means by 'meme'). Ah well. thats why I keep reading - theres more to read than time to read it by any measure.
But, in my defence, I present a) susan blackmore's own website. it's linked to from the link you posted http://www.susanblackmore.co.uk/ I think you can see why I might get the impression she wasn't really a serious scientist.
Actually its funny, I was scoffing at the fact that it mentioned alien abductions under "research" but just now I scrolled down, and it turns out I had actually read and enjoyed her article about it a couple of years ago.
As for the rest of the debate, I guess I just get frustrated when I can't find an explanation of human conciousness at the cellular/phsyical level that is both well backed up by research and clear to a layperson (the problem being of course that there maybe the former that isn't the latter, so I don't know).
I'm fascinated by the answers to the question "how does the brain work" that we get from the work of those authors we've mentioned above, but I find it fundamentally unsatisfying as well. Like knowing the answer that comes out of a calculator, but not knowing how the calculator gets that answer.
Although the idea of memes is a powerful one, I can't be satisfied by the assertion that conciousness is made up of interacting memes (and I know what Dawkins means by 'meme'). Ah well. thats why I keep reading - theres more to read than time to read it by any measure.
Jared MacKay
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junkyardjew
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I'm still digging around Blackmore's site, and you should definitely read this article: http://www.susanblackmore.co.uk/journalism/thes01.htm
Thats what I was trying to point to when I mentioned that they senses primary job is to filter out information - we build this detailed world in our minds that often has very little to do with what is actually around us.
There's also this article, about all the drugs she's done, and how they inspired her to look into ESP and out of body experiences. Nice to know you can be a practicing scientist and also totally Chronic.
Thats what I was trying to point to when I mentioned that they senses primary job is to filter out information - we build this detailed world in our minds that often has very little to do with what is actually around us.
There's also this article, about all the drugs she's done, and how they inspired her to look into ESP and out of body experiences. Nice to know you can be a practicing scientist and also totally Chronic.
Jared MacKay
That's great that you've found her site interesting. Personally I can't take anybody with a hair cut that bad seriously (don't get me started on Steven Pinker).
I'm kidding, they're both awesome.
I think it's important to note that while we may individually have a different perception of the world, by studying neurology and psychology, we can understand why we have those different perceptions and how the world differs from how we see it; we can see the intrinsic truths to the universe that our perceptions hide. We can see that there really is a material world out there, that will continue to exist when we die, just as it existed before we were born.
I'm kidding, they're both awesome.
I think it's important to note that while we may individually have a different perception of the world, by studying neurology and psychology, we can understand why we have those different perceptions and how the world differs from how we see it; we can see the intrinsic truths to the universe that our perceptions hide. We can see that there really is a material world out there, that will continue to exist when we die, just as it existed before we were born.
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junkyardjew
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Switch Kicker
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Re: You don't exist.
shredzilla wrote:Prove it.
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flockpocken
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