S
Sciborg_S_Patel
Don has an interesting post that I think is worth a read:
The Beginning and the End of Consciousness in the Brain
The Beginning and the End of Consciousness in the Brain
Again, it needs to be emphasized that Penfield, one of the greatest brain researchers ever, concluded that the brain does not make consciousness. You can read his book and see for yourself. He stated that, when the thalamocortical loops pertaining to what he calls “the mind” ( and what we experience as “consciousness”) get activated, this somehow allows the mind to interact with the brain.
Penfield was a dualist. He believed that whatever “mind” or “consciousness” is, it is outside the brain, it interacts with it somehow, in some fashion that he admitted he was in no position to even speculate about, other than that it uses the brain regions he identified in his research as the “vehicle” or “connection” that allows the mind to permeate the brain and control it as (to use his term) a “personal computer”. (Seriously, 1976…before PCs!)
In the last post we saw Leibniz had all kinds of reasons (of which only one was explained) why he did not think consciousness could “emerge” from matter. Again, Leibniz invented calculus and classical physics (“invented” is perhaps too strong; “made fundamental contribution in” would be a more appropriate way to say it).
Now we are seeing that one of the greatest brain scientists to ever live has come to the same conclusion. Penfield took a much different route than Leibniz. Yet they both came to the same conclusion: the brain cannot create consciousness and somehow they interact and the brain is the vehicle for expressing consciousness.
So, now, we can appreciate that when Alex Tsakiris asks people he interviews, “where does consciousness end, where does it begin??”, that, if they cannot answer him, then they are revealing that they have not read the writings of one of the greatest neuroscientists to ever live (or maybe they read Penfield, but just didn’t understand him). If someone claims to be an expert in neuroscience, and hasn’t read or understood Penfield, you have to just stop and wonder.
Had they read and understood Penfield’s work and conclusions, they wouldn’t be claiming that matter, or the brain, creates consciousness.