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Welcome to our group ConsciousnessDoc.com Group! A space for us to connect and share with each other. Start by posting your thoughts, sharing media, or creating a poll.
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Conversation with Ralf-Peter Behrendt
With sad fondness, I post the email conversation I had with the late Dr. Behrendt.
When the EMMOSE idea occurred to me in 2013, I started exploring the literature, to find who had already started publishing. I found the late Gerald Edelman's book "The Remembered Present", which demonstrated that the hippocampus had the requisite 're-entrant' anatomy which would allow for buffering and binding of information into an experience.
But the only actual model that I could find belonged to Ralf-Peter Behrendt. He was a German-born psychiatrist, working in the UK, especially with aging and schizophrenic patients. In 2010, he published (what I think is) his first paper linking consciousness to the hippocampus. And in 2013, he published a working anatomical model, which is the first paper of his I found.
We began our conversation in 2013, and continued it until 2018, when I stopped hearing back from him. I wa…
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Conversation with Neil Theise
Neil is one of our experts. In 2012, he gave us an excellent interview on complexity theory, and we've stayed in touch ever since. We do have some serious differences, however, in how we view consciousness. I am a strict materialist and he is an Idealist. This conversation began after I had revised the video I had made from Neil's interview.
https://vimeo.com/44013533
I informed Neil about the changes, and this conversation happened.
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Matt Faw
22 hours ago
No, I'm open to being wrong. If there is evidence that is powerful, I'm happy to look at it. I am quite sure that science has many more unanswered questions than it thinks. But it would be extraordinary for minds to work without brains, especially since we have a billion head injury examples of how brains and minds are intimately linked. I think I have a model which explains all of the data which I currently know. If someone has evidence that my theory cannot work, then I'm happy to see it.
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Hazard and HST
Hi Matt,
I have a theory on mind that dovetails yours, and I hope you will like it. It has something to do with the way old things become new things, thus also with how old ideas become new ideas.
It is one thing to be able to simulate situations, but it is another one to predict them, and that's what our brain is able to do. Theoretically though, we cannot predict new things out of old ones, but we can certainly have the feeling that we can. We have the feeling we can win the lottery for instance, and this feeling is so strong that we buy tickets even if we know we almost have no chance to win. I also have the feeling that my theory is right even if it is completely speculative. Do we have a brain function that forces us to speculate, a neurotransmitter that…
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Matt Faw
22 hours ago
You wrote:
"Some people are effectively attracted by novelty, but I think that, most of the time, we are resisting to it."
I agree with you. I think that as organisms, we initially orient toward novelty, but not necessarily in a friendly way. We instead assume possible threat from the novel.
And like the gorillas with Jane Goodall, even when we stop seeing the novel as a threat, we just ignore it and act like there's nothing there.
Particularly when it comes to novel ideas that confront our pre-existing belief systems, yes, I agree there is a lot of resistance.
You wrote:
"Notice that, if my idea succeeds to transmit itself, it doesn't mean that it is right, it only means that it has survived to its changing environment until now."
Again, agreed; Susan Blackmore would also. You're describing the genetics-like spread of memes.
Now, I'm having a harder time understanding what you're saying about mass, movement and waves, but I'll continue to try to figure it out before replying more.
best,
matt faw
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Conversation with Graeme M
The following is one of the first conversations I've had about the theory. It was wide-ranging and thorough, and so with Graeme's permission, I thought it would make a good beginning to this forum.
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mattfaw
22 hours ago
Hi Graeme,
I think your latest insight is a powerful one, and one worth meditating on. It is a powerful way to look at one's own life, I think. I have been creating my own delusions, my whole life, without knowing it. In truth, I don't really know who this organism that I call 'me' is. I have been experiencing/remembering this so-called self in a biased, motivated way (not always positive), and really don't know what the actual reality of my life has been. I find now that it's best to be quite humble about this organism, and not assume I understand him.
best,
matt faw
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Hi Matt,
I'll email you.
Regards,
Adrian