Philosophical musings on Quanta & Qualia;  Materialism & Spiritualism; Science & Religion; Pragmatism & Idealism, etc.

ENFORMATIONISM

A philosophical worldview or belief system grounded on the 20th century discovery that Information, rather than Matter, is the fundamental substance of everything in the universe. It is intended to be the 21st century successor to the ancient worldviews of Materialism and Idealism. An Update from Bronze Age to Information Age. It's also a Theory – of – Everything that covers, not just matter & energy, but also Life & Mind & Love.

  Post 132.  March 10, 2024

  How Does the Brain Create Mind?

     The Mind is an imaginary model of brain functions

In his book, Science Ideated, computer scientist Bernardo Kastrup argues with philosophers about the nature of the Conscious Mind. Specifically, if it is a real feature of animated matter, or a mistaken illusion of brain processes. Michael Graziano says “consciousness doesn’t happen. It’s a mistaken construction”. But Kastrup answers with “even the illusion presupposes consciousness”. Keith Frankish is the one who explicitly dismissed Consciousness as an “illusion”. Kastrup interpreted that to mean : “it is our ability to introspect, by meta-cognitively¹ re-representing our neural processes, that characterizes what we call consciousness”. Both are denying that there is a “hard problem” as defined by philosopher David Chalmers .

Kastrup responds to the denial of a metaphysical problem with : “what he must deny is phenomenality², felt experience, qualia³, ‘what-it-is-likeness’⁴ “. The phenomenal world of human perception is indeed a construct of the human brain, hence a concept or abstraction. But, Frankish seems to use “illusion” to mean “hallucination” (seeing something that isn’t there). Yet, 17th century philosopher Immanuel Kant concluded that sense-mediated phenomena are all we know of the world, and that the underlying reality (essence) is unknowable. More recently, cognitive psychologist Donald Hoffman described our perception as a user “interface”⁵, similar to the simple icons on a computer screen, that are abstract representations of a much more complex computer system behind the facade {click here for diagram}.  In that case, an application icon is an abstrac-tion  or phenomenon, not the actual code processors. Kant coined a term, “noumenon”⁶ to indicate the un-mediated reality that is beyond the scope of human senses. Even though modern technology has extended the range of our perception, and we can now produce artifical images of invisible atoms {See image at right}, there remain imperceptible, yet more fundamental elements to material reality : protons, electrons, quarks, etc.

Apparently, Graziano & Frankish ─ in denying the reality of Conscious awareness ─ are arguing against the ancient concept of a spiritual Soul, as the knowing & willing part of a person. They scoff at the ideal Soul or Self that is supposed to do the experiencing of reality. Indeed, both are imaginary concepts reifying⁷ the perceptive function, as-if it’s a separate thing from the body or brain.  But, even if the conscious Self is an illusion, what would Illusionists replace it with? Apparently, they assume that Matter alone is capable, under special conditions, of creating imaginary impressions of the non-self world, and of its sensory effects on the self. So, the “hard question” for Science is “how does it work?”. What are those special arrangements of matter that produce the experience of Qualia : e.g. Red or Pain? Can we take our experiences & feelings for granted, but deny their phenomenality ─ their knowable substance? What is the essence of experience? How do we produce imagery & feelings from a mechanical material brain?

            Blog Post 132 continued . . . click Next          

Brain-Mind Interface

1. Metacognition :
   Introspection into the conscious mind. It’s a form of recursion or reflection, where the mind looks back into its own thoughts & feelings.

2. Phenomenality :
   Appearances. How things in the world appear to the experiencing consciousness. Kant noted that this is an imaginary representation, not what the thing is in essence. It’s Ideal, not Real.

3. Qualia :
   Philosophers often use the term 'qualia' to refer to the introspectively accessible, phenomenal aspects of our mental lives. How incoming sensory experience is portrayed in the mind.

4. What it is like :
   The feeling or sensation of experiencing the world. A metaphysical characteristic of perception. “Like” implies a comparison of inner & outer worlds.   Likeness is a refer-ence to an experience or Qualia that can be compared between instances.

5. Interface Theory :
   Our perceptions of space-time and objects have been shaped by natural selection to hide the truth and guide adaptive behaviors.    Perception is an adaptive interface (ideal display screen), presenting simplified abstractions to represent the mind-boggling complexities of underlying physical reality.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26384988/

6. Noumenon :
   In philosophy, a noumenon is knowledge posited as an object that exists independently of human sense. An ideal entity.

7. To Reify :
  An attempt to make a mental abstraction appear to be a real thing. To treat the idea or image of a thing as if it was a concrete object. The popular notion of a ghost, is a reification of the Soul or Self-concept.

Atom Symbol
click pic for “Real” Image