Comments on: More Neuroscience Denial

By: julian walker

julian walker — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 20:52:23 +0000

came across this after reading sam harris’ recent comments on the newsweek “heaven is real” cover story.

harris disavows this neurologist’s interpretation of his trippy dreams while enduring bacterial meningitis as proof of out of body experience and an afterlife. yet he seems to uncharacteristically feel the need to hold a kind of god of the gaps (dualism of the gaps) position open regarding the relationship of “consciousness to matter.”

i found this perplexing.

did you read it?

http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/this-must-be-heaven/

By: the_woodman

the_woodman — Sun, 13 May 2012 19:16:38 +0000

Scientist and philosopher Dr. Bernardo Kastrup comments on Dr. Novella’s article: http://www.bernardokastrup.com/2012/05/comments-on-steven-novellas-piece.html

By: daedalus2u

daedalus2u — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 16:16:07 +0000

sonic, there is nothing “non-material” about the quantum-Zeno effect.

By: sonic

sonic — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 09:40:36 +0000

Eric Thomson- Fifi-
Physics applies to the brain. Do you think that there are more than one physics?
http://www-physics.lbl.gov/~stapp/NeuroLeadership.doc
This is a good summary of how modern physics applies to the problems present.

By: DevilsAdvocate

DevilsAdvocate — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 19:08:52 +0000

Wow. Reading that I couldn’t keep count of all the fallacies flying by.

By: sharkey

sharkey — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 14:57:33 +0000

Just for follow-up, non-materialist nonsense knows no borders:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article5324234.ece

By: Eric Thomson

Eric Thomson — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 01:18:47 +0000

Fifi: I think we should give them some linguistic slack on that one.

The best evidence from physics is that the world is not deterministic, so I’m not sure what all the hubbub is about that topic. I understand you are contrasting deterministic versus ‘free’, but the logical contrast is deterministic versus nondeterministic.

The interesting thing is that even an indeterministic world (that painted by QM) doesn’t give the advocates of traditional free will much room to wiggle their elbows. It doesn’t give them freedom as they value it, which for them is the ability to control their behavior free of determination by natural laws (whether deterministic or nondeterministic). (Though there is a little wiggle room, I guess, if they choose behaviors, but in a way that preserves the overall statistical predictions of quantum mechanics). But there isn’t any evidence that quantum effects matter for brain function, so they have little recourse.

By: Fifi

Fifi — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 19:30:29 +0000

Btw – that would be atheist “propaganda”, you can’t really be an evangelist for no-god (to get technical about it). Besides, all those atheist bus adverts did was to tell people “there is no god so have a good day and get on with your life”, it didn’t say “convert to atheism” and/or threaten people with bad things like burning eternally in fiery pits if they don’t become atheists. There was no attempt to get people to trade in this life on earth for the potential to have a better aferlife. (I’ve always found it very, very ironic and darkly funny that so many religions forbid suicide, though it clearly had to be forbidden for practical purposes – dead followers aren’t that useful.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evangelism
Evangelism is the Christian practice of proselytisation. The intention of most evangelism is to convert those who do not follow the Christian God to Christianity for the purpose of effecting eternal salvation. Evangelism is done in obedience to the Great Commission, a command from Jesus to his disciples to proselytise, according to accounts in the New Testament. Christians who specialise in evangelism are known as evangelists, whether in they are in their home communities or acting as missionaries in the field.

By: cwfong

cwfong — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 19:08:47 +0000

Determinism IS easy to conceive of. It’s the contemplation of its lack that gives simplicity some discomfort. Uncertainty can be a bitch to live with.

By: Puppet_Master

Puppet_Master — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 18:24:33 +0000

[QUOTE]It’s a bit like arguing that a car that is powered by a physical motor can’t be of any value at all, no matter how fast it goes–only a car with magical fairies under the hood can possibly be worth anything. [/QUOTE]

But non-materialist will just say that the motor has value only because it has a purpose for intelligent agents, and, in it’s self, contains no value.

I think the problem is that there is no analogy to draw from that can demonstrate purpose without intelligence because purpose innately only follows intelligence, thus, circular reasoning inevitably arises. The false premise of non-materialists is that intelligence is can only a consequence of purpose. I believe it’s the human’s uncanny desire to anthropomorphize nearly everything that causes this disconnect.

According to the current evidence, there is no reason to think there’s anything outside of the materialistic universe, and there is no reason why there should be (other than it’s not aesthetically pleasing). I’m not sure why deterministic philosophy is so hard to conceive of. Try keeping your hand on a hot stove, I bet you’ll remove it fairly quickly. The same ‘forces’ that keep you from keeping your hand on the stove also keep you on this deterministic path.