Do you believe in free will?
TempermentalAnomaly @ TempermentalAnomaly @lemmy.world Posts 26Comments 619Joined 2 yr. ago
TempermentalAnomaly @ TempermentalAnomaly @lemmy.world
Posts
26
Comments
619
Joined
2 yr. ago
Sorry for the long delay. I think engaging with the material and what you wrote requires some reflection time and, unfortunately, my time for that is limited these days. And so while I was hoping to offer a more robust response after having read the links you provided, I think engagement was more necessary to keep the conversation fresh even if I've only had a glance at the material.
The brain in the dish study seems to be interesting and raised new questions for me. "What is a brain?" comes to mind. For me, I have a novice level understanding of the structures of the brain and the role in neurotransmitters, hormones, neuron structures, etc. But I've never really examined what a brain is and how it is something more than or other than it's component parts and their operations.
Some other questions would be:
So those are some of the initial thoughts I had and would read the paper to see if the authors are even raising that question in their paper.
But more fundamentally, we still have to examine the mind-body problem. Recontextualizing it to a CPM, "what is the relationship between a CPM and either the brain or the mind?" I am unclear if the CPM is a mental or physical phenomena. There seems to be a certainty that the CPM is part of the brain, but the entirety of it's output is non-physical. I imagine that we assume a narrative where the brain in the dish is creating a CPM because it demonstrates learning, adaptive behavior based upon external stimuli.
Ultimately, I bring it back to a framing question. Why choose weak emergence prematurely? It limits our investigation and imagination.
Well... that's my set of issues. I'll try to find time to read those articles in the next few days!
Cheers!