El Duvelle on Nostr: npub19d9p0…kf02p Interesting… I really don’t think of consciousness as a memory ...
npub19d9p04u4xfysdy92fycw947jrca3xve2gnsauysshzewxvmz8dms6kf02p (npub19d9…f02p) Interesting… I really don’t think of consciousness as a memory thing. For me consciousness = awareness. I’m sure they’re supposed to have some subtle differences though.
Oh so your post was about whether consciousness is a real thing or not! And since you’re linking consciousness to memory, and it is possible to have false memories, then you think consciousness might be false as well (did I get that right?).
Is consciousness like a false memory? I don’t think so. I just think it corresponds to some particularly synchronised activation of some of our neurons like I was saying in my first post. Those neurons can correspond to a memory, in which case you’ll become conscious of that memory, and have the associated awareness “feeling”. Or they can correspond to a sensation, in which case you’re conscious (/aware) of that sensation, even though the sensation might not be stored in memory. There’s lots of things happening in our brain at all times but what comes up to consciousness is just the tip of the iceberg.
So is consciousness real? If it corresponds to a different state of the physical world (in this case: some specific activation of one’s neurons) then yes, I would say it is real. If your brain was exactly in the same state when you’re conscious of 1 thing vs another vs not conscious, then no, consciousness would not be real, but that wouldn’t be possible right - how can you be in these different stages without anything changing in your brain?
Maybe instead of asking whether consciousness is “real” the question you had in mind is: is consciousness used? To that, I would say probably no - I believe the consciousness part is just some read-out of some things happening in your brain, but it doesn’t have ‘write’ permissions 😄 (I’m happy to change my mind on that, I just haven’t seen any evidence going that way).
What do most people think? I don’t know but it would be great to know! Maybe if we converge on a clear question someone should ask it as a poll!
Oh so your post was about whether consciousness is a real thing or not! And since you’re linking consciousness to memory, and it is possible to have false memories, then you think consciousness might be false as well (did I get that right?).
Is consciousness like a false memory? I don’t think so. I just think it corresponds to some particularly synchronised activation of some of our neurons like I was saying in my first post. Those neurons can correspond to a memory, in which case you’ll become conscious of that memory, and have the associated awareness “feeling”. Or they can correspond to a sensation, in which case you’re conscious (/aware) of that sensation, even though the sensation might not be stored in memory. There’s lots of things happening in our brain at all times but what comes up to consciousness is just the tip of the iceberg.
So is consciousness real? If it corresponds to a different state of the physical world (in this case: some specific activation of one’s neurons) then yes, I would say it is real. If your brain was exactly in the same state when you’re conscious of 1 thing vs another vs not conscious, then no, consciousness would not be real, but that wouldn’t be possible right - how can you be in these different stages without anything changing in your brain?
Maybe instead of asking whether consciousness is “real” the question you had in mind is: is consciousness used? To that, I would say probably no - I believe the consciousness part is just some read-out of some things happening in your brain, but it doesn’t have ‘write’ permissions 😄 (I’m happy to change my mind on that, I just haven’t seen any evidence going that way).
What do most people think? I don’t know but it would be great to know! Maybe if we converge on a clear question someone should ask it as a poll!