I like to watch the YouTube channel Vsauce, which is a channel of videos about random topics including science, funny pictures, and things you can do online. I came across a video today that questions and is titled, "What is Consciousness?" Although there is no clear answer to that question, it brings up some interesting information, and, not surprisingly, more questions. But I suppose that is the sort of question that leads to more questions! Personally, I think consciousness -- the mind and our awareness -- exists independently of the physical brain. I think the physical brain is more or less a control grid for the mind to control the physical body in the physical world. But that doesn't mean the study of the physical brain isn't interesting and sometimes confounding!
At the end of the video, there is also a link to a "Leanback," which is just a playlist of interesting videos about a topic with short videos of narration by the host in between each informative video. It's a cool thing to just sit and watch if you have a little time to spare.
Awesome post. I loved these discussions. I think some people would say that anesthesia is a great example of consciousness depending on the brain because under surgery, we are able to subdue the consciousness as well as active thought.
ReplyDeleteWell that is a good observation, but I can only guess as to what a reply to that could be. It may be possible that, under anesthesia, the the mind recognizes that the body is not in a state of physical duress and see's no need to depart the physical body, therefore there is no out of body experience. But I'm only guessing there.
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