posted October 03, 2004 03:27 PM         

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Some say our thoughts and emotions are the result of electrical and chemical reactions in the brain. What short-sighted rubbish!

Well, to be fair, such assertions are true -- to an extent. Anyone who has experimented with drugs (and then stopped) can testify to the fact that certain chemicals can influence our thinking processes and our moods. Scientists have discovered that by electrically stimulating certain parts of the brain, they can induce its owner to euphoria or sadness. And the effects of chemicals that naturally occur in the body, such as endorphines, pheremones, and seratonin have been duly noted. Considering all this, I would be a fool to say that no part of our thinking was caused or influenced by the brain.

But neither do I believe that consciousness is simply the weft and warp of the brain's bioelectrical and biochemical functioning. I don't ascribe to a "lifeless", mechanistic world-view where every phenomena is viewed as a product of the laws of physics.

My knowledge of computers has given me some unique perspectives on Life, especially regarding the concepts of 'thought' and 'consciousness'. Being not only a "computer geek", but also someone with an avid interest in psychology, I can draw endless parallels between the way a computer processes data and the way a human brain does. They are very similar, probably because the artificial computer was conceived by the natural computer as an imitation of itself. And in time, I know that computers can be programmed to interpret nearly the same range of sense data that a human being can. Someday a computer may "look" out through two camera "eyes" and interpret the images that it receives so well that it can identify known objects, even recognize people. In fact, this goal has already been realized, even if crudely compared to the ease with which a human brain accomplishes the same task. But I can say for certain that no computer will ever truly think. Computers only run programs -- predetermined sets of commands -- and their decision-making capabilities will always be limited to those decisions that were in some way anticipated and for which contingent instructions were built into the program.

No physical reaction or complex pattern of physical reactions can ever produce consciousness or the ability to perceive meaning in life. That holds true for natural computers (brains) as well as synthetic computers. Such "functions" are beyond the brain, and that is why I believe also in the Mind, the non-physical counterpart to the brain.

The Mind belongs to the world of meta-physics -- the world beyond the physical. The brain largely cannot understand metaphysics. Anything beyond the senses "does not compute". From the mechanistic point of view, it takes a "leap of faith" to believe in the metaphysical world. But the fact that I can take that leap, in itself, tells of the meta-physical component of my consciousness. The brain refuses to accept that there is something outside its sensorial realm, because like all computers, it is a faithless creature. But I am not.

posted October 04, 2004 12:56 PM         

The mind is well beyond the physical. It never dies. Otherwise, you would never remember past life associations, or be able to communicate with the non physical.

Gia