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Exploring Christianity
The Relationship Between the "Soul" and the Brain?
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<blockquote data-quote="jayem" data-source="post: 76199530" data-attributes="member: 8344"><p>You're entitled to your beliefs. But more and more, it is becoming clear that consciousness is entirely a function of neuronal activity. I'll give you a couple of references:</p><p></p><p>A Universe of Consciousness. By Gerald Edelman and Giulio Tononi. (The former, now deceased, is a Nobel Prize winner in immunology, who switched his research into neuroscience.) An older work, ca. 2001, supporting the concept that consciousness is a emergent property of neural networks. Any such network of sufficient complexity, that also has sensory receptors to continually input information regarding its environment, and a mechanism to process, store, and retrieve such information will have some level of cognition and self-awareness. Which is what consciousness it.</p><p></p><p><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/371182.A_Universe_of_Consciousness" target="_blank">A Universe of Consciousness: How Matter Becomes Imagination by Gerald M. Edelman</a></p><p></p><p>A more recent work documenting increasing evidence that consciousness is a biological phenomenon.</p><p></p><p><a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/psychological-medicine/article/abs/neural-basis-of-consciousness/085D31681E604891E411E97077BBA766" target="_blank">The neural basis of consciousness | Psychological Medicine | Cambridge Core</a></p><p></p><p>It's been known for some time that activity in the reticular formation (AKA the reticular activating system, RAS) located in the pons and medulla, is critically involved in consciousness and sleep/wake functions. Damage to this area can result in irreversible coma. I'm sure you'd agree that consciousness requires a functional brain. It does not exist by itself. Consider anesthesia: I have a history of colon polyps--all fortunately benign. Every 3 years, I get a screening colonoscopy. Right before the procedure, I get a slug of propofol injected into my IV line. With 15 seconds or so, I'm out like a light. No awareness, no feeling, no sensation at all. Oblivion. My consciousness is totally turned off. This happens because propofol augments the action of gamma-aminobutyrate. Which is the primary inhibitory neurotrasnmitter in the CNS. gamma-AB blocks neuronal activity, especially in the RAS. When its effect is heightened, unconsciousness results. So if consciousness can exist independently of the brain, then why would general anesthesia work?</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Is a soul really necessary for consciousness? Theology is somewhat off-topic in this thread. But I've always heard religious believers claim that animals don't have souls. But no should doubt that many animals are certainly conscious.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="jayem, post: 76199530, member: 8344"] You're entitled to your beliefs. But more and more, it is becoming clear that consciousness is entirely a function of neuronal activity. I'll give you a couple of references: A Universe of Consciousness. By Gerald Edelman and Giulio Tononi. (The former, now deceased, is a Nobel Prize winner in immunology, who switched his research into neuroscience.) An older work, ca. 2001, supporting the concept that consciousness is a emergent property of neural networks. Any such network of sufficient complexity, that also has sensory receptors to continually input information regarding its environment, and a mechanism to process, store, and retrieve such information will have some level of cognition and self-awareness. Which is what consciousness it. [URL="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/371182.A_Universe_of_Consciousness"]A Universe of Consciousness: How Matter Becomes Imagination by Gerald M. Edelman[/URL] A more recent work documenting increasing evidence that consciousness is a biological phenomenon. [URL="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/psychological-medicine/article/abs/neural-basis-of-consciousness/085D31681E604891E411E97077BBA766"]The neural basis of consciousness | Psychological Medicine | Cambridge Core[/URL] It's been known for some time that activity in the reticular formation (AKA the reticular activating system, RAS) located in the pons and medulla, is critically involved in consciousness and sleep/wake functions. Damage to this area can result in irreversible coma. I'm sure you'd agree that consciousness requires a functional brain. It does not exist by itself. Consider anesthesia: I have a history of colon polyps--all fortunately benign. Every 3 years, I get a screening colonoscopy. Right before the procedure, I get a slug of propofol injected into my IV line. With 15 seconds or so, I'm out like a light. No awareness, no feeling, no sensation at all. Oblivion. My consciousness is totally turned off. This happens because propofol augments the action of gamma-aminobutyrate. Which is the primary inhibitory neurotrasnmitter in the CNS. gamma-AB blocks neuronal activity, especially in the RAS. When its effect is heightened, unconsciousness results. So if consciousness can exist independently of the brain, then why would general anesthesia work? Is a soul really necessary for consciousness? Theology is somewhat off-topic in this thread. But I've always heard religious believers claim that animals don't have souls. But no should doubt that many animals are certainly conscious. [/QUOTE]
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