Why trust your own brain?

[Sectio Aurea]

I dont think our brains intentially try to trick us, our brains just try and interpret what it can when the information is lacking.
For example it is more beneficial to our survival to mistake a shadow for a snake than to mistake a snake for a shadow.

 

[GrowingSmaller]

Perception is a map, world models are maps, self concepts are maps.

Where do we go from here?

 

[GrowingSmaller]

There is a tale about elephant tamers in India. Thay chain the young elephant to a log, and it is kept in place. Over time it learns it cannot move the log. By the time it reaches an age where it is big enough to actually (and easily) move it, and thus escape captivity, it has given up trying, "knowing" that all attempts will fail.

 

[juvenissun]

Perception is a map, world models are maps, self concepts are maps.

Where do we go from here?

Close your eyes. Walk with your mind.

 

[Eudaimonist]

Close your eyes. Walk with your mind.

That's precisely how I stub my toes on my living room furniture.


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[GrowingSmaller]

I believe that brain science will be one of the next big things is science, after the human genome project which will become auxilliary in part to brain studies. The fact that experience is central to humanity, and the source of value (at least providing a foundation for our sense of it), and we are cool, makes this even better.

 

[bhsmte]

I believe that brain science will be one of the next big things is science, after the human genome project which will become auxilliary in part to brain studies. The fact that experience is central to humanity, and the source of value (at least providing a foundation for our sense of it), and we are cool, makes this even better.

It already is big. It is just a little bit harder to study, because of the complexity involved. There is already a lot of interesting stuff out there.

 

[GrowingSmaller]

I am interested in identifying different horemones via experience. Is it true that pain entails substance p, and stress entails cortisol?

 

[Davian]

I am interested in identifying different horemones via experience. Is it true that pain entails substance p, and stress entails cortisol?

Dunno, but there was a recent podcast on the subject of pain here:

Understanding Pain (BSP 95) Brain Science Podcast

"In Understanding Pain: Exploring the Perception of Pain, Dr. Fernando Cervero does a wonderful job of condensing his 40+ years of research and immersion in the field of pain research into a concise but readable account. It's a great introduction, and it's bound to inspire a new generation of physicians and researchers.

I interviewed Dr. Cervero in BSP 93, and this month's podcast (BSP 95) is the promised second part of our discussion of pain. I focus on some of the topics that Dr. Cervero and I did not have time to discuss, including a look at how the mechanisms of acute pain differ significantly from those of chronic pain. The growing appreciation of these differences offers hope to the millions of people around the world who suffer from chronic pain, but the ongoing efforts of researchers like Dr. Cervero also offer hope of improved pain relief for everyone."

 

[Davian]

Neil deGrasse Tyson said that optical illusions ought to be called brain failures.

Like this:

I would agree with that. Illusions such as that highlight brain processes that function (or *fail* to function) between our senses and our conscious mind.

 

[Davian]

How can you tell that the brain isn't tricking you? How can you tell that what you see, hear, taste, etc, isn't just a well design elaborate illusion?
Well I sure can't. I have no other choice, but to depend on it though.

"Philosopher Dan Dennett makes a compelling argument that not only don't we understand our own consciousness, but that half the time our brains are actively fooling us."

Dan Dennett: The illusion of consciousness | Video on TED.com

 

[AlexBP]

What I object to is that it takes a "leap of faith" to reject speculations that have no real evidence in favor of them.

In what way can the concept of "evidence" have any validity if we don't first make an assumption about the relationship of experience to outside reality? Suppose we start, with Descartes, believing that we are thinking, but refusing to accept anything else from our eyes, ears, etc... In this situation, prior to making a "leap of faith", what do we have evidence for? Anything, other than our own thinking?

 

[louise sheinholtz]

In what way can the concept of "evidence" have any validity if we don't first
make an assumption about the relationship of experience to outside reality? Suppose we start, with Descartes, believing that we are thinking, but refusing to accept anything else from our eyes, ears, etc... In this situation, prior to making a "leap of faith", what do we have evidence for? Anything, other than our own thinking?

Our thoughts come from two sources, one from God and one from demons that has made it's home in man. So the best way to deal with thought, is simply to observe them and let them go and wait to see what is from above or the one from below. simply observe without falling into thought or getting caught with them. The bible says the mind is a trap. If a mouse didn't go for the cheese it wouldn't get caught. Get It?
Louise

 

[bhsmte]

Our thoughts come from two sources, one from God and one from demons that has made it's home in man. So the best way to deal with thought, is simply to observe them and let them go and wait to see what is from above or the one from below. simply observe without falling into thought or getting caught with them. The bible says the mind is a trap. If a mouse didn't go for the cheese it wouldn't get caught. Get It?
Louise

How do you know this is the source of our thoughts?

 

[louise sheinholtz]

How do you know this is the source of our thoughts?

I know because I have experienced it. When I was angry my thoughts were not good, but, when I overcame my anger my mind has become quiet and mostly filled with new thoughts.
Ii won't say more, but, it no longer has a home in me, it has been ousted over thirty years now. Thank God, He hears a sincere cry.
Louise

 

[bhsmte]

I know because I have experienced it. When I was angry my thoughts were not good, but, when I overcame my anger my mind has become quiet and mostly filled with new thoughts.
Ii won't say more, but, it no longer has a home in me, it has been ousted over thirty years now. Thank God, He hears a sincere cry.
Louise

Ok, but that is your own experience. How would you know whether it applies to anyone else?

 

[Davian]

I know because I have experienced it.
...

I suppose the irony of this post, made in a thread title "Why trust your own brain?" is lost on you?

 

[louise sheinholtz]

Ok, but that is your own experience. How would you know whether it applies to anyone else?

I know of many. It is also biblical. It is Gods way of casting out demons.
Louise

 

[decent orange]

How can you tell that the brain isn't tricking you? How can you tell that what you see, hear, taste, etc, isn't just a well design elaborate illusion?
Well I sure can't. I have no other choice, but to depend on it though.

Everything that it does know however, was inserted by the minds of everyone around you. Without them (the others), you would know nothing, but would be a vegetable in a dark thoughtless world. No language, words, separation of all the colors you see into separate objects, all named by those who came before you ect ect .

Cut through the confusion and covert.