Magic mushrooms

[cronus]

Only a matter of time before they reverse-engineer the language module(s) of the brain and put them on a silicon substrate. It's not game over for a theory of minds yet but it is getting there. And the supremacy of human cognition will fall soon after. I'm not a fan of singularity/trans-humanist hubris but cannot see any ghost in the wet-ware of the human brain that won't be exactly as happy in the dry-ware of a machine, on the day.

[Brian Peacock]

It's not game over for theory of mind at all. I know you have one.

[cronus]

It's not game over for theory of mind at all. I know you have one.

The chattering classes fell for Freud too, all this Theory of Mind thing is. Average IQ can be a disability.

[Brian Peacock]

Unless you think yours is the only mind in the universe theory of mind is secure - and if you do think that, your out of yours.

[cronus]

Unless you think yours is the only mind in the universe theory of mind is secure - and if you do think that, your out of yours.

Ears take in sounds devoid of meaning that in a greater or lesser amount impact on the language module and their output. Meaning isn't necessary. A precise theory of mind will not be necessary, it is unlikely a theory of mind will be needed at all - to mimic human cognition. You'll understand later if there is time?

[Sean Hayden]

It's all brain. It's just nigh impossible to imagine how to reproduce it algorithmically...

[Brian Peacock]

But we can algorithmetize (!) certain aspects of perception, such as motion, colour or edge detection, facial or voice recognition, text-to-speech etc. It's only a matter of creating an operating framework on which these modules can hang, and then managing I/O, memory allocation and buffer overrun issues. The algorithmetized mind is coming, and it will probably run on Windows.

[DRSB]

Anyway, the mind can induce organic physical changes in its host, the brain, this has been proven by extensive research on meditation. What you think triggers biochemistry that affects the brain. So if our forefathers enhanced their mind by consuming mushrooms that induced new neural connections firing, it is quite likely that it impacted the brain.

[Sean Hayden]

But we can algorithmetize (!) certain aspects of perception, such as motion, colour or edge detection, facial or voice recognition, text-to-speech etc. It's only a matter of creating an operating framework on which these modules can hang, and then managing I/O, memory allocation and buffer overrun issues. The algorithmetized mind is coming, and it will probably run on Windows.

That's what the blue brain project's for... Just get it modeled up, extend the USB lightning rod, and we're off!

[Brian Peacock]

[Brian Peacock]

Anyway, the mind can induce organic physical changes in its host, the brain, this has been proven by extensive research on meditation. What you think triggers biochemistry that affects the brain. So if our forefathers enhanced their mind by consuming mushrooms that induced new neural connections firing, it is quite likely that it impacted the brain.

Learning French induces physical changes in the host.



Just saying'

[Rum]

I think the brain/mind is one thing, a little like a lightbulb and the glow it produces. One can't exist without the other as things stand anyway. Given how ephemeral it is I suspect consciousness is an illusion. Persistent and pretty convincing, but very temporary, elusive, and a mere wisp of a thing, easily extinguished and never repeated in quite the same way.

[Brian Peacock]

You might have a head like a boiled egg, but you have the soul of poet Rum.

[L'Emmerdeur]

Anyway, the mind can induce organic physical changes in its host, the brain, this has been proven by extensive research on meditation. What you think triggers biochemistry that affects the brain. So if our forefathers enhanced their mind by consuming mushrooms that induced new neural connections firing, it is quite likely that it impacted the brain.

Agreed; it's not entirely improbable that those whose brains were more amenable to these changes could have been more successful surviving and reproducing, driving an evolutionary change.

[pErvinalia]

or you can be conscious of things you are not aware of,

Can you give an example of this? While consciousness and awareness aren't synonymous, I'd expect that awareness is a subset of consciousness.