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wildcatfollowshare
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10-17-2006 7:03 AM627 views
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10-17-2006 7:36 AM
skwirlinator
There better be because thats all that separates us from animals
10-17-2006 9:06 AM
ech0_dancer
i always figured that it was thumbs -- ya know ? we have 'em - animals don't ...& too, that we have the decicion making ability,whereas animals don't.Maybe.
10-17-2006 9:27 AM
ech0_dancer
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
How much does a human soul weigh ? Does the human soul exist, and if so, how much does it weigh ? To find out, surgeon Duncan Macdougall devised a grief experiment in Dorchester, Massachusetts, in April 1901. He placed a dying tuberculosis patient on a platform scale rigged with a cot. At the moment of death, Duncan Macdougall hypothesized, the scale should register a drop in weight when ghost shelled off its earthly body. Their first patient in place, Macdougall and his team took up their grim posts, assumed an air of breathless, intent expectancy. The first patient's soul clocked in, or rather, out, at 21 grams. Sadly, Macdougall nev...
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10-17-2006 11:16 AM
arifsali
This a long article but seems like worth a read with convenience.
10-18-2006 3:05 AM
Djiezes
This is actually a good (& concise) introduction to the philosophy & science of consciousness; the history & evolution of that science & philosophy.

I'd recommend everyone to read the full article.
Nice find wildcat.
10-18-2006 7:16 AM
Djiezes
But ending/concluding with an attempt to refute Dennett e.a. with the Penrose-Hameroff hypothesis (read: quantum quackery) is rather disappointing.
10-18-2006 7:23 AM
wildcat
Still the Penrose-Hameroff story opened a whole new debate a few years back, but I agree the end lets you down a bit. consciousness is still a tough cookie..
10-18-2006 7:34 AM
Djiezes
I kinda share Michael Shermer's view that we should concentrate on the neurological basis of a consciousness (and upper levels). 'Going quantum' on this is just another way to mystify it.

In reality, the gap between subatomic quantum effects and large-scale macro systems is too large to bridge.
[...]
We should be exploring consciousness at the neural level and higher, where the arrow of causal analysis points up toward such principles as emergence and self-organization.
As a sidenote: there's nothing wrong with opening the debate. So that part could be helpful.
10-18-2006 7:44 AM
wildcat
Though I am in principle much in favor (actually some call me an "emergentist") of the emergent concept, I doubt that emergence and self-organization alone can explain all of it. generally I like Shermer but at times he is a bit over-zealous in deconstructing what is merely a working hypothesis during research. of course the nonsense of that movie needed a good kick but mainly because it is bad science and bad philosophy. amazing however how well it was received in the world.
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