Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Dr. Bruce Greyson at the UN on Near Death Experiences

In my view when a brain is on the way out, you can get all kinds of odd experiences, hallucinations, etc. ... some of which may seem to show that the mind can separate from the brain. I don't think that is really the case, however.

Greyson raises some interesting points, nevertheless. How many brain cells are actually needed to have your particular consciousness?

It would be interesting if we could turn groups of brain cells on and off to see what happened.








YouTube - Dr. Bruce Greyson at the UN on Near Death Experiences - Beyond the Mind-Body Problem.

6 comments:

John said...

Very interesting stuff.You ought to check into DMT and the pineal gland.I know.....I know.....Drugs are bad blah blah blah.Not trying to get into a debate about that but DMT as well as other psychedelics have really changed my life for the better.DMT being the strongest life changing experience.They say it is released in mass amounts in near death experiences which I can definitely see.I believe consciousness is not bound to the brain.

JAMOT said...

We already know what happens ... from studying stroke victims.

Sepp said...

Near death experiences and drug-mediated expanded consciousness are of course subject to interpretation. One school apparently insists that it's all in the brain cells. I find this a very reductive approach that isn't very useful in letting us understand what is happening.

Consciousness is not bond to the brain, much like human knowledge is not bound to the internet. In both cases, the two definitely have some connection, but to assert that the first depends on the second for its existence is a jump that isn't justified by any logical reason.

Xeno said...

The evidence that consciousness is bound to the brain seems to me to be:

- By altering the brain you can turn consciousness on and off (sedation)
- By stimulating certain parts of the brain you can cause OBEs
- Lesions in various areas of the brain alter consciousness, perception, speech, personality, etc.

Sepp said...

The things you list as evidence that consciousness is bound to the brain aren't incompatible with the concept that consciousness is separate and the brain is merely the switchboard that connects consciousness with the body.

Of course the two are connected, and the information (commands, pain, pleasure, etc.) can travel both ways. That doesn't mean however that consciousness is necessarily a result of brain action, only that brain action can influence consciousness (and vice versa).

Xeno said...

To me this is like saying that vibrations are merely the switchboard which connects music with the musical instrument.

An odd way to look at it.. but in a way, I agree: Music is the interpretation of vibrations.

Similarly, thought is the interpretation of brain activity. By interpretation, I mean that feedback loops cause mental models of the external world, resonances of experience which are stored and played back in our fantastic brain instruments.

Yet, with no vibrations, there is no music. When there is no instrument, there are no vibrations. Good thing we have recordings.

We need better ways than books and blogs to record a person's stored brain experiences. I think that will happen eventually as science progresses (the brain is a natural quantum computer according to some researchers) ... if we can meet our survival challenges.