From: Richard Loosemore (rpwl@lightlink.com)
Date: Thu Apr 13 2006 - 00:28:51 MDT
Phillip Huggan wrote:
>
> There are a handful of different neuron families and over 10000
> different types of cells at play in constructing our brains. People
> here are talking about building consciousness and we haven't even delved
> into the *easy* chemical behaviour of certain brain centers. I suggest
> Google before making such grandoise claims as neurons = logic gates =
> human consciousness. For instance, the neuron wiki refutes that.
Having just come back from a Consciousness conference where I tried to
present an explanation of consciousness that included no mention of
neurons and logic gates, but only high level aspects of cognition, I
have to dispute what you say here. (And I don't know that the neuron
wiki can be said to "refute" anything).
My claim was about the phenomenal aspects of consciousness (the
so-called Hard Problem), not the more routine aspects like being awake
rather than asleep, etc., but I still would not agree that we need
detailed knowledge of neurophysiology in order to understand the way the
mind works. A computational level characterisation will probably be
good enough.
Richard Loosemore
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