Film: Disneyland of Consciousness
I really loved the examples that
were used in the video of Abraham Lincoln, the Pirates of the Caribbean, and
the Haunted Mansion as Animatronic Images. These figures do really seem to
trick our eyes to think that they are actual people or things. Often times,
these “real life figures” force us to question what it means to be “true and
living.”
The odd question that popped into
my head as I was watching this short clip was how is it that we believe in
these “real life figures” but do not believe in other “intangible” things that
are related to religion, or science. This video led me to dwell upon the
thought of belief and faith in something unseen and not touched, for example,
Jesus Christ. As a believer in Christ, it was weird how some people saw and
believed that animatronic images are actually real, but religion, or more
specifically, God, is not. Although I do not have a clear cut answer for this
complex question, it was very refreshing to just be challenged and questioned
about this matter.
Film: Consciousness as a Mobius Strip
When I first read the title, I
wanted to first find out what a “Mobius Strip” was before even digging further
into the video. As I inaccurately imagined, according to physlink.com, in
short, Mobius strip has one side and one edge, being practically endless and incomprehensible. Without even taking a small peak at the clip,
I began to question, “How this is even possible?”
The
video made a very good connection between the Mobius Strip and our
consciousness. I really loved the fact that they were correlated as something
endless, without a clear, straight answer to how to explain them. It is quite
true that it is nearly impossible to dive deeper into our consciousness and
define every little detail in it. But I believe that somehow it is quite
possible to be able to see a glimpse of our “endless” thoughts and be able to
project it with the best of our abilities. Although our language may restrain
us from fully explaining our consciousness, I believe that in the future it
will be quite possible to through intellectual advances.
Film: Radiance without an Edge
Wow it
really shocked me to realize that we really do not have a beginning and an end
in a sense that we will not know when our consciousness starts, or ends. I
believe there is an amnesia called the childhood amnesia, often used by
psychologists to describe why we do not remember our early childhood years, in
most cases until the age of 4. This made me question is there a true reasoning
behind why we cannot remember how our consciousness began?
I
failed miserably countless times trying to remember my first memory that the
first challenge that was posed in the video made me laugh. Although seemingly small, I started to
consider this a big deal that it is quite impossible to really find our first
conscious decision or memory. Also, the fact that when our physical body dies,
our consciousness dies at the exact same time really shocked me and made my
small brain really work. Thinking about how we will not know what life is after
our physical deaths really challenged me to question and think more about
consciousness, in a philosophical sense.
Film: A Glorious Piece of Meat
The fact that we really do not know
who is in control was refreshing to see. The “I” which is us, do not control
anything except our conscious, voluntary actions such as moving and eating. The
rest is done by our involuntary organs within our bodies that require no
special attention to do its jobs. The fact that we are not completely in
control of everything was very interesting.
There
was a short statement that went along the lines of “How is it that when we are
clubbed in the back of our head, we are not aware of the outside experiences
going on around us?” It was interesting how although we are not conscious all
the time, the world still goes on without voluntary actions being done. Quite
remarkable to be told that we are not completely in control of everything that
we do, but it is actually the unconscious, involuntary thing that run while our
other conscious actions are asleep.
Film: Brain Burn
We tend
to imagine and daydream very often during our lifetime to really experience
what it feels like to be what we really want to be, without the consequences.
It doesn’t even have to be what we want to be, maybe what we want to do, or a
small dream that we have. Daydreaming really helps us to be, without actuality.
“Consciousness
is literally a virtual simulator.” This statement was very true because I do
simulate my dreams myself, almost every single day. I would imagine doing
things that are literally impossible to do in real life because of the
circumstances as well as the deathly consequences it follows. By using this virtual
simulator implanted in our natural bodies, it helps us to survive without
having to face the reality and sometimes would lead us into making the right
choices. I would like to end with this quote from the video. “Being within
survives, being without tends to end up dead.”
Film: Patricia Churchland Interview
“Are we just molecules in motion?
Are we just… stuff?” was the first question imposed in the interview. Patricia
Churchland answers by saying, “first of all, it’s not just one individual
neuron that does it (falling in love). “ The fact that our whole body is moving
and working to even express the feeling of love is a great way to answer the
question. The way we are so complex scientifically, as well as philosophically,
shows that we are not just “stuff” but complex conscious beings that are
unexplainable with just mere language.
She
also states that it is still hard to understand the way neurons are used in
consciousness as well as just simply, our conscious mind. Because it is just so
complex and nearly impossible to understand with our intellect, as well as with
the advances with science that we have today, I thought it would take a while
to completely explain how our consciousness functions. Our mind is our brain,
and our brain functions and performs countless tasks that we do not even think
about. It would take a millennium to be able to truly and deeply understand the
very nature of our conscious minds.
No comments:
Post a Comment