Is the brain necessary for consciousness?

[river]

Perhaps that was causal to the BB? The universe wanted to matter?

David Bohm wrote about that; Hence paper would more accurately be called papering--to emphasize that it is always and inevitably a dynamic process undergoing perpetual change. Bohm ...
https://bhavanalearninggroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/LifeworkofDavidBohm.pdf

Lifework of David Bohm - River of Truth - Bhavana Learning ...
by W Keepin · (free)

Agreed

Hence so do we in our thinking .

 

[Write4U]

Agreed

Hence so do we in our thinking .

The Universe is "universing"........

Might that be a form of life? Other than the violent and chaotic production of the necessary chemistry and biochemistry, it seems evolve in a fairly orderly manner.

 

[river]

The Universe is "universing"........

Might that be a form of life? Other than the violent and chaotic production of the necessary chemistry and biochemistry, it seems evolve in a fairly orderly manner.

It might be . Or the inside of the brain of a being , some call this being god .

 

[Write4U]

It might be . Or the inside of the brain of a being , some call this being god .

Well, I believe the term God identifies a willful being and I don't believe the universe is willful,

But when I think of chaos theory; "a butterfly flaps his wings in China and eventually causes a storm in Texas, US" by sheer mathematical functions, I begin to wonder, at what stage does "life" begin.

Or a star blows up and 10 billion years later a butterfly hatches from a cocoon that used to be a caterpillar. One organism morphing into a completely different organism, using the atomic waste from a supernova.

How Does a Caterpillar Turn into a Butterfly?

To become a butterfly, a caterpillar first digests itself. But certain groups of cells survive, turning the soup into eyes, wings, antennae and other adult structures

As children, many of us learn about the wondrous process by which a caterpillar morphs into a butterfly. The story usually begins with a very hungry caterpillar hatching from an egg. The caterpillar, or what is more scientifically termed a larva, stuffs itself with leaves, growing plumper and longer through a series of molts in which it sheds its skin.

One day, the caterpillar stops eating, hangs upside down from a twig or leaf and spins itself a silky cocoon or molts into a shiny chrysalis. Within its protective casing, the caterpillar radically transforms its body, eventually emerging as a butterfly or moth.

But what does that radical transformation entail? How does a caterpillar rearrange itself into a butterfly? What happens inside a chrysalis or cocoon?

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/caterpillar-butterfly-metamorphosis-explainer/

What exactly is the meaning of "anime" (other than cartoons) ?

 

[river]

Well, I believe the term God identifies a willful being and I don't believe the universe is willful,

But when I think of chaos theory; "a butterfly flaps his wings in China and eventually causes a storm in Texas, US" by sheer mathematical functions, I begin to wonder, at what stage does "life" begin.

Or a star blows up and 10 billion years later a butterfly hatches from a cocoon that used to be a caterpillar. One organism morphing into a completely different organism, using the atomic waste from a supernova.

How Does a Caterpillar Turn into a Butterfly?

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/caterpillar-butterfly-metamorphosis-explainer/

What exactly is the meaning of "anime" (other than cartoons) ?

Highlighted

You have to figure that out for yourself . And why it matters , here .

 

[Write4U]

Highlighted

You have to figure that out for yourself . And why it matters , here .

Well, it doesn't mean "elan vital" or "'Joie de vivre"

 

[river]

Well, it doesn't mean "elan vital" or "'Joie de vivre"

In English Write4U . Please .

 

[Write4U]

In English Write4U . Please .

Why don't you tell me what you think it means. In English.

 

[river]

Why don't you tell me what you think it means. In English.

No idea . Seriously no idea .

 

[Write4U]

No idea . Seriously no idea .

But you do know what it is not?

 

[river]

But you do know what it is not?

Obviously not . Logically . Post#227

 

[Write4U]

Elan vital

Definition of élan vital;

the vital force or impulse of life especially : a creative principle held by Bergson to be immanent in all organisms and responsible for evolution.

Élan vital is a term coined by French philosopher Henri Bergson in his 1907 book Creative Evolution, in which he addresses the question of self-organisation and spontaneous morphogenesis of things in an increasingly complex manner. Wikipedia

Joie de vivre

Definition of joie de vivre

: keen or buoyant enjoyment of life he radiates a vitalizing energy, the zest and gaiety of an inexhaustible joie de vivre— Robert Kuttner.

Eduard von Grützner's depiction of Falstaff, a literary character well known for his joie de vivre

Joie de vivre is a French phrase often used in English to express a cheerful enjoyment of life, an exultation of spirit. It "can be a joy of conversation, joy of eating, joy of anything one might do… And joie de vivre may be seen as a joy of everything, a comprehensive joy, a philosophy of life, a Weltanschauung. Wikipedia

 

[river]

Elan vital

Definition of élan vital;



Joie de vivre

Definition of joie de vivre

Eduard von Grützner's depiction of Falstaff, a literary character well known for his joie de vivre

A joy in anything that one might do . Careful .

 

[Write4U]

A joy in anything that one might do . Careful .

The expression is also used as a kind of self-generating process of finding comfort in balance or symmetry.

 

[river]

Joy

Being in a good place . Physically , mentally , and spiritually . All three or getting there . And with good people , sometimes .

 

[Write4U]

This is an in-depth examination of how consciousness actually takes place.

 

[TheVat]

Erm, answering the OP: consider the line of evidence of patients with dementia. As neural tissues and synaptic connections are destroyed, and functional brain mass decreases, the patients consistently show a loss of cognitive ability and awareness. In the terminal phase, every indication is that mind and consciousness have eroded until there is "nobody home." The patient falls into a vegetative state, and lingers until basic brain stem functions fail and death results. Another line of evidence is victims of massive stroke or head trauma.

Weighing this against the minuscule sliver of poorly documented anecdote in the OP, it seems fair to say the evidence strongly points to two possibilities.

1. The brain is the location of consciousness, and its processes are the objective physical ones that generate consciousness and our interior sense of a self. When it dies, so does consciousness.

or

2. The brain is some form of transducer which allows some universal property of consciousness to be accessed by a biological body and identified with it. When the brain dies, so does the linkage, and so the body loses consciousness as a radio loses its signal. This view was first presented to me, decades ago, as the "radio theory" of mind, at that time associated with famed neurologists John Eccles and Wilder Penfield.

 

[Write4U]

1. The brain is the location of consciousness, and its processes are the objective physical ones that generate consciousness and our interior sense of a self. When it dies, so does consciousness.

2. The brain is some form of transducer which allows some universal property of consciousness to be accessed by a biological body and identified with it. When the brain dies, so does the linkage, and so the body loses consciousness as a radio loses its signal. This view was first presented to me, decades ago, as the "radio theory" of mind, at that time associated with famed neurologists John Eccles and Wilder Penfield.

Considering that #2 assumes a universal conscious field from which individuals gather different "relative" information seems needlessly complicated.

To me, #1 sounds the most plausible and well within the potential of evolutionary processes.
An individual internal field generated by the brain itself seems a much simpler explanation and would account for the differences in individual perception and interpretation, especially if we include the range of consciousness in other organisms in the equation.

It is known that any sharing and experiencing the same emotions from observing an external object or event is a result of "empathy", that is produced by "mirror neurons" in the brain.
example: watching someone hit their thumb with a hammer, may cause the same cognitive responses in the observer as in the person hurting himself.
Why do we wince while observing another experience pain? This seems to be totally removed from any universal involvement.

I ran across this article that lists the known abilities of the human brain and it is impressive.

Human Brain Facts:
Human Brain Facts:

80% of the brain is water.
An average adult male brain weighs about 1375 grams.
A neglected child brain can be substantially smaller than that of a healthy child.
A condition called synesthesia can cause senses to overlap. In other words, some people can taste words or hear colors.

The right side of the human brain is responsible for self-recognition.
Any damage to brain cells cannot be repaired completely.
The base of the spinal cord has a cluster of nerves, which are most sensitive.

The brain continues to send out electric wave signals until approximately 37 hours after death.
The brain is much more active at night than during the day.
The brain itself cannot feel pain.
The brain operates on the same amount of power as 10-watt light bulb. Your brain generates as much energy as a small light bulb even when you’re sleeping.

As we get older, the brain loses almost one gram per year.
Only four percent of the brains cells work and the remaining cells are kept in reserve.
Our Brain has over 100 billion nerve cells.

The adult human brain is about 2% of total body weight.
Men listen with the left side of the brain and women use both sides of the brain.
The average human brain weighs about 3 pounds.
The human brain can read up to 1,000 words per minute.
The human brain cell can hold 5 times as much information as the Encyclopedia Britannica. Or any other encyclopedia for that matter.

The Human brain constitutes 60% of white matter and 40% of grey matter.
The human brain is capable of creating more ideas equivalent to that of the atoms of the universe.
The human brain is made up of more than 10 billion nerve cells and over 50 billion other cells and weighs less than three pounds.

The Human brain is the most powerful computer which has the processing speed of 3000+ Ghz
The human brain is very soft like butter.
The Human brain stops growing at the age of 18.
The human Brain uses 20% of our body energy and makes up only 2% of our body weight.
If you spread it out, your brain would be about the size of a pillowcase.
When we touch something, we send a message to our brain at 124 mph.
Cold weather improves human memory and concentration.

The width of an average human brain is 140 mm.
The total surface area of the human brain is about 25,000 square cms.
The weight of human cerebellum is 150g.
In a lifetime, your brain’s long-term memory can hold as many as 1 quadrillion (1 million billion) separate bits of information.
Information travels at different speeds within different types of neurons.
It is estimated that there are over 1, 000,000,000,000,000 connections in the human brain.
Nerve impulses to and from the brain travel as fast as 170 miles per hour.
Neurons continue to grow throughout human life.

On an average the weight of an adult female brain is about 1275 grams.
On an average, 100,000 to 1,000,000 chemical reactions takes place in our brain.
The average human head weighs about 10 pounds.
The average length of the human brain is about 167 mm and its average height is 93mm.
The left side of human brain controls the right side of the body and the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body.

The Nervous system transmits messages to the brain at the speed of 180 miles per hour.
When in love, the brain releases the same cocktail of neurotransmitters and hormones that are released by amphetamines, leading to increased heart rate, loss of appetite and sleep, and intense feelings of excitement.
Your brain uses about 20% of your oxygen and caloric intake.

https://www.winstonmedical.org/human-brain-facts/#

I showed this before but I think this comparison has merit.

This is how I imagine "consciousness" emerging from EM fields generated by data transmission.

This happen back in 2004, but it’s still very interesting – thousands of fluorescent lights from the emissions of the cables above–

This is a quote, but I could not have said it better.

As I understand it (PLEASE, correct me if I’m wrong), all wires running a current have a magnetic field created around them (north pole facing the direction of the travelling current). So in order to harness this magnetic field you can use something like a coiling of wires (with many turns, like a solenoid?) which will then “push” the electrons along inside the coils, creating a current.

This seems very much related to what goes on inside the brain and the microtubule network.
The processing and transmission of sensory data by the neural network generates a field which in turn generates biochemical data that is compared to prior stored data in memory provided by microtubules in Pyramidal cells (neurons).

 

[Write4U]

As I understand it, here is where consciousness emerges

Pyramidal Cell
From: The Brain, 2010

Pyramidal cell axons travel from the base of the cone toward the white matter, where they may branch out to nearby cortex, to the cortex of the opposite side, or to structures outside the cerebrum, like the thalamus, brainstem, and spinal cord.

4.13.1.3 What Is a Pyramidal Cell?

Pyramidal cells are distinguished by their prominent apical dendrite and basal dendritic tree (Figure 3). They comprise ∼70–90% of all neurons in cortex. Pyramidal cells form rich plexuses of connections, often called intrinsic lattices or horizontal patches, within cortical areas. They form nearly all corticocortical connections, both ipsi- and contralateral, as well as most subcortical connections. Pyramidal cells also contain the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate: their discharge directly facilitates cortical activity, rather than inhibiting it. Arguably, pyramidal cells are the principal neurons of the cerebral cortex, generating nearly all cortically initiated excitation (see Feldman, 1984; Jones, 1984; DeFelipe and Fariñas, 1992; Nieuwenhuys, 1994; Elston and DeFelipe, 2002; Valverde, 2002 for reviews).

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/veterinary-science-and-veterinary-medicine/pyramidal-cell

 

[Pinball1970]

Erm, answering the OP: consider the line of evidence of patients with dementia. As neural tissues and synaptic connections are destroyed, and functional brain mass decreases, the patients consistently show a loss of cognitive ability and awareness. In the terminal phase, every indication is that mind and consciousness have eroded until there is "nobody home." The patient falls into a vegetative state, and lingers until basic brain stem functions fail and death results. Another line of evidence is victims of massive stroke or head trauma.

yes, the consciousness failing after a brain injury is not more mysterious than not being able to walk after a leg injury.
The brain can deteriorate in many different ways leading to all sorts of weird effects. Nick Lane gives a nice summary of some of these diseases in his book "Life Ascending" Chapter ten, I recommend it, especially if you have an interest in abiogenesis.

I would also check out "split brain" via corpus callosotomy, some very strange effects there that dispense with the idea consciousness is somehow separate and ethereal not needing a brain.