Recent content by Noumenon

Understood. In the case of the ball catching there is the same immediacy of action leaving no time for reflection on the part of The Subject ;) but this starts to beg other questions, like how much influence does consciousness have over action. Dennett's Multiple Drafts suggest that to some...

I read this first point somewhere in a Daniel Dennett book, probably Consciousness Explained, in relation to hysterical blindness - he describes aparently blind people dodging unexpected obstacles like opening doors, etc. A few years ago, the daughter of an acquaintance of mine had a rather...

Probably the most influencial book of my reading life was Daniel Dennett's Consciousness Explained. It was the first non-fiction book I recall reading voluntarily, it sparked my interest in science generally, and I still consider the multiple drafts model to be how my brain probably works. In...

Sounds good to me. Humans as antibodies of the biosphere.

Fascinating stuff. I'm living in Madrid at the moment, teaching English, and I have classes in the Bank of Spain headquarters. The building is interesting archetectuarally, having originally been constructed under the Socialist government and added to at various stages since; I mention it...

I don't know if people do much film reviewing here, but this is something I've just added to my blog that may be of interest. A friar walks from his monastery into the small town nearby, passing all the townsfolk heading the other way for a celebration, only the sick or infirm have remained...

Your pre-edit statement is more or less how I feel regarding my question, which does require destruction of the original; but I was talking death-replacement-revival, not copy-and-simultaneous-existance as in the original question, and regarding that I agree with your post-edit comment. It has...

I posed a similar question (possibly in the wrong place, it's attached to a Reincarnation thread in the Religion wing), I'd be interested to see what anyone thinks: Imagine that a process is developed in which, upon death, your brain is removed and the biological materials are replaced with...

I laughed.

I agree with your last statement, in principle, but it seems to me that it cannot have a connection to reality. Potentially infinite points of difference, each of which representing potentially infinite forms of difference. Sounds like a lot to ask for again! You seem to be expressing a...

Well on that basis I would suggest that you've got an answer for your original question at least: Unless your brain is spontaneously reassembled at some distant point in the future first (presumably in a body that can support it); and unless that brain comes into existance already in a state...

This is why I think it is an interesting question. My intuition responds that while the consciousness would be the same, it would no longer be my consciousness. However, I think the consciousness would certainly disagree, as its content would include everything I had thought or experienced...

I'd like to pose a related question: Imagine that a process is developed in which, upon death, your brain is removed and the biological materials are replaced with non-decaying alternatives, so every aspect of your brain's machinery remains intact but inoperative. Subsequently, a process is...

What is a thought without being embedded in a context of other mental states, connected to memories of prior states or experiences, and so on? Perhaps when I think of your question, a particular pattern of electrical activity occurs in my brain; and perhaps (in an infinite time space universe*)...

According to the BBC News website, the Pope is about to become quotable to the effect that condoms can be permitted under certain circumstances - strange choice of circumstance though. So, in the closed context of men (but not women for some reason) having sex for money, condoms are okay...