Archive: 7 posts

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This is for DISCUSSION, not DEBATE. Discussion: an exchange of views on some topic. Debate: a discussion in which reasons are advanced for and against some proposition or proposal. This thread is not to CHANGE peoples' minds, but to rather to show your own viewpoint, to let them make their own mind up. This thread will be limited to purely NON-CONTROVERSIAL topics. I don't want this being another locked thread. I already have enough in my trash can. Each day over the Holiday Break, I will propose a topic to discuss, not debate. There are no winners, there are no losers. There is no right answer, nor wrong answer. This is merely an exchange of dialogue, expressing ideas. If you don't know, see that as an opportunity to hopefully learn something new. The topic for December 23rd, 2008: Self & Conciousness Who is "I" and who is this "I" talking to?

2008-12-23 01:47:00 Author: Unknown User

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The concept of 'I' is an abstract concept, created by one system of thoughts in order to be one system of thoughts. Or something similar. Which leads to another question- how is everything here? Is nothing infinitive? How does a creature get a system of impulses to think rationally? Don't think too hard- you'd die. O_O

2008-12-23 01:54:00 Author: RockSauron Posts: 10882

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This is a very confusing topic and I'm pretty sure I don't understand it myself. The concept of self and "I" is a way to refer to one's consciousness, the self-aware collection of thoughts within one's mind. That is as far as I can go for certain, as I am not entirely sure what makes up consciousness, I don't think anyone does. The brain is one of the most foreign parts of the human body, yet the most important. This brings up a paradox: Can the human mind understand itself? I say 'mind' as a type of collection of thoughts, I'm not entirely sure what makes up this mind, just a lot of neurons firing and working in unison to create a self-awareness. It's kind of like how non-functioning pieces of a car go together that cannot act by themselves, but when they all get put together they somehow allow the car, or mind, to drive, or be self aware. The little pieces, or the neurons, collaboratively create the mind. I'm not sure how, but to me this is the most logical theory. "I" is just referring to that self-aware mind, the consciousness. Self, however, does not pertain solely to the mind, as we consider our bodies to also be ourselves. We say "my arm", "my leg", "my head" though. Who exactly is this "my" that the body parts belong to? The mind? We see ourselves as drivers, or minds in our vehicles, or bodies. I think it is impossible to see yourself as your actual body part, as I think our 'self' is somewhere between our ears. So confusing, yet so fascinating.

2008-12-23 02:03:00 Author: Unknown User

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Indeed, I have often thought- the Brain is where all thought takes place. However, it doesn't KNOW it's the Brain, it just works to complete it;'s objective, it doesn't understand anything about what it is or what it controls... We think with something that we must learn what it is to understand it. O_O

2008-12-23 02:05:00 Author: RockSauron Posts: 10882

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Yeah, it definitely is a paradox. What happens when we can finally understand our own minds? What happens then? Would we be able to control our thoughts, or maybe be able to read minds? And yeah, I don't think we can can control our own thoughts. They simply react to the stimuli in the outside world, and our minds will do their own thing, whether or not 'we' (heh) want them to. (We can go back to this in the 'Free Will' discussion) As Socrates said, there seem to be 3 parts of the mind: Logos - thought, speech, account, meaning, reason, proportion, principle, standard", or "logic" Pathos - Emotions Ethos - Morality and Ethics Somehow these 3 parts of our minds work in unison, yet at the same time independently, without us even telling them to.

2008-12-23 02:10:00 Author: Unknown User

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You ever stop and think about how our mind knows how to do what we want it to do? Like, right now i'm typing, obviously. How is it that our mind can actually subcounciously move our fingers in such a way without us telling them to? And EVERYTHING we do, we do without thinking- think about if you actually had to THINK about how every muscle and such in your body had to work so you could do everything! But no, somehow, we just know how to walk, how to type, how to jump- without knowing HOW we actually know. O_O

2008-12-23 02:13:00 Author: RockSauron Posts: 10882

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Yeah, our minds are pre-packaged with instincts, such as fear, lust, attraction to happiness, ect. The subconscious of the brain is the part of the brain that I doubt we will ever understand. It is times like this when, I hate to say, we just have to accept that the brain somehow 'works'. I would be lying if I said I had an idea how, but it just.... does. The whole 'Chemical balances in the brain' concept is probably very primitive, but it is the best that we can do. As for people with mental disorders, the best we can really do is try to get therapy and experiment with different medications to see what 'works' and what doesn't. Psychiatry and Psychology are still in their infancy I would say. Even though the fields will inevitably progress, I doubt we will ever 'get there' (truly understand how our minds work).

2008-12-23 02:19:00 Author: Unknown User

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