"mind Of course, the brain is a machine and a computer – everything in classical neurology is correct. But our mental processes, which constitute our being and life, are not just abstract and mechanical, but personal, as well – and, as such, involve not just classifying and categorising, but continual judging and feeling also. If this is missing, we become computer-like… And, by the same token, if we delete feeling and judging, the personal, from the cognitive sciences, we reduce them to something [defective] – and we reduce our apprehension of the concrete and real. - oliver sacks"
nice quote, curt. i agree with what sacks says here.
i would add that it seems very likely that our subjectivity, "our being and life", our "feeling and judging", all this is done within the capabilities of the brain, and the capabilities of the brain are bounded by the capabilities of machines. just because our processes are bounded within the capabilities of machines does not make them any less valuable or any less human.
just as the idea that we descend from the primordial slime does not diminish us. nor would it even necessarily involve a denial of god or a denial of the involvement of god and humanity. though particulars like, oh, women springing from adam's rib are out the window.
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"mind
Of course, the brain is a machine and a computer – everything in classical
neurology is correct. But our mental processes, which constitute our being
and life, are not just abstract and mechanical, but personal, as well –
and, as such, involve not just classifying and categorising, but continual
judging and feeling also. If this is missing, we become computer-like…
And, by the same token, if we delete feeling and judging, the personal, from
the cognitive sciences, we reduce them to something [defective] – and we
reduce our apprehension of the concrete and real.
- oliver sacks"
nice quote, curt. i agree with what sacks says here.
i would add that it seems very likely that our subjectivity, "our being and
life", our "feeling and judging", all this is done within the capabilities
of the brain, and the capabilities of the brain are bounded by the
capabilities of machines. just because our processes are bounded within the
capabilities of machines does not make them any less valuable or any less
human.
just as the idea that we descend from the primordial slime does not diminish
us. nor would it even necessarily involve a denial of god or a denial of the
involvement of god and humanity. though particulars like, oh, women
springing from adam's rib are out the window.
ja