From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2002 21:07:52 EST
Subject: Fwd: religion is evil, why it must be eradicated
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
X-Mailer: AOL 8.0 for Windows US sub 230
In a message dated 11/25/2002 3:12:51 PM Eastern Standard Time,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
That's not the point. They could in fact get to those proofs, even if
>they do not do so, those proofs do exist. With religion, those proofs do
>not exist.
Could you provide the proof that you are conscious to me?
Conscious in what sense? Awake and aware of surroundings. Specific brain
regions are active when an animal is conscious. They are quiescent when
the animal is asleep and when they are damaged the animal is not
conscious; so in sense yes we can tell if an individual is conscious. Now
I think you mean self-aware; the sort of consciousness that only humans
have. It is likely this special consciousness is an expanded version of
the more basic consciousness but even if it is not it is likely that we
will find types of brain activity that are required for consciousness.
This type data may not satisfy those who want to see consciousness as some
internal subjective thing. And certainly if one defines consciousness in
this way there can be no proof that it exists. But I believe this is
cheating. We accept mechanistic notions about how most things work in the
world. If we can identify a specific brain state that is present when
individuals act as if they are conscious and don't see this state when
they loss awareness of self (for instance in someone with Alzheimers
Disease) then we will be able to prove consciousness
Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Received: from rly-xa02.mx.aol.com (rly-xa02.mail.aol.com
[172.20.105.71]) by air-xa04.mail.aol.com (v90.10) with ESMTP id
MAILINXA42-1125151251; Mon, 25 Nov 2002 15:12:51 -0500
Received: from www.mccmedia.com ([206.204.15.162]) by rly-xa02.mx.aol.com
(v90.10) with ESMTP id MAILRELAYINXA27-1125151235; Mon, 25 Nov 2002
15:12:35 -0500
Received: from www.mccmedia.com (localhost [127.0.0.1])
by www.mccmedia.com (8.11.6/8.11.6) with ESMTP id gAPKDWV26552;
Mon, 25 Nov 2002 12:13:33 -0800
Received: from txsmtp01.texas.rr.com (smtp1.texas.rr.com [24.93.36.229])
by www.mccmedia.com (8.11.6/8.11.6) with ESMTP id gAPKDRV26542
for <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; Mon, 25 Nov 2002 12:13:27 -0800
Received: from neutron (cs2417566-129.houston.rr.com [24.175.66.129])
by txsmtp01.texas.rr.com (8.12.5/8.12.2) with SMTP id gAPK9RuG006290
for <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; Mon, 25 Nov 2002 15:09:36 -0500 (EST)
Message-ID: <02a401c294bf$78ec1f40$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
From: "Dan Minette" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
References: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: religion is evil, why it must be eradicated
Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2002 14:15:57 -0600
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain;
charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-Priority: 3
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.50.4522.1200
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.50.4522.1200
X-BeenThere: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
X-Mailman-Version: 2.1b2
Precedence: bulk
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
List-Id: Discussions of the writings of science fiction/futurist authors
David Brin and Gregory Benford. <brin-l.mccmedia.com>
List-Post: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
List-Subscribe: <http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l>,
<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?subject=subscribe>
List-Unsubscribe: <http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l>,
<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?subject=unsubscribe>
List-Archive: <http://www.mccmedia.com/pipermail/brin-l>
List-Help: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?subject=help>
Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Errors-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
----- Original Message -----
From: "The Fool" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, November 25, 2002 1:59 PM
Subject: Re: religion is evil, why it must be eradicated
>
> That's not the point. They could in fact get to those proofs, even if
> they do not do so, those proofs do exist. With religion, those proofs do
> not exist.
Could you provide the proof that you are conscious to me?
Dan M.
_______________________________________________
http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
_______________________________________________
http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
