Consciousness and Approximations: What makes "Us"? @ Comprehensivist Weds

In this discussion we continue looking at the topic of Consciousness and our Being. We began exploring consciousness in an earlier discussion on December 12th, 2020. This discussion elaborates on that, and will attempt to add additional layers of meaning, of what forms us, and our consciousness.

When experts talk about consciousness, they present many ideas including ones that contradict each other. This gives an impression that since experts find this difficult to discuss, maybe the topic is too complex. That may not be so. Some experts say we've made progress. The difficulty may even arise from solipsist tendencies, giving us a sense of ourselves as "magically complex" and infinitely unattainable.

Fortunately, nearly everyone agrees that consciousness and our sense of "Us" is an emergent aspect of our brain/mind. This gives us our starting point, to use neuroscience to further our understanding.

The debate between philosophers and neuroscientists has 3 foci:
• consciousness is too difficult or impossible to understand
• consciousness can be understood, and our latest tools seem to explain parts
• consciousness is fundamentally ever present in the universe - it's everywhere

The debate has become so complex, that today there are at least 12 formal theories around consciousness:
• Emergent Dualism
• Property Dualism
• Substance Dualism
• Buddhism
• Pan Psychism
• Quantum Consciousness
• Identity Theory
• Functionalism
• Behaviorism
• Cognitivism
• Higher Order Theory
• Epiphenomenalism

Because the topic of consciousness is so broad, we will look at two specific aspects:
• our perception of reality: is it an approximation?
• our sense of self, our personhood: is it real?

These videos touch on the topics, and will help in understanding:
■ The Origin of Consciousness - How Unaware Things Became Aware
https://youtu.be/H6u0VBqNBQ8 [ 9:40]

■ Arguments against Personal Identity/Personhood
https://youtu.be/17WiQ_tNld4 [ 9:43]

■ What Is Consciousness (The Economist)
https://youtu.be/ir8XITVmeY4 [12:42]

■ Personhood
https://youtu.be/GxM9BZeRrUI [ 9:13]

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Welcome to the series "Comprehensivist Wednesdays". Transdisciplinarity, Renaissance humanism, homo universalis, and Polymathy are some of the ways of describing this approach which Buckminster Fuller called Comprehensivity and described as “macro-comprehensive and micro-incisive”.

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