philosophy
-
How many minds can one organism have? (Answer: One.)
I was asked this question on Quora: Do the two halves of the brain have wills of their own? Can they dislike each other or fight? Here’s my answer: It’s very difficult to define what exactly the will is in neuroscientific terms. It seems best to reserve this word for the whole organism, rather than…
-
“Are thoughts just a bunch of electrical and chemical signals being tossed around inside the brain, or is there more to it than that?”
“In our world,” said Eustace, “a star is a huge ball of flaming gas.” “Even in your world, my son, that is not what a star is but only what it is made of…” The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, CS Lewis I really like the quote above, which is from the Chronicles of Narnia.…
-
Is a memory a bunch of atoms? And does this mean we can transfer exact memories?
I was asked the following question on Quora. “Are specific memories just arrangements of atoms in our brains? Could you put certain molecules in someones head and give them an exact memory that you had?“ Short answer: No. Modern science has shown that every thing is an arrangement of atoms: neurons, apples, tables, rockets, asteroids,…