Metzinger's View Of Consciousness

“The really hard problem of consciousness is the problem of experience. When we think and perceive, there is a whir of information-processing, but there is also a subjective aspect. As Nagel (1974) has put it, there is some-thing it is like to be a conscious organism. This subjective aspect is expe-rience. When we see, for example, we experience visual sensations: the felt quality of redness, the experience of dark and light, the quality of depth in a visual field. Other experiences go along with perception in different modalities: the sound of a clarinet, the smell of mothballs. Then there are bodily sensations, from pains to orgasms; mental images that are conjured up internally; the felt quality of emotion, and the experience of a stream

For years, Artificial Intelligence has posed the question, what it means to be human, and more specifically the nature of consciousness. When confronted with the issue of the relationship between the mind and the body, the most likely argument is that both exist independently of each other but have a two-way relationship. However, recent advancements in machine learning, the technical algorithms that make up artificial intelligence, have suggested that this is not true. It is important to explore whether artificial intelligent agents are really capable of having these “minds” to achieve consciousness, even when they are built of physical components, such as codes. Up to this point in evolution humans are the only ones to achieve consciousness, however recent progression in artificial intelligence provides the possibility to prove otherwise. Consciousness must be defined with the possibility of bringing forth different theories. Defining consciousness and the relationship between the mind and material body will not only teach us more about artificial intelligence, but more importantly about the human condition and implications on personhood. One example of this would be AlphaGo, an artificial intelligence program built by Google that beat the world champion, Lee Sedol, in the Chinese game of Go. The game is said to demand high-order thinking and intuition to master  it, both of which require a mind ,  as there are trillions of potential moves possible, with the most optimal

In the wake of slavery, the black body is constantly under attack. The hold co-exists within the wake of slavery. According to Christina Sharpe, college professor, author of In the Wake on Blackness and Being, (2016) “The wake; a state of wakefulness and a state of consciousness” (pg. 5). Being in the wake of slavery means one still faces the negative effects it and is aware of the negative affects it has on the black community. The hold co-exists in the wake of slavery and the black body is inhibited by this hold. Sharpe defines the hold as, “A large space in the lower part of a aircraft in which cargo is stowed (of a ship or aircraft); keep or detain (someone)” (p. 68). In the hold, the black body has been introduced, taught, ingrained and continues this idea of the language of violence. Through the actual hold of the ship during the Middle Passage, to the perception of blacks which also holds the black body, and to the engrained idea of the “masculine black body” which keeps queer black bodies in their own hold. In this paper, I will examine the intersectionality of blackness and queerness which is being held in the wake of slavery.

My own theory of consciousness is a state of awareness of self. It has been said that this awareness stems from arousal. Consciousness, to me, is entirely internal. We experience the external world, but only through our senses. Dehaene and Naccache (2001) explain that neuroscience is beginning to investigate and understand the "neural underpinnings of consciousness." Thus, consciousness is something that we experience via our own bodies. However, there is an implied separation between experience and consciousness. Animals and plants also have mechanisms for interacting with the world, but they do not appear to have the same neural underpinnings that them to interpret the world with the same awareness that humans have. We, however, not only experience the external world, but we are aware of that experience.

There exists a place in one’s mind that determines what is real, and what is not. One could argue this distant concept as being linked to the subconscious; others, such as Neil Gaiman, provide a template for existence on the other side. The children’s story Coraline reveals the truth of darkness and confusion in a supposed replicated dimension. The Allegory of the Cave is an essay written by philosopher Plato that explains the analogy of prisoners kept facing a wall in a cave to those who experience a perfectly formed enlightenment of the mind. Those who break free are unveiled into this bright and amazing world and are initially overwhelmed, for everything that they once thought to be is instantly proved to be wrong, or more to say, altered. The theory of forms, applied to this story, assumes the existence of some distant reality, with the perfect “forms”. This idea provides for all things in the real world that we physically and mentally live in. The forms are theoretically donated into the real world, but lose their perfection along the way, and instead inherit a base for numerous opinions: these are the objects that human’s perceive every day. The forms in Coraline are displayed, with all child appeal, as within a physical small door, leading to the “other side” of the flat. In the world, objects are beautiful and wondrous, but confusion of course sets in, as the new view is so astray from the normal source of opinions. The captured sense is new, and truly; horrific.

Consciousness is the state or condition of being conscious. A sense of one's personal or collective identity, especially the complex of attitudes, beliefs, and sensitivities held by or considered characteristic of an individual or a group. There are several different stages of consciousness. Waking consciousness, altered states of consciousness and sleep.

Psychodynamics is an umbrella term, specifically an approach to psychology which highlights personality through unconscious psychological processes. The underlying cause of psychodynamics is to understand why many people act in ways that may not make sense as well as to identify the relationship between unconscious motivation and conscious motivation. The psychodynamic approach is made up of different theories and therapies founded by various psychologists which focus closely on an individual’s unconscious drives, and see how these drives relate to one’s personality. The most prominent psychologists who have contributed to the psychodynamic approach include Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Alfred Adler, Erik Erikson, and Karen Horney. Unlike the behavior approach to psychology which leans towards understanding the science behind behavior and how external factors help stimulate these behaviors, psychodynamics attempts to look into one’s mind and observe how they see the world from their unique point of view. The psychodynamic approach is the most influential approach in the field of psychology because it emphasizes how unconscious forces impact an individual’s present behavior, unlike other approaches to psychology which focus on one’s past behaviors influencing their present behavior.

TTL and AILD in their radical attempts to represent subjective consciousness as it is must satisfactorily resolve the question of whether or not it is possible to do so. The themes of the ineffability of consciousness, the failures of language, and the inevitability of aloneness are clearly present throughout the text as the efforts of multiple characters to communicate their own internalities and to understand those of others are shown. Despite dealing with the same fundamental issues, the texts approach this theme in differing ways and they, due to their choices in narrative style, can come to opposing conclusions without falling into contradiction. *Thesis[ Turn this into the thesis:

By comparing conscious and unconscious events, William James focused on the problem of detecting conscious awareness. The method of binocular rivalry analyzes the switch between the two stimuli happening in the brain. It is the idea of turning on the conscious mind by looking at an object such as an apple, and processing the “visual image”, by putting together “feature maps” in different parts of the brain. Thus, creating a visual experience. However, sensory regions are not the only parts of the brain involved. In fact, the author, Bernard J. Baars of “Thinking About Consciousness” goes to explain that our brain is like a parallel processing system that involves the parietal and frontal lobes, limiting moment-to-moment conscious events.

Mixed research methodology has been defined as the class of research approach whereby researcher combines both quantitative and qualitative research methods, techniques, concepts and approaches into a single set of study (Jhoson & Onwuegbuzie, 2004). Historically, the researchers have been using either quantitative or qualitative research approach in order to carry out their research. And, the main reason was due to the presence and wide differences between the supporters and followers of the both philosophies.

Perception is what makes the mind and body predicament actually obstinate. ‘What is it like to be a bat’ is an intricate argument geared at disproving reductionism according to Nagel (Hirstein, 2012). In human way of thinking, it is possible to imagine being shortsighted and flapping our arms to fly just in the same way bats live their life. A comparable situation can be figured for an individual born blind from the time of birth. The person can develop a rational indulgent of what light is and discover about how sighted people respond, as well as, adapt to it. These people no matter what kind of training offered to them, they will never comprehend what it is like to see. When studying the mind-body problem, consciousness becomes a fundamental

Before one can establish a morally permissible approach to creating an artificial human-like intelligence, the origin of human consciousness must be determined in order to find a viable method of recreation. It would then become evident that problem of morality in conscious machines lies not in the method of its construction, as it is the necessary means to an end, but the act of creation itself as well as the "upbringing" of the machine comparable to that of a human being.

For over a 1000 years, the philosophical and metaphysical influences surrounding the foundation of consciousness have questioned its existence (Dennett, 1991). Just as the chameleon rapidly, changes the color of its skin to adapt to its environment, the theories regarding human consciousness, the mind and its relation to the body, have constantly been changing depending on the era (Stich & Warfield, 2008). Some cultures, for instance, believe the mind is outside of the body, thus survived death (Bennett, 2007).For instance, through oral tradition, Nigerians, believe that when someone dies, the soul/mind either leaves the body to go through judgment by a higher power, or depending on the circumstances of the death, the soul is

So far in this class we’ve look at many theorist who have presented on the idea of consciousness. These theorists (W.E.B. Du Bois, George Herbert Mead, and Dorothy Smith) have provided there theorization of the idea of consciousness. They’ve presented their views along with evidence that helps to support their claims. In this essay I will be discussing each theorist’s characterization of consciousness along with analyzing their similarities, differences and limitations on the subject. The initially question at hand is based on these theorist and there characterization of this of this idea of consciousness how has it contributed to the awareness and “solution” of the problem.

The statements “I have a guilty conscious” and “My conscious eating me alive” are phrases that have been giving physical meaning by everyday people. What has not been given merit is the imaginable state of consciousness or ones conscious. Are the statements true or just simply a saying with no meaning?