What are the latest findings in brain scans and understanding consciousness?

[Zelebg]

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Hello,

I am interested in what some would call metaphysics and philosophy of consciousness and sentience, in questions like what is "self" and what is "subjective experience", i.e. qualia. However my approach is grounded in measurable physical concepts like EM fields, cybernetics, computer science, and such. Is this forum a good place to find people interested in these kinds of topics, and what forum category would suit that discussion?

 

[phinds]

Welcome to the forum. We don't discuss metaphyics or philosophy, so you'll want to confine your questions to, as you say, measurable physical concepts. You should read the forum rules, particularly the one concerning personal theories.

 

[Zelebg]

Welcome to the forum. We don't discuss metaphyics or philosophy, so you'll want to confine your questions to, as you say, measurable physical concepts. You should read the forum rules, particularly the one concerning personal theories.

Thanks. The discussion I had in mind is about artificial intelligence and can it be made conscious. Unfortunately philosophers lack necessary knowledge in the sciences and end up talking nonsense. I don’t see why is this considered metaphysics and philosophy, I call it physics and biology. But in any case, it’s the mystery which I think has a much lesser chance of ever being solved with physicists just watching from the sidelines, for some reason.

 

[Borg]

Greetings Zelebg.

Phinds is correct in what he's telling you. This is a great site but it is highly moderated. Violations of the rules can and do result in people being swiftly banned from the site. I would recommend reading the rules in the INFO tab at the top of the page. They do go into some description of why the rules exist - mainly, because the topics that aren't allowed have been tried before and didn't work out.

 

[Zelebg]

Sure, I'm just pointing to general situation in the field.

 

[berkeman]

Sure, I'm just pointing to general situation in the field.

Welcome to the PF.

One of the best ways to phrase a question here is to cite a mainstream paper from a peer-reviewed journal or a section of a mainstream textbook. That way you can be sure it's probably going to be allowed, and it also gives everybody a starting point for the discussion.

So for example, if you wanted to discuss the latest findings in brain scans and trying to understand mental processing and consciousness, you could look around for the latest papers and discoveries in FMRI and PET imaging research. There are some pretty exciting areas of research there that are on the cutting edge, and could lead to new understandings about how the brain and consciousness work...

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4189192/
https://nyulangone.org/news/brain-imaging-helps-redefine-intelligence
When you find a "popular science" (PopSci) article about some new breakthrough, always try to find the scientific article that was published that the PopSci article is based on. Often the author of the PopSci article does not know what they are talking about, and they embellish the subject with sensationalistic half-truths to get more clicks or sell more papers. But if you can find the scientific work behind the PopSci article, that work will often be a good source of discussion here at the PF.

Also, if you are not sure whether a reference or topic is appropriate to post here at the PF, please feel free to send me or the appropriate Mentor a PM to ask. Just click on our avatar and "Start a Conversation".

Enjoy the PF!