Okay, I will be sure to do that next time—but I don’t see a reason to start a second thread on Neuropath over there right now. If a mod wants to move this thread over there, that’s cool.
Panic_Lobster
Karma: 162
Jryy gur fubpxvat vqrn va Arhebcngu vf gung bhe ‘srryvatf’ bs univat serr jvyy, bs univat zbeny vaghvgvbaf, bs orvat n fhowrpg jvgu ‘dhnyvn’ naq bs univat vagragvbanyvgl (cersreraprf, oryvrsf, tbnyf, rgp.) ner whfg xvaqf bs angheny nabfbtabfvnf, dhvexf bs irel fcrpvsvp naq sentvyr arhebculfvbybtvpny qrsvpvgf unaqrq gb hf ol ribyhgvbanel nppvqrag—naq gung rira fznyy inevngvbaf va zvaq qrfvta fcnpr jvyy bzvg gurfr guvatf pbzcyrgryl.
Cbfguhznaf znl irel jryy unir ab ‘rkcrevrapr bs dhnyvn’ be bs ‘serr jvyy’ be rira bs orvat vagragvbany flfgrzf—naq guvf jbhyq or qhr abg gb cngubybtl ohg gb qrfvta hctenqrf bire gur jrgjner cebivqrq ol ribyhgvba. Fb ba guvf gurbel, gur cvpgher bs gur shgher tvira va Qvnfcben sbe vafgnapr, jurer cbfguhznaf unir svefg crefba crefcrpgvirf naq fhowrpgvivgl pbhyq or frra nf anviryl bcgvzvfgvp naguebcbzbecuvfz.
Just finished reading Neuropath by Scott Bakker. It deals with a radical vision of the reductionistic nature of consciousness, intentionality and personhood and now stands alongside Greg Egan’s Permutation City and Diaspora as one of the most philosophically shocking books I have read.
I really don’t recommend it to anyone who hasn’t been very strongly innoculated against Existential Angst.
If Mitchell Porter has read it or is familiar with Bakker’s ideas from other sources I’d be interested in hearing his thoughts, as the philsophy of Neuropath really challenges the credibility of any form of realism regarding qualia.
We can reasonably say that something has a “thinking life” if it functions as a state machine where ‘states’ correspond to abstract models of sensory data (patterns in external stimuli). The complexity of the possible mental states is correlated with the complexity (information content) of the sensory data that can be collected and incorporated into models.
A cat’s brain can be reasonably interpreted as working this way. A nematode worm’s 302 neurons probably can’t. A plant’s root system almost definitely can’t.
Note that this concept of a “thinking life” or sentience is a much weaker and more inclusive than the concept of “personhood” or sapience.
Has anyone here heard of Michael Marder and his “Plant Thinking”—there is this book being published by Columbia University which argues that plants need to be considered as subjects with ethical value, and as beings with “unique temporality, freedom, and material knowledge or wisdom.” This is not satire. He is a research professor of philosophy at a European university.
http://www.amazon.ca/Plant-Thinking-A-Philosophy-Vegetal-Life/dp/0231161255 and here is a review http://ndpr.nd.edu/news/39002-plant-thinking-a-philosophy-of-vegetal-life/
I don’t want to live on this planet anymore
Most of the propositions and questions to be found in philosophical works are not false but nonsensical. Consequently we cannot give any answer to questions of this kind, but can only point out that they are nonsensical. Most of the propositions and questions of philosophers arise from our failure to understand the logic of our language. [...] And it is not surprising that the deepest problems are in fact not problems at all.
Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, 1921
Here is a blog which asserts that a global conspiracy of transhumanists controls the media and places subliminal messages in pop music such as the Black Eyed Peas music video “Imma Be” in order to persuade people to join the future hive-mind. It is remarkably lucid and articulate given the hysterical nature of the claim, and even includes a somewhat reasonable treatment of transhumanism.
Transhumanism is the name of a movement that claims to support the use of all forms of technology to improve human beings. It is far more than just a bunch of harmless and misguided techie nerds, dreaming of sci-fi movies and making robots. It is a highly organized and well financed movement that is extremely focused on subverting and replacing every aspect of what we are as human beings – including our physical biology, the individuality of our minds and purposes of our lives – and the replacement of all existing religious and spiritual beliefs with a new religion of their own – which is actually not new at all.
EDIT: I see this was previously posted back in 2010, but if you haven’t witnessed this blog yet it is worth a look.
It originally linked to This
Not coincidentally, that is the next novel on my summer reading list.