Arvin Ash
Is consciousness god? What is consciousness? And Where is it located?
We tend to treat our consciousness as a mystery, perhaps even as a supernatural quality of being human. Something that might even be divine, connecting us to a higher power. But could the source of consciousness really just all be contained in the neurons, synapses and other connections within our brain?
New research seems to point us to one of these directions.
What is it that makes it so mystical for us. What is consciousness?
No one knows for sure, but scientists seem to agree that consciousness has to involve the integration of activity from several brain networks, allowing us to perceive our surroundings.
It integrates all our sensory inputs – sight, smell, touch, hearing and taste as one single unifying experience rather than isolated sensory perceptions.
It connects us to our present, memories of our past…and to our emotions into a single ego-centric perception. All these things shape our perception of who we are, and what we believe to be the world around us.
Even if we don’t know what it is, can we at least find out WHERE it is? Just days before he died in July 2004, Francis Crick, who co-discovered the structure of DNA, was working on a paper that suggested that our consciousness needs some kind of conductor to put all external stimuli and internal perceptions together
He hypothesized that this conductor would need to rapidly integrate information from different parts of the brain and put them into a whole. For example, if you are sitting outside and you smell a neighbor’s barbeque, you might instantly be able to imagine the kind of food he is cooking. You may remember its name, its texture and its taste instantly. And you may even recall any past experiences, memories and emotions associated with the smell of that barbecue. All these things happen instantly.
Crick suggested that the claustrum – a thin, sheet-like structure that lies hidden deep inside the brain – is perfectly suited for this job. Well, 10 years later, in a 2014 study, scientists at George Washington University in Washington, DC were trying to manage a patient’s epileptic seizures.
After trying many different treatments unsuccessfully, they tried a long shot. They put a probe near this woman’s claustrum. When they stimulated it, the woman’s consciousness seemed to completely turn off.
She stopped reading and stared blankly into space, she didn’t respond to auditory or visual commands and her breathing slowed.
This was not like being in a coma or going to sleep. She just simply stared into space, with seemingly no perception of the world around her. Almost as if a switch had been turned off.
As soon as the stimulation stopped, she immediately regained consciousness but had no memory of the event. The claustrum may be like the light switch in your house. It can turn consciousness on or off by the flick of a switch.
If consciousness can be controlled by a physical object in the brain, this is compelling evidence that our consciousness does not exist outside of the brain, but rather within it.
And not only within it, but also located in a very specific spot in the brain. This seems to indicate that our consciousness is not some kind of spooky spirit or force that resides in a realm independent of the brain cells that make it up.
Unless further experiments prove otherwise, this evidence seems to indicate that, perhaps our consciousness can be understood. It is a manifestation of all our thoughts, sensory inputs, emotions and experiences compiled together with the help of an orchestra conductor called the claustrum.
This realization of consciousness being something physical, however does not make it any less special. It is still remarkable. It just means that it is probably worldly, and not other-worldly.
Citation: PDF of original research study on claustrum stimulation is located here:
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download;jsessionid=C0E6A60D80B5859C97D44060349DA8C2?doi=10.1.1.461.6936&rep=rep1&type=pdf
Source
Wait a minute. What is "consciusness"? Where is the definition of consciousness. A scientific description.
Does that mean a light switch is compelling evidence that electricity is generated in the switch mechanism?
Also, why would the brain generate consciousness? It already has a job, to process information, just as the gut has the job of processing energy, and we don't attribute some great extra function to the gut.
Arguably, consciousness is more likely simply is a function of being alive, of all the body systems working in concert, and the brain filters and amplifies that consciousness to create a picture that historically promote reproduction.
The simple consciousness of simple organisms would be considered by humans to be "unconscious" or "automatic", being too small and subtle for us to notice, so we dismiss it.
This fact only implies that we are highly advanced robots with capabilities of perceiving Universe .
Consciousness is in a tree , a tree has no identity we gave it identity by calling it a tree but it grows it’s alive it’s conscious of purpose.
it does not need to learn it knows , a producer of c02 happily consuming sunlight , through photosynthesis oxygen is the by product.
We feed off the stuff
we humans have an identity as a single person individually not a whole.
also we are 7 trillion single cells and micro bacteria that all have a single purpose that connect to other cells and systems to network individually and collectively as a system. To make a whole , human , we are just identity , identity is what makes us who we are and that information comes from outside beliefs from a systemic education through visual experiences we chose to believe and bring into our bubble of what we believe we see as relevant for the bubble. that disallows us to perceive systematically as a collective . For instance we call a tree a tree but that tree may see it’s self as a Forrest. A collective ,
that tree is therefore consciousness, which is everywhere. if we saw as prospective as a whole from every possible human angle we would be god.
Just the bigger picture of our form.
Remember the tree does not have identity it could feel like every forest everywhere.
What prospective are you,
The cloud
Or the rain
Or the sea.
I guess that’s all on how you look at it.
Prospective
But more a systematic prospective.
I think it is a pretty big leap to say that because one woman stared blankly and did not respond to stimuli that consciousnesses is created in this one spot in the brain. That there is nothing to consciousness more than a small piece of the brain.
is consciousness a physical entity?
Does consciousness also create reality
Naw, you ignore the possibility the brain just doesn't register consciousness when that is switched off, it proves nothing at all.
Human is the king of the life on the earth not the god, and if he is a god then why a small creatures such as viruses kill him in afew days without useing a suitable drags !!??
You are perfectly wrong consciousness means simply no mind..
Seeing the things as if we are seeing for the first time..
Just because there is a switch in the brain that creates unconsciousness does not mean that the brain creates consciousness in-itself. When you go to sleep your consciousness does not simply disappear. There is simply no explanation of how matter, of whatever complex arrangement, can produce this very awareness that is non-material and without any physical properties in-itself.
He is using the usual definition of consciousness as the sum of its "experience" of memories/thoughts/feelings/etc and physical stimuli. This is a limited view of mind in the same way that one cannot say that the Universe is simply the interaction of galaxies without regarding space-time, so you can't have experience without the "substrate" of consciousness which reflects that experience. Consciousness and its "reflected" experience are not the same therefore, and neither are they different. Different memories can be "reflected" in consciousness by stimulating different parts of the brain, for example. But it's a big jump to believe that these stimulated brain areas are somehow creating their own awareness.
We also know that the placebo effect of belief in say, a pill with nothing in it, can make the body or brain change physically, as can meditation change physical structures of the brain even within a short time. These may be examples of consciousness in-itself acting on the matter in the body-brain. Mind and Body-brain are interdependent but not the same.
As such, matter also has the same lack of ultimate definition as the mind does.
You said it right earlier in but just because you find the switch that may disconnect your body from your consciousness does not mean it is produced within that part in of course your body needs a switch the same way your TV needs an infrared detector to receive input from your remote
@ArvinAsh Can you make a video about tachyons please?
Boredom can do shut the claustrum off just as easily. Even God wants to have fun!
What about those of us that have had a NDE and was able to think outside of the body as we saw our body's laying dead as we looked on,no our consciousness is our soul! Anyone that does not know this will know it when they finally die!
Taking it further…
Could we not understand consciousness as a fundamental element, just like energy, gravity etc.
probably everything in existence is consciousness in its own way. Magnets attract, matter gravitate…somehow things interract, by force fields or at deeper level, by consciousness.
I mean we don't have to judge consciousness by human or animal level.
Needless to say complex neuron network make experience more rich at know physical level, but consciousness appears to be at deeper unkown level still.
Otherwise, we might as well, is dead man conscious, after all, physically, even at neuron level, it might be in good condition.
Nonetheless, today's exponential growth at DNA technology and computer technology, we are definitely on verge of creating new life forms, google xynobots etc.
With new discoveries, questions of consciousness can be put on back burner, since we are about to become creator of life, a God in true sense.
Do i make sense!?🤖
One additional point:
We should add 'evolution' to this whole discussion too, because consciousness seems to have grown with it ….:)
Dear Arvin
Riddle me this
Excretion of urine is an emergent property of renal cells in renal tissue
Consciousness is the emergent property of neurotransmitter firing brain cells in brain tissue
Urine is physical and can be analyzed physically down to its elementary particles
Is consciousness physical and can it be analyzed down to elementary particles?
Your opinion matters to me
The brain wave (theta), state of mind (egoless), and belief in a soul all play important factors in astral projection. I say belief because if you don't believe you have an leg than how can you walk properly?
This women could only report back the same as a person who wakes from sleep and doesn't remember dreaming. So science takes this anecdotal evidence to support their claims of no after life. It's clumsy. This experiment should be done by a seasoned projected under the right brain wave patterns to conclude anecdotal findings.
so what about sleep walking?
Watching too many zombie movies?
Up until now there is no explanation, so it is a mystery but that does not mean you have to attach superstitious nonsense to it. It is possible that we might never understand consciousness . Your simple video certainly does not !
The music is annoying.
Thank you Arvin! Yes, that which makes us conscious is within us. I don't necessarily think consciousness is in a physical part of us but we, that is life along with our bodies, produce consciousness. It is as if consciousness were the light in a light bulb. Before a switch is turned on the bulb is connected to wires and has a body with filaments and other part in it, but not light itself. But when the switch is turned on, and thus electricity flows through the bulb it produces light. Our bodies are like bulbs, life is the electricity that flows through which produces consciousness in our brains. The switch was turned on at or some time after conception but before birth.
Please don't ever ever add music
Arvin, I was watching Leonard Suskind explain the holographic principal theory to a lay audience. He talked in depth about the conservation of information theorem. Lets just say consciousness is what you propose. What happens to the information contained in memories after a person dies?
Couldn’t the claustrum simply be a physical access to separate consciousness?
I am not that good in English. But these video series are something I do listen repeatedly even slowing down play speed. Most of topics and its comments are somethings I was questioning myself. I must say warm Thank you for your efforts. from south Korea.
that gold chain is playa
Please interrupt my consciousness, just turn it off!
I think what the claustrum is doing here is it is turning MEMORY on and off; every conscious experience has 1 thing in common, there is a memory being formed; you cannot experience what you do not remember, that's the difference between what the brain does consciously or unconsciously.
A Tv has an on off switch, it receives signals = you argument doesn't hold any weight with me.
Asking where the consciousness exists is like trying to pinpoint where exactly h2o is wet.
Do not follow that of which you have no knowledge for you shall be questioned for (the use) of your eyes, ears and minds.
Consciousness is the spirit of human,it’s another and higher level of energy we have no knowledge about it.
They ask you about "The Spirit." Say, "This Spirit comes by the ommand of my Lord, but you have been given only a little of the 'Knowledge'
BTW, the term consciousness in other philosophy doesn't match the term consciousness being used here. Mind and consciousness is two different entities in deep spiritual philosophy. So, in this case, we cannot generalize in this way as being mentioned here.
It wasn't a study but an operation on one individual. Not that it's not interesting. I'd be curious if this was done in larger groups. Still interesting.
through us God enters his creation.
Meh, just because scientists figured out where and how to flip a receiver switch off and on in our bio computer, sure doesn’t mean they found the source of the signal. That would be a very flawed conclusion. And why would other worldly be spooky, that sounds a bit too much like a adverse personal opinion. My opinion I find otherworldly extremely interesting and nothing to fear or dismiss.
That nerve or whatever in the brain is like the switch of a bulb. If a switch is damaged and you cannot get the bulb to work, does that mean that the switch was the source of elecricity? No!! The electricity is there regardless only the device is broken. Similarly consciousness is there regardless and the thing in the human brain is just a receiver of it! So if you knock someone down the device is broken but consciousness remains whatsoever. To know this you need to meditate
Reminds me of what Carl Sagan said in Cosmos: "We are matter that has grown to consciousness; we are a way for the universe to know itself."
I just wish I knew a lot more about some things, and a lot less about others!
Bhagwat Geeta explained that Consciousness is a part of god everything else is part of creation but Consciousness is part of Creator
Maybe consciousness is the fundamental thing. Maybe words, symbols, philosophy or science are not capable of fully grasping it. Maybe the answer for "what consciousness is" is available only through your direct experience.
If there was no consciousness, what would be atoms, nerves, cell, a brain? Who would perceive it? Does that make sense?
Maybe you're consciousness itself
(I don't see this way of thinking as something that undervalues science)
This team is working on the simple but fascinating idea that consciousness is, or arises from, The ability of a system to self-simulate in its future. Just take a look at this, something clicked inside of me when I did: https://youtu.be/chukkEeGrLM
👌👌
Merci thanks 👏🏻
it's awesome to know, but sort of depressing at the same time . I don't want there to be an true end of my existence 🙁
That on off switch doesnt turn it off if it is remote like the internet. Just turns of the receiver like a cell phone.
The biggest question I have, is if my "soul" exists only in the brain.. why this brain? Is it possibly for "me" to experience the claustrum of a different creature's brain from birth to death? Why isnt somebody else experiencing my mind, and vice versa?
Great channel, great topics… but you should phase out the annoying music, it is competing with your voice.
If I see some object it's like I am perceiving the data then after my brain tells me what it is
I understand eyes like a signal receiver which can be switched on and off at the same time
Can these colostrum be the same ?
We also see pictures while eyes are closed ?
For those that looking for a deeper dive into consciousness theory, search for "roger penrose and stuart hameroff microtubules".