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Current Essay Contest
Contest Partner: The Peter and Patricia Gruber Fund.
Previous Contests
Undecidability, Uncomputability, and Unpredictability Essay Contest
December 24, 2019 - April 24, 2020
Contest Partners: Fetzer Franklin Fund, and The Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation
read/discuss • winners
What Is “Fundamental”
October 28, 2017 to January 22, 2018
Sponsored by the Fetzer Franklin Fund and The Peter & Patricia Gruber Foundation
read/discuss • winners
Wandering Towards a Goal
How can mindless mathematical laws give rise to aims and intention?
December 2, 2016 to March 3, 2017
Contest Partner: The Peter and Patricia Gruber Fund.
read/discuss • winners
Trick or Truth: The Mysterious Connection Between Physics and Mathematics
Contest Partners: Nanotronics Imaging, The Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation, and The John Templeton Foundation
Media Partner: Scientific American
read/discuss • winners
How Should Humanity Steer the Future?
January 9, 2014 - August 31, 2014
Contest Partners: Jaan Tallinn, The Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation, The John Templeton Foundation, and Scientific American
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It From Bit or Bit From It
March 25 - June 28, 2013
Contest Partners: The Gruber Foundation, J. Templeton Foundation, and Scientific American
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Questioning the Foundations
Which of Our Basic Physical Assumptions Are Wrong?
May 24 - August 31, 2012
Contest Partners: The Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation, SubMeta, and Scientific American
read/discuss • winners
Is Reality Digital or Analog?
November 2010 - February 2011
Contest Partners: The Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation and Scientific American
read/discuss • winners
What's Ultimately Possible in Physics?
May - October 2009
Contest Partners: Astrid and Bruce McWilliams
read/discuss • winners
The Nature of Time
August - December 2008
read/discuss • winners
Current Essay Contest
Contest Partner: The Peter and Patricia Gruber Fund.
Previous Contests
Undecidability, Uncomputability, and Unpredictability Essay Contest
December 24, 2019 - April 24, 2020
Contest Partners: Fetzer Franklin Fund, and The Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation
read/discuss • winners
What Is “Fundamental”
October 28, 2017 to January 22, 2018
Sponsored by the Fetzer Franklin Fund and The Peter & Patricia Gruber Foundation
read/discuss • winners
Wandering Towards a Goal
How can mindless mathematical laws give rise to aims and intention?
December 2, 2016 to March 3, 2017
Contest Partner: The Peter and Patricia Gruber Fund.
read/discuss • winners
Trick or Truth: The Mysterious Connection Between Physics and Mathematics
Contest Partners: Nanotronics Imaging, The Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation, and The John Templeton Foundation
Media Partner: Scientific American
read/discuss • winners
How Should Humanity Steer the Future?
January 9, 2014 - August 31, 2014
Contest Partners: Jaan Tallinn, The Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation, The John Templeton Foundation, and Scientific American
read/discuss • winners
It From Bit or Bit From It
March 25 - June 28, 2013
Contest Partners: The Gruber Foundation, J. Templeton Foundation, and Scientific American
read/discuss • winners
Questioning the Foundations
Which of Our Basic Physical Assumptions Are Wrong?
May 24 - August 31, 2012
Contest Partners: The Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation, SubMeta, and Scientific American
read/discuss • winners
Is Reality Digital or Analog?
November 2010 - February 2011
Contest Partners: The Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation and Scientific American
read/discuss • winners
What's Ultimately Possible in Physics?
May - October 2009
Contest Partners: Astrid and Bruce McWilliams
read/discuss • winners
The Nature of Time
August - December 2008
read/discuss • winners
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RECENT POSTS IN THIS TOPIC
Don Limuti: on 3/6/17 at 4:31am UTC, wrote Hi Janice, I enjoyed reading your essay. A refreshing informative read...
Don Limuti: on 3/6/17 at 4:11am UTC, wrote Hi Andrew, Your very common misunderstanding is still being taught in...
Satyavarapu Gupta: on 3/3/17 at 5:54am UTC, wrote Dear Murin, Thank you for the nice essay on “consciousness and...
Joe Fisher: on 3/2/17 at 17:16pm UTC, wrote Dear Janice F. Murin, Please excuse me for I have no intention of...
Wilhelmus de Wilde: on 2/28/17 at 14:59pm UTC, wrote Dear Janice, You are clearly starting from the base of philosophy in...
sridattadev kancharla: on 2/28/17 at 13:42pm UTC, wrote Dear Janice, I really enjoyed your splendid essay and please accept...
Andrew Scott: on 2/27/17 at 23:39pm UTC, wrote You say: "According to Quantum Theory, atomic and subatomic events are...
Joseph Brisendine: on 2/27/17 at 20:00pm UTC, wrote Ms. Murin, I enjoyed reading your essay and thought you did a nice job of...
RECENT FORUM POSTS
PRASAD DIVATE: "Respected sir, I have suggestions for next essay topic 1: consciousness..." in Undecidability,...
Steve Dufourny: "What I find relevant in all humility is that in my model of Spherisation..." in AI, Consciousness,...
PRASAD DIVATE: "Respected Professor Penrose sir, I always read your works and am greatly..." in AI, Consciousness,...
Steve Agnew: "A new model will be useful if and only if it can explain something that the..." in Is Causality Fundamental?
Steve Dufourny: "Hello , dear Jason, your general analysis is interesting, that implies a..." in Is Causality Fundamental?
Steve Dufourny: "I have remarked in all humility that if we want to unify this GR and this..." in Alternative Models of...
Steve Dufourny: "here is my intuitive equation about this matter non baryonic encoded also..." in Alternative Models of...
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click titles to read articles
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Is Causality Fundamental?
Untangling how the human perception of cause-and-effect might arise from quantum physics, may help us understand the limits and the potential of AI.
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Don Limuti: on 3/6/17 at 4:31am UTC, wrote Hi Janice, I enjoyed reading your essay. A refreshing informative read...
Don Limuti: on 3/6/17 at 4:11am UTC, wrote Hi Andrew, Your very common misunderstanding is still being taught in...
Satyavarapu Gupta: on 3/3/17 at 5:54am UTC, wrote Dear Murin, Thank you for the nice essay on “consciousness and...
Joe Fisher: on 3/2/17 at 17:16pm UTC, wrote Dear Janice F. Murin, Please excuse me for I have no intention of...
Wilhelmus de Wilde: on 2/28/17 at 14:59pm UTC, wrote Dear Janice, You are clearly starting from the base of philosophy in...
sridattadev kancharla: on 2/28/17 at 13:42pm UTC, wrote Dear Janice, I really enjoyed your splendid essay and please accept...
Andrew Scott: on 2/27/17 at 23:39pm UTC, wrote You say: "According to Quantum Theory, atomic and subatomic events are...
Joseph Brisendine: on 2/27/17 at 20:00pm UTC, wrote Ms. Murin, I enjoyed reading your essay and thought you did a nice job of...
RECENT FORUM POSTS
PRASAD DIVATE: "Respected sir, I have suggestions for next essay topic 1: consciousness..." in Undecidability,...
Steve Dufourny: "What I find relevant in all humility is that in my model of Spherisation..." in AI, Consciousness,...
PRASAD DIVATE: "Respected Professor Penrose sir, I always read your works and am greatly..." in AI, Consciousness,...
Steve Agnew: "A new model will be useful if and only if it can explain something that the..." in Is Causality Fundamental?
Steve Dufourny: "Hello , dear Jason, your general analysis is interesting, that implies a..." in Is Causality Fundamental?
Steve Dufourny: "I have remarked in all humility that if we want to unify this GR and this..." in Alternative Models of...
Steve Dufourny: "here is my intuitive equation about this matter non baryonic encoded also..." in Alternative Models of...
Steve Dufourny: "Hello Mr Snowdon, it is well said what you tell, I agree that this time is..." in The Nature of Time
RECENT ARTICLES
click titles to read articles
Lockdown Lab Life
Grounded physicists are exploring the use of online and virtual-reality conferencing, and AI-controlled experiments, to maintain social distancing. Post-pandemic, these positive innovations could make science more accessible and environmentally-friendly.
Is Causality Fundamental?
Untangling how the human perception of cause-and-effect might arise from quantum physics, may help us understand the limits and the potential of AI.
Building Agency in the Biology Lab
Physicists are using optogenetics techniques to make a rudimentary agent, from cellular components, which can convert measurements into actions using light.
Think Quantum to Build Better AI
Investigating how quantum memory storage could aid machine learning and how quantum interactions with the environment may have played a role in evolution.
Outside the Box
A proposed quantum set-up that could predict your game-playing strategy resurrects Newcomb’s classic quiz show paradox.
FQXi FORUM
August 12, 2020
CATEGORY:
Wandering Towards a Goal Essay Contest (2016-2017)
[back]
TOPIC: The Mystery of Consciousness and Self by Janice F. Murin [refresh]
TOPIC: The Mystery of Consciousness and Self by Janice F. Murin [refresh]
Essay Abstract
. If consciousness exists, what is it? How is it to be explained and understood? On the face of it, there could be no greater mystery than that brains should somehow produce, or be, our states of awareness, our thoughts, feelings, perceptions and desires. What is so baffling and mysterious about consciousness is that each one of us knows it exists, and knows what it is, because we possess it, indeed we are it, in a certain sense; and yet, if we examine a conscious brain, we find such things as neurons and synaptic junctions, but nothing remotely like consciousness as we experience it. Consciousness is wholly apparent to the owner of the conscious brain, but bafflingly invisible and ineffable to everyone else. How is this familiar and utterly inexplicable stuff of consciousness to be explained and understood?
Author Bio
Philosophy Student
Download Essay PDF File
. If consciousness exists, what is it? How is it to be explained and understood? On the face of it, there could be no greater mystery than that brains should somehow produce, or be, our states of awareness, our thoughts, feelings, perceptions and desires. What is so baffling and mysterious about consciousness is that each one of us knows it exists, and knows what it is, because we possess it, indeed we are it, in a certain sense; and yet, if we examine a conscious brain, we find such things as neurons and synaptic junctions, but nothing remotely like consciousness as we experience it. Consciousness is wholly apparent to the owner of the conscious brain, but bafflingly invisible and ineffable to everyone else. How is this familiar and utterly inexplicable stuff of consciousness to be explained and understood?
Author Bio
Philosophy Student
Download Essay PDF File
Ms. Murin,
I enjoyed reading your essay and thought you did a nice job of summarizing much of the modern philosophical discourse on subjectivity in a clear manner, and I especially appreciate that you considered Husserl's point of view. What I'm missing in your essay, from the perspective of this perticular competition, is the connection to mathematics. You mention other problems in quantum foundations and quantum grvaity but I'm not sure what your thesis was in regard to how these issues relate to consciousness, if at all. My absolute favorite Husserl text is the "Origins of geometry", and if you haven't had the pleasure I would highly recommend it. I think it would help you tie together the "phenomenological reduction" of selfhood and the consistency of natural patterns, the intuition of which Husserl believed was the basis for our concept(s) of space.
If you have time, I think you may enjoy my own entry in the competition, becuase I have touched on similar philosophical issues but taken a slightly different stance on the "mystery" of selfhood. I would be interested in your opinion as a philosopher.
Once again, well done presentation of many different perspectives in the history of philosophy!
Best,
Joe
(Joseph Murphy Brisendine, essay title "A Sign without Meaning")
report post as inappropriate
I enjoyed reading your essay and thought you did a nice job of summarizing much of the modern philosophical discourse on subjectivity in a clear manner, and I especially appreciate that you considered Husserl's point of view. What I'm missing in your essay, from the perspective of this perticular competition, is the connection to mathematics. You mention other problems in quantum foundations and quantum grvaity but I'm not sure what your thesis was in regard to how these issues relate to consciousness, if at all. My absolute favorite Husserl text is the "Origins of geometry", and if you haven't had the pleasure I would highly recommend it. I think it would help you tie together the "phenomenological reduction" of selfhood and the consistency of natural patterns, the intuition of which Husserl believed was the basis for our concept(s) of space.
If you have time, I think you may enjoy my own entry in the competition, becuase I have touched on similar philosophical issues but taken a slightly different stance on the "mystery" of selfhood. I would be interested in your opinion as a philosopher.
Once again, well done presentation of many different perspectives in the history of philosophy!
Best,
Joe
(Joseph Murphy Brisendine, essay title "A Sign without Meaning")
You say: "According to Quantum Theory, atomic and subatomic events are intimately connected to the presence of a consciousness which observes them. In the absence of such a consciousness the event does not occur"
This is a very common misunderstanding, or at best a huge overstatement of one very speculative viewpoint, for which there is no convincing evidence. It comes from a very loose use of "observation", when "interaction" would probably be much more appropriate. The insistence on the need for a conscious observer, whatever that means, is part of wacky "pop" physics, not real physics.
report post as inappropriate
This is a very common misunderstanding, or at best a huge overstatement of one very speculative viewpoint, for which there is no convincing evidence. It comes from a very loose use of "observation", when "interaction" would probably be much more appropriate. The insistence on the need for a conscious observer, whatever that means, is part of wacky "pop" physics, not real physics.
Hi Andrew,
Your very common misunderstanding is still being taught in universities!
http://www.colorado.edu/physics/EducationIssues
/papers/Goldhaber_etal/PERC09_Dubson.pdf
Don Limuti
report post as inappropriate
Your very common misunderstanding is still being taught in universities!
http://www.colorado.edu/physics/EducationIssues
/papers/Goldhaber_etal/PERC09_Dubson.pdf
Don Limuti
Dear Janice,
I really enjoyed your splendid essay and please accept congratulations from the heart of a fellow philosopher. I totally concur with your points on singularity of universal consciousness and welcome you to read the essay There are no goals as such it's all play. Also please see the attached document, zero = i = infinity, with all the diagrams and links that i have made on the journey of self realization. Science is a subset of spirituality and it has to catch up to integrating consciousness to fully understand the reality of existence. I wish you all the best and hope that you will cherish the diagrams and share them with all our fellow philosophers.
love,
i.
attachments: zero__i__infinity.docx
report post as inappropriate
I really enjoyed your splendid essay and please accept congratulations from the heart of a fellow philosopher. I totally concur with your points on singularity of universal consciousness and welcome you to read the essay There are no goals as such it's all play. Also please see the attached document, zero = i = infinity, with all the diagrams and links that i have made on the journey of self realization. Science is a subset of spirituality and it has to catch up to integrating consciousness to fully understand the reality of existence. I wish you all the best and hope that you will cherish the diagrams and share them with all our fellow philosophers.
love,
i.
attachments: zero__i__infinity.docx
Dear Janice,
You are clearly starting from the base of philosophy in trying to understand consciousness.
And always remain (like everybody) with a pile of unanswered questions.
I tried to give some answers in my essay : "The Purpose of Life".
I wonder what your opinion is and hope to reveive a comment and maybe a rating.
best regards
Wilhelmus
report post as inappropriate
You are clearly starting from the base of philosophy in trying to understand consciousness.
And always remain (like everybody) with a pile of unanswered questions.
I tried to give some answers in my essay : "The Purpose of Life".
I wonder what your opinion is and hope to reveive a comment and maybe a rating.
best regards
Wilhelmus
Dear Janice F. Murin,
Please excuse me for I have no intention of disparaging in any way any part of your essay.
I merely wish to point out that “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955) Physicist & Nobel Laureate.
Only nature could produce a reality so simple, a single cell amoeba could deal with it.
The real Universe must consist only of one unified visible infinite physical surface occurring in one infinite dimension, that am always illuminated by infinite non-surface light.
A more detailed explanation of natural reality can be found in my essay, SCORE ONE FOR SIMPLICITY. I do hope that you will read my essay and perhaps comment on its merit.
Joe Fisher, Realist
report post as inappropriate
Please excuse me for I have no intention of disparaging in any way any part of your essay.
I merely wish to point out that “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955) Physicist & Nobel Laureate.
Only nature could produce a reality so simple, a single cell amoeba could deal with it.
The real Universe must consist only of one unified visible infinite physical surface occurring in one infinite dimension, that am always illuminated by infinite non-surface light.
A more detailed explanation of natural reality can be found in my essay, SCORE ONE FOR SIMPLICITY. I do hope that you will read my essay and perhaps comment on its merit.
Joe Fisher, Realist
Dear Murin,
Thank you for the nice essay on “consciousness and understanding ... "
Your observations are excellent, “If consciousness exists, what is it? How is it to be explained and understood ................. I feel understanding itself is related to consciousness... ”
Probably Universe itself had some consciousness………………… …..For Example …in my...
view entire post
Thank you for the nice essay on “consciousness and understanding ... "
Your observations are excellent, “If consciousness exists, what is it? How is it to be explained and understood ................. I feel understanding itself is related to consciousness... ”
Probably Universe itself had some consciousness………………… …..For Example …in my...
view entire post
Hi Janice,
I enjoyed reading your essay. A refreshing informative read that did not require ingesting controlled substances to be understood.
Don Limuti
report post as inappropriate
I enjoyed reading your essay. A refreshing informative read that did not require ingesting controlled substances to be understood.
Don Limuti
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