[MD] Mystics and Brains

[pholden at davtv.com]

Quoting Case <Case at iSpots.com>:

> [Platt]
> Well, if you consider other people part of the universe, and they care about
> you, it appears at least that part of the universe cares after all. If
> that's so, one wonders about the source of this "caring" business and that
> perhaps it was built in to the universe from the beginning. After all, among
> living organisms there's a lot of caring going on out there.
> 
> [Case]
> The caring part is us. Our purposes arise from conditions or our existence.
> We seek food shelter and sex. We develop complex emotional bonds with other
> creatures like us. To that extent certainly purpose and value exist in the
> universe. But this idea that it was there in the beginning has very little
> to do with us. Unless you are prepared to say what this purpose is our what
> is has to do with us I really do not see where it is meaningful to talk
> about it.

If you posit that the universe evolved in order to observe itself, then it has
a lot to do with us. If you say the universe evolved for no reason at all, then
you end up in a wasteland where "Each individual in his cell of isolation was told
that no matter how hard he tried, no matter how hard he worked, his whole life is
that of an animal that lives and thinks like any other animal. He could invent moral
goals for himself, but they are just artificial inventions. Scientifically speaking
he has no goals." (Lila, 22) I prefer the former scenario to the latter. 

> [Platt
> Does science recognize that thoughts are a form of electro-chemical energy?
> I always thought they recognized just four basic forces -- atomic,
> electromagnetic, strong and weak. Can I assume you're OK with adding psychic
> force to this list?
> 
> [Case]
> All of those articles cited recently about consciousness and brain activity
> deal with the electrochemical activity of the brain. I am not sure the
> forces are the same thing as energy but whatever number of forces and states
> of energy there are psychic is not one of them.

I guess you are as sure that psychic energy doesn't exist as I am that the
universe exhibits purpose.
 


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