What, Why & How do we Know ?
Still not got internet access domestically back in Perth, but hopefully will have within the week. Watched the sun go down on the beach yesterday whilst reading Meme Machine. As I blogged previously Sue Blackmore is very, very good, and having finished her “Consciousness, An Introduction” I’m now reading her best seller – one that … Continue reading “And back to Perth”
… on the way back to Syndey and Perth. Finished Sue Blackmore’s book. Excellent. Predictably positive review of Buddhism in the final chapter – the continuum avoiding duality. She quotes Dennett – it’s the thoughts that “do” the thinking, there is no other “I”. Mentions all the usual Zen suspects, inlcuding Wilber, but not Pirsig. … Continue reading “And Aukland …”
Still reading Sue Blackmore’s “Introduction to Consciousness”. Very good. She’s read all the the same books I have in the last 3 or 4 years and working in academe with direct contact with many of the authors, has found the time and credibility to summarise them very succinctly. I agree and I’m impressed. I kinda … Continue reading “Understated Wit”
Too soon to write on Perth, except very mild, even chilly yesterday, and everything closed early on Sunday. More later. Catching up on Melbourne … excuse my indulgent diary … Never did mention the bird-life. Even first day in Victoria Garden … Magpie Lark, Magpie and various other Crow species, not to mention various Gull … Continue reading “Melbourne – Perth”
Following a search hit I find a source that links many of mine …. Pirsig and VUB/Heilighen, (Einstein Meets Magritte) with Josephson (explaining the paranormal with open minded science) with Dennett, Searle and Chalmers (PoM / Consciousness) in the Journal of Consciousness Studies. A paper in the 1995 JCS reviewing the 1995 Einstein Meets Magritte … Continue reading “Consciousness and Pirsig”
… is true, even though you cannot prove it ? The Edge 2005 Annual Question. All the usual suspects, mixed bag of answers though. Dennett, says language is a necessary pre-condition for consciousness, and interestingly, his reason concerns the need for “I”, a subject. Like that. Blackmore, says she believes that neither free-will nor herself … Continue reading “What Do You Believe …”
In preparation for following up all the neuroscience pointers to the existence of pre-cognitive “qualia” being processed in the brain (at least I think that’s what’s being pointed at – I may be misunderstanding something) I was updating my link to David Chalmers’ Univeristy of Arizona site, and the expected upcoming consciousness conference, when I … Continue reading “Chalmers and Qualia”
That’s Not What I Meant. Dave Pollard via Anol’s Soul Soup. Someone in this blogosphere published something very similar over a year ago, may even have been Dave. Fits very much with the Cynefin warning about what people “hear” being massively influenced by their existing “schemata”, and of course the two “laws” of Schank and … Continue reading “That’s Not What I Meant”