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To: marron
And I can't simply dismiss a brain and a nervous system as a computer made of meat. I know it is that, but a computer has an operating system and an internal control system that allows it to function; without that its just meat. So I can't help but look at a brain and see something much more cleverly put together than anything I can do, although we are getting there.

Certainly, the brain, and the mind, and consciousness, are among the most challenging topics I can imagine. At this stage, such problems seem almost unsolvable. But not entirely. I see no reason to think that, in principle, the whole business won't eventually yield to scientific inquiry. Most definitely I see no justification for abandoning all rational inquiry and then to go wandering off into the untestable, unverifiable realms of mysticsm. Science has a great track record. Nature can be understood. But it can sometimes take a long time.

894 posted on 07/11/2004 10:37:49 AM PDT by PatrickHenry (Hic amor, haec patria est.)
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To: PatrickHenry; betty boop

I know that nature can be understood, and I agree that this is science's role and they are good at it. They should do what they do. The transcendental is beyond their scope, and doesn't really help them to do their job.

But as we figure these things out, and decode them, and learn how to use these processes in our own schemes and devices, I can't help but feel that we are learning from the master, so to speak. You could take something I've done and take it apart and figure out how to do it yourself, and parts of the design that aren't immediately clear might become clear as you start to build your own stuff. But figuring it out and even surpassing my design doesn't make me vanish.

This may seem strange, but you are going to come closer to understanding me than someone who looks at my work and figures its magic. There is a limit to what you can gather about someone by dissecting their handiwork, but there are also things you can't learn any other way.


900 posted on 07/11/2004 11:05:45 AM PDT by marron
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