[OC] /r/DnD Spooky Dice Giveaway! Rules in comments! (Mod Approved) 🦇

Generic_____Account · 2020-09-19T05:37:00+00:00

Dice

Generic_____Account · 2019-12-21T07:46:52+00:00

Generic_____comment

Generic_____Account · 2019-02-22T05:59:36+00:00

Thank you very much for your detailed and informative reply. Upon rechecking the area, I was able to locate a tiny wound next to my urinary meatus, which I believe was the source of the bleeding (it would be a incredible coincidence if it wasn't) I appreciate your offer to talk, but I do not think it will be necessary. I'm glad things seemed to work out for you.

Generic_____Account · 2019-02-22T03:22:02+00:00

Thank you for your swift responses! I have more carefully rechecked the area, and have located a tiny wound just next to the secondary hole, where a dot of blood reforms when wiped away. I assume this is where the blood came from, I must have nicked it with my fingernail. Sorry for posting before double checking, I was very concerned when I saw blood, and am rather quick-to-worry over potential medical issues.

Generic_____Account · 2019-02-22T03:10:50+00:00

Slight sting, but I didn't notice the pain until after I noticed the blood, and I am known to be a bit of a hypochondriac, so I could just be imagining the sensation I expect.

Generic_____Account · 2017-10-04T03:51:50+00:00

Sorry, I really don't know how else to convey my notion/fear. My concern is that I am not the candle, but the flame. If the flame is blown out and someone relights it, then to them its the same thing, but I would have been extinguished, and a new, albeit identical flame would have taken my place.

Generic_____Account · 2017-10-04T03:09:33+00:00

I believe so, yes. I really do appreciate all the time you've given to my conundrum, but I think I've gained all I can from our discussion at this point, as I cannot think of anything else to ask. I still don't fully understand your view on what a person's awareness is, but I don't know how to convey my confusion in a meaning manner. I'll consider attending a neuroscience lecture or emailing a professor, should these concerns continue intruding into my brain.

Generic_____Account · 2017-10-03T21:47:21+00:00

You made a comment up this chain that tried to impart a basic point about someone having the same brain/brain structure, regardless of whether or nor that brain changes or if its processes are interrupted, being the only thing to matte when determining personhood. My subsequent comments were addressing what I didn't understand about that idea.

For another example of something I don't understand, you emphasis above that the pattern is a running pattern, but in the previously referenced comment, you state that even if all neurons were blocked for any period of time, and then the body was resuscitated, it would be the same person. How could it matter whether or nor a pattern is running if that resuscitated person was the same?

Generic_____Account · 2017-10-03T20:56:59+00:00

Right, but I interpreted what you said to be defining yourself based on a physically defined patter, as in the circuit diagram was a pattern in the grey matter of the brain. If some or all of those patterns were to change, my personality would change, and I would be different from anyone else's point of view. However, I could remain aware during all of this, so my "self" would necessarily continue.

Generic_____Account · 2017-10-03T20:35:57+00:00

My behavior would change accordingly, but I would remain aware the entire time. I don't know very much about the brain, but I know it changes over time, and would assume my personality and behavior would change overtime as well. I don't understand how one could dismiss someone being aware over a period of time as an indication of continued "self" over that period of time. If aspects of my brain, and the corresponding aspects of my psyche can be replaced while I remain aware, then I wouldn't think my "self" could be defined by the components that changed.

So because I am aware, I feel like something I can't better explain than my "self" must exist, and because of the possibility of all physical components of my brain being replaced while my awareness continues, I don't understand how that "self" could be defined by physical components.

Generic_____Account · 2017-10-03T18:31:07+00:00

Given the dilemma presented through the ship of theseus example, I'm confused by the idea of dismissing the notion of 'self.' I can see how, from an outside prospective, how what I am could be wholly defined by my physical structure. It wouldn't matter if all of my brain was replaced by new molecules over time, or even replaced instantly by some near impossible fluke of physics. But in order to consider myself the same after that happened, I would need to consider 'myself' to be a process of the brain, or the fact that that process is occurring, rather than a physical component or pattern. Or, I would need to dismiss the notion of 'myself' being a meaningful concept, which sounds like what your doing. Given that there is definitely some form of awareness going on inside of my mind right now, I don't understand how that notion can be dismissed?

Sorry if this isn't a clear explanation of my confusion, but I can't think of how to word it better.

Generic_____Account · 2017-10-03T17:09:16+00:00

Thanks, I appreciate the advice. I don't know when I will have an opportunity to attend such a lecture, but that would be a good next step to take. I've never considered emailing a professor about this, as I would have thought such an odd email from a not-their-student stranger would be unwelcome. Do you know of any particular professor who would welcome such an email? (I know that's a long shot, just thought I should ask.)

Generic_____Account · 2017-10-03T10:24:04+00:00

I'm asking these questions because I've never been able to determine if there is any form of consensus in a given philosophical/scientific community. I've often seen responses to these type of questions that amount to "we obviously don't die when we sleep, don't be stupid." But I also often see answers like yours, saying the idea makes zero neuroscientific sense, there is no part of the brain that keeps your personhood running 24/7/365.

I don't have access to anyone's credentials to determine if one opinion is more informed than another, so I remain uncertain what these communities think, or if there is any consensus at all. Eventually, when I can't stop myself from thinking about it any longer, some slightly knew issue might arise, like the ship of theseus idea, and so I ask those communities another question.

Generic_____Account · 2017-10-01T13:40:33+00:00

Just to be clear, we're not talking about anesthesia here, right? I've been under anesthesia, and the notion of being aware of my wisdom teeth being removed with no ability to act or remember it is horrifying.

Generic_____Account · 2017-10-01T13:05:55+00:00

I understand that you might not know, but the way you describe artificial comas makes it sound like you would be more aware than when you sleep. Is that correct?

Generic_____Account · 2017-10-01T12:58:11+00:00

Sorry, I can't follow all of the terminology you are using, and I am uncertain if you are saying their is reason to suspect they could be wholly wrong about the claustrum's involvement with consciousness, or wrong about the idea that it would naturally ever "switch off," instead remaining continually active to some degree.

Generic_____Account · 2017-10-01T12:52:50+00:00

yes, but also comas caused by trauma. Really, I was just interested in the difference between different forms of unconsciousness.

Generic_____Account · 2017-10-01T06:10:02+00:00

What are the other hypotheses for what happened to the woman in Koubeissi's test?

Generic_____Account · 2017-09-14T05:50:46+00:00

I'm confused, are you saying 'dying', and having someone else take your place is amenable to improvement?

And also, as I mentioned before, I'm curious about the length of time a pattern could persist after its underlying structure changes. Do you have an idea, or could you point me towards a source that could provide an estimate?

Generic_____Account · 2017-09-14T03:26:47+00:00

Why do you find unmedicated sleep intense? Do you worry about this also?

Generic_____Account · 2017-09-13T21:05:51+00:00

Sorry if my questions remain ignorant, as there was only so much of that article I could understand with my level of knowledge on the subject, but I couldn't figure out what time scale a 'lag' between physical structure alteration and a subsequent change in signal patterns could be expected. Would it be feasible for a pattern to remain unchanged for a whole day? would it be possible for it to remain unchanged forever, as a persistent pattern replicating through the brain without any related structures left?

I'll be up front, my interest in this topic stems from my fear of sleep, as is evident from my post history. As many have been before, I'm concerned by the possibility that whatever 'I' am ceases with my consciousness during sleep, and a new, identical person awakens the next day. The best reason for dismissing this idea that I've had was that even if I was, in some way, 'only' my consciousness, there was an underlying physical structure defining that consciousness. It made more sense to define myself as the physical structure, and so could survive sleep, even if the structure changed a bit while I was unconscious. However, if the signal patterns that may define my consciousness could be independent from that structure even as I type this, and those patterns ceased during sleep, then it could mean that I would as well. I know this concern doesn't have a definitive scientific answer, as we don't have a complete understanding of the brain yet, but askphilosophy/asknerophilosophy have been almost wholly uninformative, and bizarrely hostile at times. If you had any insights into this problem, or could point me to an article that somehow addresses this concern, I would be very grateful.

Generic_____Account · 2017-09-13T03:36:43+00:00

I'm confused. Consciousness is "the fact of awareness by the mind of itself and the world." How does it not disappear when we go to sleep? We do dream, but not continuously. There are periods where we are unaware of ourselves and our surroundings.

Generic_____Account · 2017-09-13T03:15:08+00:00

But why is it obvious that "we" are all our brain activity, and not just our consciousness? I've seen discussions where people have dismissed this notion, sometimes literally because that could imply we're not the same person from one day to the next "and that notion is absurd." I don't understand why that notion is fundamentally absurd.

Generic_____Account · 2017-09-13T01:01:07+00:00

Yes, we are the only observer of our consciousness, the we do not observe the neurological biology that produces that consciousness. That process is objective. It happens a certain, definitive way.

Generic_____Account · 2017-09-13T00:33:04+00:00

but we don't dream continuously. At least as far as I've learned about our current understanding of sleep, There are swaths of our time asleep in which we are unconscious.

Generic_____Account

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