[extropy-chat] Neurochemistry and perception

[Adrian Tymes]

--- Dirk Bruere <dirk at neopax.com> wrote:
> Adrian Tymes wrote:
[re: spiritual experiences]
> >You know they've found the neurochemistry behind
> them,
> >right?  It can seem profound to the observer - but
> >think of it as an electrochemical mirage.
> >
> And when the neurochem behind love, hate,
> creativity, flashes of 
> insight, the colour red etc has been discovered we
> can consign all of 
> those to the rubbish bin as well.

*snicker*  Not.

Just because we understand the basis for something
does not in itself make it less real.  Mirages, yes,
okay, those aren't real - though note that they never
were, and we're just finding out about it.  But love?
No, that exists, and it would continue to exist even
if we could perfectly artificially synthesize it.  (I
further suspect, from what I know of it, that the
"synthesis" would turn out to be merely a way of
inducing the real thing.)

The color red makes an even better example: we *do*
know the neurochemistry behind the perception of the
color red (although we don't quite know what all
people do with it internally).  We know the biophysics
as well.  We can and do cause the perception of "red",
by creating things that are percieved that way or
changing lighting conditions to induce that
perception, all the time.  (Ask any theatrical
lighting expert about the color tones used to induce,
say, a romantic tone around a character.)  We could
even, if we wanted, stimulate specific neurons to
create the perception of "red" where no red truly
existed.  (Indeed some scientists are using a similar
technique to create the perception of light in blind
people - some of whom have never seen before.)  Yet
despite our thorough understanding of it, "red"
stubbornly continues to exist.

Spiritual experiences will continue to exist.  And
note that people try desperately to attach some
meaning to them - *therefore the meaning and the
experience are not one and the same thing*.  The
experiences themselves do not care what their cause
is; they still happen.  It's part of the current human
condition.