[extropy-chat] "Dead Time" of the Brain.

Heartland velvet977 at hotmail.com
Thu Apr 27 20:22:06 UTC 2006


> --- Heartland <velvet977 at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>> >> >  "So, a brain is a 3-D object. Mind is a 4-D
>> >> > object."
>
>> >> Anything from 1-D to 3-D also exists/survives in
>> >> 4-D. My point is that the fundamental nature of
>> >> brain structure is 3-D while mind nature is 4-D.
>> >> What I mean is that a projection of the brain
>> >> from 4-D to 3-D retains the same functionality
>> >> of the brain but it isn't possible to go lower
>> >> than 3-D and still end up with a functional
>> >> brain.
>> >
>> >
>> > But "a functional brain" occurs in time, and a
>> > static brain frozen in time performs no functions.
>>
>> What the brain *does* through matter in space and
>> time is a 4-D object. There is a clear distinction
>> between hardware, software, and an activity which
>> both hardware and software determine. Brain is not
>> the mind.
>
>
> I presented an ostensible counter example to your
> claim [*] yet your response ignores it and instead
> addresses a claim I never made. I never said there was
> no distinction between hardware (brain) software
> (mind).

Sorry, that's what I thought you were saying.

> I said there's no such thing as a brain that
> has any "functionality" minus time and that brain
> functions not associated with 'mind' exist as
> discernable functions in time, ie, the 4th D.

"Functionality" is basically a "static" statement of potential ability of a brain 
to implement tasks that might result with emergence of mind. Functionality can only 
be expressed in time as 4-D mind while brain is technically only 3-D object.

As in any process, all the non-mind brain functions that happen in time are also 
4-D objects. It's just that they don't contribute directly to a mind process.

> Your claim seems to point in the right direction in
> that mind involves what a brain does. 'Mind' is like a
> verb whereas 'brain' is more like a noun. But my point
> is that the actual phenomena do not allow such a
> perfect distinction. Brain functions that are not
> involved in producing what we call 'mind' but that are
> features that define 'brain' are also properly verb
> like, or temporally embedded. So the claim atop this
> post appears to be soundly falsified. ~Ian

My claim is that brain is 3-D and mind is 4-D. I'm not sure how the above makes 
that claim false. Please clarify.

S. 



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