[ExI] Continuity of experience

[Ben Zaiboc]

Spencer Campbell <lacertilian at gmail.com> wrote:

> See, you take for granted that I "sure didn't act" like I
> had a mind.
> I had a pulse, didn't I? What could possibly make my heart
> beat in
> just that way aside from my mind? (Don't get clever! I know
> you could
> just build a machine.)
> 

The heart beats all by itself.  No need to be connected to a brain, the heart only needs a brain to regulate its beating, and that's minimal.  Most regulation is through chemical signals in the blood.  The heart is pretty independent, really, no need for minds to be involved at all.

I doubt that any routine functioning of organs, limbs, etc. is indicative of a mind.  Intelligent behaviour is, though.


> John Clark <jonkc at bellsouth.net>:
> > ... and a mind can not exist without thoughts ...
> 
> A mind can exist without thoughts. The brain does more than
> think, and
> the mind is the aggregate of all that the brain does.
> Therefore, the
> mind is more than thinking.
 
I have to take issue with this.  The brain does more than think, yes. It secretes hormones, for instance.  But 'thinking' is what a mind *is*.  

To make an analogy with a car:  
A car pumps petrol, keeps track of the time, plays music, opens and closes windows, and it also moves.  A car's purpose is transport.  Moving is what transport *is*. The other things are incidental and while they may support moving they are not essential to transport the way moving is. Transport cannot exist without moving.

(Just to be clear, in this analogy, Car = Brain, Moving = Thinking, Transport = Mind)

The mind is thinking, and nothing more.  I don't see how 'a mind without thoughts' means anything, it's an oxymoron.


Ben Zaiboc