Philosophy
I don't think I have ever had a hallucination, unless this is it, and while I'm glad that puts me square in the middle of the 'normal' and non-diseased mental spectrum, sometimes it does make me wonder whether I don't hallucinate because my bullshit detector is too strong to fool itself (fat chance!) or because my brain is just not creative enough to fool around and take off on its own :(
In today's presentation, neurologist Oliver Sacks brings our attention not only to Charles Bonnett syndrome, a condition in which people experience lucid visual hallucinations, but to what diseases such as these are starting to reveal about the structure and amazing complexity of the brain, not least of which is the multiplicity of independent information processing centers dedicated to visual perception alone.
Once you realize that so many systems are each doing their own thing, it seems baffling that their cumulative output is experienced by the mind as a seamless and coherent whole, doesn't it?
The fortunate non-participatory nature of Charles Bonnett's syndrome is partly explained by the absence of activity in the amygdala, but that absence of activity may also turn perfectly normal perception into the haunting fear that your loved ones may have been replaced by impostors, as V.S Ramachandran explains in this fascinating presentation.
Check out Living without memory, the case of Clive Wearing, a documentary with Oliver Sacks about one of the most bizarre cases of amnesia ever recorded.
Finally, if you suffer from intensely religious experiences, that might be an indication of temporal lobe epilepsy, so have yourself checked out :)
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For many centuries the phenomenon of dreams has been used as an evidence for great limitations of the human mind. Dream argument is one of the oldest arguments concerning philosophy of mind; numerous thinkers such as Plato, Aristotle, Zhuangzi and Descartes...
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- Repressive Procreation Law
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Philosophy
Oliver Sacks - What Hallucinations Reveal about Our Minds
I don't think I have ever had a hallucination, unless this is it, and while I'm glad that puts me square in the middle of the 'normal' and non-diseased mental spectrum, sometimes it does make me wonder whether I don't hallucinate because my bullshit detector is too strong to fool itself (fat chance!) or because my brain is just not creative enough to fool around and take off on its own :(In today's presentation, neurologist Oliver Sacks brings our attention not only to Charles Bonnett syndrome, a condition in which people experience lucid visual hallucinations, but to what diseases such as these are starting to reveal about the structure and amazing complexity of the brain, not least of which is the multiplicity of independent information processing centers dedicated to visual perception alone.
Once you realize that so many systems are each doing their own thing, it seems baffling that their cumulative output is experienced by the mind as a seamless and coherent whole, doesn't it?
The fortunate non-participatory nature of Charles Bonnett's syndrome is partly explained by the absence of activity in the amygdala, but that absence of activity may also turn perfectly normal perception into the haunting fear that your loved ones may have been replaced by impostors, as V.S Ramachandran explains in this fascinating presentation.
Check out Living without memory, the case of Clive Wearing, a documentary with Oliver Sacks about one of the most bizarre cases of amnesia ever recorded.
Finally, if you suffer from intensely religious experiences, that might be an indication of temporal lobe epilepsy, so have yourself checked out :)
.
- Philosophy: Brain In A Vat Argument ? Truth Revealed
Brains in a vat? That sounds terrifying, doesn?t it? Brain in a vat argument is one of the newest thought experiments in philosophy of mind (discussed by John Pollock). Many people raise objection to the brain in a vat theory but are there in fact any...
- Meaning Of Dreams In Philosophy - Is Reality A Dream?
For many centuries the phenomenon of dreams has been used as an evidence for great limitations of the human mind. Dream argument is one of the oldest arguments concerning philosophy of mind; numerous thinkers such as Plato, Aristotle, Zhuangzi and Descartes...
- The Dreams Of Aristotle
Aristotle wrote two short pieces on dreams and their meaning: On Dreams and On Prophesying on Dreams. In the first he presents arguments for the origin of dreams and their relationship to other aspects of human existence. In the second he analyzes whether...
- Knowledge Downloading Via A Machine?
Okay, a great way to gather data...those facts and figures most of us have forgotten. But, you cannot replace real experience. And, most importantly, how does wisdom fit into this idea? "Download Knowledge Directly to Your Brain, Matrix-Style" by Rebecca...
- Repressive Procreation Law
On July 14 1933 a sterilization law was passed in Nazi Germany, known as Gesetz zur Verhütung erbkranken Nachwuchses(Law for the Prevention of Genetically Diseased Offspring). Any German was a target if they were found to be suffering from a range of...