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Is Everyone Conscious in the Same Way? | Simon Roper
  • i'd agree that we don't really understand consciousness. i'd argue it's more an issue of defining consciousness and what that encompasses than knowing its biological background. if we knew what to look for, we'd find it. also anesthesia isn't really a problem at all. in fact, we know exactly how general anesthesia works

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2908224/

    and Penroses's Orch OR theory was never meant to explain anesthesia. it's a more general theory concerning the overall existence of consciousness in the first place. however, anesthesia does relate to the theory, in that it could play a role in proving it (i think? not a primary source but it's where i found that info)

    besides that, Orch OR isn't exactly a great model in the first place, or at least from a neurological standpoint. even among theories of consciousness, Orch OR is particularly controversial and not widely accepted. i'm no expert and i could be misunderstanding, so please correct me if i'm missing something that would indicate Orch OR is considered even remotely plausible compared to other consciousness theories. this paper certainly had some things to say about it in the context of the validity of theories of consciousness (see V.1 class I).

    other theories seem more promising. global workspace theory seems particularly well supported by neurology. its criticisms mainly focus on how GWT fails to truly explain the nature of consciousness. but is that an issue any theory can resolve? again, the problem lies in the definition of consciousness.

    then we have integrated information theory. it's a more mathematical model that aims to quantify the human experience. but you know what? it's also controversial and highly debated, to the point that it's been called pseudoscientific because it implies a degree of panpsychism. it's clearly not a perfect theory.

    point is, you're right. we don't really get consciousness. we have some wild guesses out there, and penrose's theory is certainly one of them. genius as penrose is, Orch OR isn't empirically testable. we don't know, and maybe can't know - which is precisely why neuroscience searches elsewhere

  • Climate change simulator tool draws gasps, even tears from P.E.I. residents
  • i wonder how in the fuck anyone can possibly be surprised anymore. it's almost like highly qualified experts have been warning us for literally over a hundred years. people panic and freak out, saying the climate apocalypse is coming and we're gonna die if we don't do something. fuckers, climate change isn't coming, it's already here - it has been for decades. it's way too fucking late to avert a crisis. all we have left are consequences.

  • We get played
  • decomposers turn organic material from corpses into simpler nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. for example, proteins are broken down into amino acids, which then decompose into ammonium and nitrates. these nutrients are absorbed into soil and consumed by plants

    tldr: plants eat corpses after decomposers turn them into nutrients

  • Disciple of the Sibyl - cleric subclass for my homebrew setting (3/3)

    another probably not well balanced one (sorry, feedback always welcome). also last one for clerics

    1
    Disciple of the Dreamweaver - cleric subclass for my homebrew setting (2/3)

    i don't think this one is very balanced so please help with that if possible, thanks

    7
    InitialsDiceBearhttps://github.com/dicebear/dicebearhttps://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/„Initials” (https://github.com/dicebear/dicebear) by „DiceBear”, licensed under „CC0 1.0” (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)IC
    icosahedron @ttrpg.network
    Posts 5
    Comments 42