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Thursday, February 16, 2012

What it *feels* like. Solving the hard problem.


Consider hydrogen-bonding.  Imagine consciousness as an internal analog language forged during respiration in concert with experience.

Dialing out a few notches on the wording of David Chalmers' distinction termed "the Hard Problem  of consciousness", one way of paraphrasing the problem is: "Getting at what conscious experience *feels* like is difficult."  Or, as it's paraphrased in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_problem_of_consciousness

"The hard problem of consciousness is the problem of explaining how and why we have qualitative phenomenal experiences."

and the Wikipedia summary goes on to say:

"Several questions about consciousness must be resolved in order to acquire a full understanding of it. These questions include, but are not limited to, whether being conscious could be wholly described in physical terms, such as the aggregation of neural processes in the brain. It follows that if consciousness cannot be explained exclusively by physical events in the brain, it must transcend the capabilities of physical systems and require an explanation of nonphysical means."

Paring the philosophical jargon and the "subjectivity of qualia" down, though, just down to the simple "What does it *feel* like...", first off what we can notice is the question is really an emotional one. That is, issues and questions about subjective impressions are basically questions about emotions.

Friday, February 10, 2012

Is it 6^n or 12^n in stacks of binary tetrahedra (and ordered water)?



Okay, in the standard 2^n binary or Boolean structural coding, like in our 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, or higher numbered n-bit computers, we have a rectangular array of n-bits. Each bit can have one of two values like one and zero, or a few milli-volts or essential no milli-volts, or an arrow pointing up or pointing down. Let's say n = 6 so 2^6 = 64 different patterns in that 2^n system.

When we slide over to the naturally occurring tetrahedral-shaped water molecules, like the ones forming in our respiration sites, these units are (roughly assumed to be) tetrahedra with two positive and two negative vertices.

The 6^n storyline comes about in thinking that there are six edges of a tetrahedron, and thus the two plus