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0 pointsmcguire6y ago0 comments

"The mind is highly correlated with the brain but it is not the brain."

... in roughly the same way that a process is not a processor. Or a program, for that matter.

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Okay, if you're saying that the mind is just the sequence of events occurring inside the brain, I certainly won't argue that the sequence of events doesn't exist.

However, I don't think that's what most people mean when they say "mind", and using the word "mind" brings with it a lot of baggage, so I'd prefer to use a more descriptive term, like "sequence of events".

mcguireOP6y ago

"Sequence of events", to me, doesn't capture the relationship between subsequent states of either the brain or the mind. Also, "states of mind" have an explanatory power that "states of the brain" don't have, even though the former are theoretically reducable to the latter.

vanniv6y ago

I think it is at this part of the debate where the ship of Theseus becomes interesting.

The sequence of events in the brain are what make up the mind. But, if you replace the brain while keeping the sequence of events continuous, you have a new brain and the same mind.

Or maybe just the same brain. Ship of Theseus and all that.

kerkeslager6y ago

> The sequence of events in the brain are what make up the mind. But, if you replace the brain while keeping the sequence of events continuous, you have a new brain and the same mind.

Okay, but as far as I know, we've never replaced a brain while keeping the sequence of events continuous--I'm not even sure what actions one would take to do that.

vanniv6y ago

Oh, we definitely haven't yet.

But the fact that we can't currently do so doesn't mean that it isn't relevant to the philosophical discussion of whether the mind is a separate entity from the brain.

It seems likely to me, though, that we'll be able to really make progress on that question in the next century or so for this very reason.

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kerkeslager6y ago

Okay, if you're saying that the mind is just the sequence of events occurring inside the brain, I certainly won't argue that the sequence of events doesn't exist.

mcguireOP6y ago

vanniv6y ago

I think it is at this part of the debate where the ship of Theseus becomes interesting.

The sequence of events in the brain are what make up the mind. But, if you replace the brain while keeping the sequence of events continuous, you have a new brain and the same mind.

Or maybe just the same brain. Ship of Theseus and all that.

kerkeslager6y ago

> The sequence of events in the brain are what make up the mind. But, if you replace the brain while keeping the sequence of events continuous, you have a new brain and the same mind.

Okay, but as far as I know, we've never replaced a brain while keeping the sequence of events continuous--I'm not even sure what actions one would take to do that.

vanniv6y ago

Oh, we definitely haven't yet.

But the fact that we can't currently do so doesn't mean that it isn't relevant to the philosophical discussion of whether the mind is a separate entity from the brain.

It seems likely to me, though, that we'll be able to really make progress on that question in the next century or so for this very reason.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse