The Mind in the Whirlwind

nybooks.com

20 pointsbenbreen6 comments

We will never reach any real conclusions about the source of or reason for consciousness. All 'explanations' ultimately reduce to 'this happens in the brain then consciousness happens'.

It's an unsolvable mystery, in principle.

That's why, as they say in science, "it's always better to give up."

I don't think you're fully understanding the issue of consciousness if you think that saying it's impossible to solve in principle amounts to giving up. It's a legitimate philosophical position.

There is no scientific programme which has ever been put forth to understand how a physical system gives rise to phenomenological experience. This is not a matter of us not having the resources to conduct a series of experiments. This is us having absolutely no idea of what sorts of experiments we could run - forgetting resource constraints - to shed light on how matter generates consciousness.

Ok, is this a review? What book is the review about?

It doesn't look like a review. Found at the bottom of the page: "This is the sixth in a series of conversations on consciousness between Riccardo Manzotti and Tim Parks."

There seems to be a general trend in literary communities now to talk about the nature of consciousness. Not much pretext is involved anymore apparently.

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