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Comment by nefitty | Hacker News Reader

Yes, it would be possible. Consciousness is emergent, independent of the substratum on which it occurs.

I think an extra dimension could be added if each individual person (node) could communicate with any other node, using a cellphone. Can brains do that now, or do they play telephone with messages?

Thanks for mentioning this thought experiment. It's making me think.

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Here's the kicker. Don't ask if all these people could simulate a human brain. Observe them talking, exchanging physical messages, and communicating electronically over large distances. Look at these people - or better yet, all people on this planet - and ask yourself, if they're the neurons, then what thoughts is the global brain thinking right now?

Just go on reddit and click "Popular".

Those are just pieces of thoughts, much like particular clusters of your neurons firing are only some part of a thought you're thinking.

Could we of lesser minds even conceive the thoughts of a brain whose nodes are themselves individual brains? Considering a global mind is even more interesting—what do we make of the neurons who are disconnected and limited in communication methods? Are there any biological corollaries?

> Are there any biological corollaries?

Not sure about disconnected neurons, but this made me think about our electronic communication, the ability for any one of us to effortlessly reach thousands or millions of people (like I do by just writing this comment). There is a biological equivalent of that in real brains: epileptic seizures. Perhaps the meta-consciousness of humanity is having an attack right now.

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