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Originally Posted by Stuart
Might I point out that those were considered facts until they were proven wrong. They may well have been based on observations, but those observations would have been made with the limited technology of the time. After all, unless you go up thousands of feet, the earth looks flat.
We improved on that technology and we were able to observe that the earth is not flat.
The observations we make are still limited by the technology available. The technology will be improved and we will, in some areas re-evaluate what we know based on new observations.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by idi banashapan
Might I also add that it is well documented that the belief the Earth was flat is in fact a myth. there is little to no evidence people ever thought this to be true. the myth is thought to have come about in the 19th century in an attempt to belittle the church, saying that people of religious beliefs in the middle ages were taught that the world was flat because they were so backward thinking.
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---------- Post added at 15:38 ---------- Previous post was at 15:13 ----------
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Originally Posted by Ignitionnet
The human brain is the most complex structure we know of anywhere. In the context of that what we know about it is extraordinary.
Our perception of 'reality' is an incredibly complex amalgamation of an incredible number of different inputs, all processed on a massively parallel scale. We estimate it requires about 100 exaflops, that a 1 with 20 0s behind it, to simulate the human brain in full. Just to match the raw computational power of the human brain, ignoring everything else required to simulate it, requires 20 petaflops, 2 with a mere 16 0s after it.
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the numbers are staggering when it comes to the brain. another example of this is there are an estimated 80 billion to 100 billion neurons in the brain. each of those able to make up to 10,000 connections to other neurons (these connections are called synapses). This means the number of potential permutations that the brain can be configured in, exceeds the number of estimated particles in the known universe. it's little wonder some people suffer strange mental disorders such as capgras or cortard's, let alone 'feel' or 'see' ghosts. there is so much in the brain to go wrong, to be wired slightly differently or configured in an unexpected way. the potential results really could be anything in terms of what the subject either suffers, believes to be true or experiences.
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Originally Posted by Ignitionnet
Give someone a load of L-DOPA, LSD or any other dopamine agonist and see what happens. That's just one chemical you've messed with and things go completely pear shaped.
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even depriving someone of sleep can produce some quite unexpected results.
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Originally Posted by Ignitionnet
I tend to stick with the idea that the brain is an information processing device, however it's one that's so powerful we have an incredibly profound sense of ourselves and the world around us. We've had no choice but to develop this else we wouldn't have survived and thrived as a species given the various other species stronger, faster and more endurant than us who wanted to eat us.
A 'mind' is the consequence of the right 'programming' and enough computational power to handle input, both from external and internal sources, and process it according to that program.
My 2p.
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I would second your view on this. it actually doesn't take too much to reprogramme the mind (or at least behavioural patterns, belief systems and the such). influence and belief re-framing are a lot easier to commit to a mind than most would like to believe.