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PBS's Closer to Truth featuring Christof
Koch, Leslie Brothers, Joseph E. Bogen & Stuart Hameroff try to
answer this question. These four scientists have the same question
but give four different answers.
Is Consciousness Definable?
One problem is that there are too many definitions! And getting
these four guests to agree on what consciousness is and what causes
it, is a fun but hopeless task that is revelatory at the same time.
These four leading brain scientists couldn't even agree on at what
level a simple "memory" was stored, whether as a gross "brain
circuit," at the synapse between nerve cells, or in the
microstructure of the nerve cells as some sort of quantum effect.
But why should it be any different now? Philosophers have debated
the "mind-body problem" and the existence of "free will" for
thousands of years. However, never before have we been in a
position to examine the brain with such precision. Even as we begin
to understand the deep science that underlies our cognitive
processes, there is no letup in arguments whether we are anything
other than automata, just reacting to stimuli -- vastly more
complex than a bacterium to be sure -- but fundamentally little
different.
Although this spirited and highly qualified group manages to
disagree on just about everything, in the midst, they give off a
tremendous amount of information about the key issues involving the
understanding of consciousness today: Are our "minds" just the
artificial integration of multiple brain systems? Are our feelings
of self, that unique personal sense of mental "qualia" (e.g., does
the color "red" look the same to you as it does to me?) anything
other an "epiphenomenon," seemingly real but in reality an
illusion? How do firings of neurons, or ultimately vibrations of
atoms, emerge up into human self-awareness? Psychiatrist/author
Leslie Brothers firmly believes that there is something of the mind
that is not in the brain, but it is not spirit or soul. To her, the
seat of consciousness resides in the social interaction of living
things between brain and brain in society. Says Brothers, without
others to reflect ourselves off of, there would be no
consciousness.
Click 'Read More' below to download the video
Description: Closer to Truth brings together leading
scientists, scholars and artists to debate the fundamental issues
of our times. One problem is that there are too many definitions!
And getting these four guests to agree on what consciousness is and
what causes it, is a fun but hopeless task that is revelatory at
the same time. Joining host Robert Kuhn are Leslie Brothers,
Psychiatrist; Joseph E. Bogen, Neurosurgeon; Stuart Hameroff,
Anesthesiologist; and Christof Koch, Computation and Neural
Systems.
Video in Quicktime or Windows Media format
here
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Consciousness 
