In response to The Cam MC.
When the brain/mind is viewed as a program then we will start to look for a programmer, when it is viewed as a process we do not. I do agree that it is not as simple as a big computer in the current style. I do not yet accept that the Buddhist concept of mind will always be beyond scientific understanding. For now I am content to let science work it's way towards the correct conclusion, whatever it may be. I am not worried about the outcome of the debate either. Ultimately these things are unknown to us, what we can be sure of is what we do with the information. What the Buddhist concept of mind does for us is to indicate that the input we receive is not the same as the feelings and thoughts they produce, there is more happening that just direct perception of the world. This understanding enables us to realise that the perceived world is controllable from within the mind, and from there onward to the rest of Buddhist philosophy.
There is an thoughtful article that I will quote:
"[There is] an interesting computer game called NERO. The idea of this game is that you get a team of robots and you have to train them to fight, by designing training exercises in which you establish goals like maintaining a particular distance from the enemy, and lay out a battleground for the robots to learn in. The interesting thing about this is that the robots basically evolve neural networks that seek to meet the goals you set, and they learn how to do this from experience, not by being programmed. The neural nets that evolve have no self-consciousness, no awareness of how they accomplish the task. Wiring just forms and improves. It would be a mistake to look at the robots' behavior and conclude that there is intelligence or intention there; it is just formation of neural nets in response to environmental stimuli coupled with goal-oriented feedback."
The are a number of good books based on a series of discussions between the Dalai Lama and various scientists on these topics. There are even tickets available for the next discussion in November.
1 comment :
Why thankyou for you comments. Only to add that I also see no reason why the Buddhist concept of mind will always be beyond scientific understanding. Indeed one can argue that it already is, in as much as it is the common and repeatable finding of countless practitioners.
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