Quote:
Andrew66 wrote
Evidence for dualism.
There is a study (I've heard) - probably Judge you would know - which shows that all the cells of the human brain are replaced every 7 years (or maybe it was the entire body, can't remember, but at least included in the brain), yet we retain the very same consciousness.
|
It's fine, I'll do the donkey work, you just sit back and relax
The "7 year replacement/regeneration" notion is a myth that's been around for decades.
I do not have the time to source all the evidence that demonstrates this but a cursory trawl the interwebs yielded
this short video and
this short video, each with a handful of helpful resources cited in their relative info boxes that begin to demonstrate why this is the case.
Of note specifically was that cerebral cortex neurons are never regenerated or replaced but there is evidence of some regenerative processes in the hippocampal region (an area associated with memory processing). At least one of the referenced studies found that up to only one-third of hippocampal cells are subject to regeneration equating to an approximate 1.75% annual turnover in this subset of these hippocampal cells. In short much of your brain does not regenerate at a cellular level and before you go off half-cocked with a hard-on for the hippocampus being the seat of consciousness or some such bollocks; it isn't. Consciousness is a complex, incompletely understood and possibly (?probably) emergent property of the biological substrate of the brain; it cannot be confined to one area.
Quote:
Andrew66 wrote
This favors the notion that our consciousness (or "spirit") is not entirely based upon the matter or substance of our brain, but rather an eminent and resilient activity which mysteriously equates to thought.
|
Simply put no it does not. As usual, the bigger picture is a lot more complex and nuanced than the oversimplified dawbing you portray.
You appear to have taken the concept of Cartesian Dualism and squeezed the notion of something you do not understand, but like the sound of (that also turns out to be based on myth) under it and then said "There! See! It supports it; I was right!" When in actual fact you base this on something you only kinda remember reading about one time maybe that turns out to be wrong anyway and that you couldn't even be bothered to look up and fact check.
For all the other stuff that Egor has said that I disagree with (and that is admittedly fairly far out there), I do like and shall invoke his epithet: "To speak without thinking is to shoot without aiming."
If you want to get into this stuff with me try bringing a sniper rifle with a decent scope and a good range-finder next time instead of this quite aptly named yet still figurative blunderbuss approach.