questions

THURSDAY, MARCH 17, 2011

transfer from http://phipsika.blogspot.com/2011/03/questions.html

Let us suppose that there is a man in an isolated environment.* There is nothing to see by vision, nothing to feel by tactition, nothing to hear by audition, nothing to smell by olfaction and nothing to taste by gustation. Would this man be able to feel temperature, happiness, pain, hope, love, etc.? Would he be self-aware? Certainly other senses and feelings are dependent of the so called the traditional five senses. But, could they exist independently? Due to memory and the functional development of his brain until the moment we remove him from normal conditions, they could. As they do exist in normal conditions, during the so called resting state. But again, what is that makes us recall, think, imagine? And, if he were in a such isolated system, without ever being exposed to any external stimulus, from the first moment of his existence, could they? And, if they could, what would this mean? That the stimulus is internal coming from the mind? meaning that mind is beyond, although related to, the brain? What is that would make the neurons fire? *of course in order for the person to be alive, oxygen and nutrients are needed. Thus, the environment can not be totally isolated. But, let us suppose that we could provide these supplies in the most non-interactive way.