Arvin Ash

Is consciousness God? And where is it located? (2018x29)

Udgivelsesdato: Sep 28, 2018

Is consciousness god? What is consciousness? And Where is it located? We tend to treat our consciousness as a mystery, perhaps even as a supernatural quality of being human. Something that might even be divine, connecting us to a higher power. But could the source of consciousness really just all be contained in the neurons, synapses and other connections within our brain? New research seems to point us to one of these directions. What is it that makes it so mystical for us. What is consciousness? No one knows for sure, but scientists seem to agree that consciousness has to involve the integration of activity from several brain networks, allowing us to perceive our surroundings. It integrates all our sensory inputs - sight, smell, touch, hearing and taste as one single unifying experience rather than isolated sensory perceptions. It connects us to our present, memories of our past…and to our emotions into a single ego-centric perception. All these things shape our perception of who we are, and what we believe to be the world around us. Even if we don’t know what it is, can we at least find out WHERE it is? Just days before he died in July 2004, Francis Crick, who co-discovered the structure of DNA, was working on a paper that suggested that our consciousness needs some kind of conductor to put all external stimuli and internal perceptions together He hypothesized that this conductor would need to rapidly integrate information from different parts of the brain and put them into a whole. For example, if you are sitting outside and you smell a neighbor’s barbeque, you might instantly be able to imagine the kind of food he is cooking. You may remember its name, its texture and its taste instantly. And you may even recall any past experiences, memories and emotions associated with the smell of that barbecue. All these things happen instantly. Crick suggested that the claustrum – a thin, sheet-like structure that lies hidden deep inside th