The Unity of Consciousness and the Split-Brain Syndrome

An excellent paper on why split-brain cases don't show to separate streams of consciousness. http://www.philosophy.ox.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/2757/split-brain_web.pdf. I talked about split brain patient cases before presenting reasons why it doesn't show two separate streams of consciousness well there is more reasons as well.

Split–brain cases do not show the results we would expect if two fully independent, separate streams of consciousness were being generated by callosotomy; subjects can for instance continue to operate both halves of their bodies in unity and perform sometimes highly complex tasks. The evidence, therefore is more compatible with phenomenal unity without joint access (thus, the side of the brain responsible for speech cannot access the contents of that which is seen by the right side of the brain, even though both are contained within a single stream of subjective consciousness). This conclusion is also more parsimonious; and since the two–separate–streams hypothesis is (unlike dualism) an empirical one (instead of metaphysical), considerations of parsimony apply. Therefore, split–brain cases pose no serious difficulty to phenomenal unity, and thus in turn pose no serious difficulty towards dualism.

See also several other papers from Tim Bayne, including an important one with David Chalmers titled ‘What is the Unity of Consciousness?’ as well as from Torin Alter.

Incidentally, subjects born without a corpus callosum altogether, as well as those with agenesis of the corpus callosum, do not experience even the relatively mild symptoms which callosotomy patients do.

What we have here is one subject with a fragmented brain, not the sudden appearance of two ‘persons’ in one skull as some argue. Peter Ellis’ paper, ‘The Decider System Model: A Defense of the Cartesian Theatre’ is also of important relevance both to those interested in criticism of Dennett’s theories as well as the import of callosotomy experiments to philosophy of mind.

Rebuttal to physicist Sean Carroll article "We don't have immortal souls"

I like to rebut the most important points in the article. Here is the link to the article http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2011/05/23/physics-and-the-immortality-of-the-soul/#more-6819

He mentions Sean- "Claims that some form of consciousness persists after our bodies die and decay into their constituent atoms face one huge, insuperable obstacle: the laws of physics underlying everyday life are completely understood, and there’s no way within those laws to allow for the information stored in our brains to persist after we die. If you claim that some form of soul persists beyond death, what particles is that soul made of? What forces are holding it together? How does it interact with ordinary matter"?

Leo- The laws of physics don't cover the whole of reality. Consciousness has an objective and subjective nature too it I think so its made of a different type of matter that is dual with the ordinary matter we have.

Sean- "Everything we know about quantum field theory (QFT) says that there aren’t any sensible answers to these questions. Of course, everything we know about quantum field theory could be wrong. Also, the Moon could be made of green cheese.

Leo- QFT opens the door that there can be souls.


Sean- Even if you don’t believe that human beings are “simply” collections of atoms evolving and interacting according to rules laid down in the Standard Model of particle physics, most people would grudgingly admit that atoms are part of who we are. If it’s really nothing but atoms and the known forces, there is clearly no way for the soul to survive death. Believing in life after death, to put it mildly, requires physics beyond the Standard Model. Most importantly, we need some way for that “new physics” to interact with the atoms that we do have.

Leo- The standard model of physics is known to be wrong. This is why physicists are looking for a unified theory of physics. Atoms (matter) are dual with the soul. No one who thinks a soul maybe true says that the soul is nothing but atoms and the known forces.


Sean- How is the spirit energy supposed to interact with us? Here is the equation that tells us how electrons behave in the everyday world:

[it's the Dirac equation.] . . . As far as every experiment ever done is concerned, this equation is the correct description of how electrons behave at everyday energies. It’s not a complete description; we haven’t included the weak nuclear force, or couplings to hypothetical particles like the Higgs boson. But that’s okay, since those are only important at high energies and/or short distances, very far from the regime of relevance to the human brain. If you believe in an immaterial soul that interacts with our bodies, you need to believe that this equation is not right, even at everyday energies. There needs to be a new term (at minimum) on the right, representing how the soul interacts with electrons. . .

Leo- This is assuming that because we cannot find a soul in a laboratory that it must mean it doesn't exist.

Sean- . . Nobody ever asks these questions out loud, possibly because of how silly they sound. Once you start asking them, the choice you are faced with becomes clear: either overthrow everything we think we have learned about modern physics, or distrust the stew of religious accounts/unreliable testimony/wishful thinking that makes people believe in the possibility of life after death. It’s not a difficult decision, as scientific theory-choice goes.

Indeed! Those who specify the existence of souls and afterlives in this scientific era must do more than issue fuzzy-minded gobbledygook. They must specify more precisely what they’re talking about, and how it’s supposed to work. If we’re supposed to survive after death, what part of us survives, and how? And what is this soul, exactly? We’re no longer in the Middle Ages, so theologians who make empirical claims must be empirically specific. There are biological questions as well. The first ones that occurs to me are these: where, exactly, in the human lineage did the soul emerge? (Or do other species have souls?) Was it put into that lineage by God, or did it evolve? If instilled by God, when? And where in our body does it reside? If we retain our memories and personalities in the afterlife, how do they exist without neurons?

Leo- Nowhere does he mention parallel universes and how they can shed some lights on these questions, nor does he mention how the observer our consciousness seems to be able to collapse the wave function in quantum mechanics. Neither does he mention the fact that atoms are made of mostly empty space. Also neither does he mention that particle appear to be in supposition two places at once. Also that particles can be entangled at large distances across space (Quantum Entanglement). If he did mention these his argument would be far more weaker. The soul is a duplicate of the physical body it vibrates that a higher frequency at death. The soul uses ESP and Telepathy as some of its spiritual senses (opposite of the physical senses).


Sean- Very roughly speaking, when most people think about an immaterial soul that persists after death, they have in mind some sort of blob of spirit energy that takes up residence near our brain, and drives around our body like a soccer mom driving an SUV. The questions are these: what form does that spirit energy take, and how does it interact with our ordinary atoms? Not only is new physics required, but dramatically new physics. Within QFT, there can’t be a new collection of “spirit particles” and “spirit forces” that interact with our regular atoms, because we would have detected them in existing experiments. Ockham’s razor is not on your side here, since you have to posit a completely new realm of reality obeying very different rules than the ones we know.


- Yes and quantum physics strongly indicate a hidden reality that can have very different rules than the ones we know.

Compiled list of spiritual/afterlife songs

I'll wait for you by Joe Nichols



Heaven by Bryan Adams



Ordinary Miracle by Sarah McLachlan



Temporary Home by Carrie Underwood



Who you'd be today by Kenny Chesney



When I get Where I am going by Brad Paisley



Tears in Heaven by Eric Clapton



See you on the otherside by Ozzy Osbourne



I miss you by Blink 182



Heaven by Warrant



When I see you again by Emerson Drive



Forever by Vertical Horizon



Heaven by Live



I saw God today



Meatloaf all coming back to me now



What a wonderful world by Louis Armstrong



Without you by Motley Crue



Crossroads by Bone Thugs N Harmony



Sissy's song by Alan Jackson


I Believe by Brooks N Dunn



God only cries by Diamond Rio



You'll be in my heart by Phil Collins



Take a look through my eyes by Phil Collins



Parellel Universe by Red Hot Chili Peppers



The Otherside by Aerosmith



If you came back from heaven by Lorrie Morgan



Nothing takes the place of you by Toussaint McCall



New Soul by Yael Naim



Unchained Melody by the Righteous Brothers



Immortality by Celine Dion featuring the Bee Gees



The Highway man by the Highway Men



Love me by Collin Raye



I will not say Goodbye by Danny Gokey



Dixie Lullaby by Pat Green



Whiskey Lullaby by Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss

My top 3 halloween songs

The Monster Mash



The Thriller





Dragula

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Jan W. Vandersande Ph.D, Life After Death

Through the Wormhole: Is there a Sixth Sense?

James Randi's Million Dollar Challenge Hits Publicity jackpot

Its look like James Randi's million dollar challenge has gotten a ton of publicity recently from many different media outlets.(ABC, CBC, Discovery, AOL, Gizmodo, Time). His trickster friend Banachek officiates a central part in a feature on ABC's Nightline dedicated to the topic of psychic powers. Of course this is a one off challenge and in science one experiment doesn't prove anything. Many atheists have stated that if psychic powers really exist they should take the one million dollar challenge lol. You can find out more about how this challenge isn't a real scientific test.

Right here- http://www.dailygrail.com/Skepticism/2011/9/Beyond-Belief-and-Randis-Million-Dollar-Challenge

Full rebuttal to post titled "Dead as a Doornail: Souls, Brains, and Survival"

I am doing to go through piece by piece of his post only what i think that is important to address. My responses will be below each statement. Here is the link that I took certain points from the post at.


http://atheismblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/dead-as-doornail-souls-brains-and.html

He mentions first, "Decades of evidence from stroke victims, motorcycle accidents, car wrecks, construction site accidents, fMRI scans, PET scans, brain imaging, and other medical studies have given us a detailed picture of which portions of the brain are active in conjunction with specific cognitive abilities and mental states. What that research has shown is that minds depend upon brains. Damaging a part of the brain destroys a part of our thoughts, eliminates a cognitive ability, or alters some personal or emotional capacity. Restoring the electrical, chemical functions of the brain renews the mental function".


True mind is dependent upon the brain what the issue at stake isn't the tight correlation between mind and brain but if the function as William James stated before is permissive/transmissive or productive. Too to get to the truth of the matter we have to look at both sides of the evidence with an open mind and then decide which model fits better.

"While most of us would acknowledge some connection between mental function and the brain, we may have failed to see just how deep the connection runs. Even the most abstract mental faculties and the most specific features and contents of our private, mental states can be mapped directly onto brain functions".

And no substance dualism denies that their is a strong connection.

"In a remarkable study in 2005, neuroscientists reported the discovery of what they deemed the Halle Berry neuron. In order to isolate the location of the electrical chaos that induced their epilepsy, patients brains were implanted with electrodes. Then the patient was shown a variety of pictures while the activity of the neurons in the vicinity of the probes was recorded. In several instances, single neurons could be singled out whose activity spiked in response to specific images such as Halle Berry, Bill Clinton, or the Eiffel Tower. One neuron fired when the subject looked at a picture of Halle Berry in an evening gown, in a cat woman suit, as a cartoon, and even the words “Halle Berry,” suggesting that the neuron played an integral role in a large web of neurons who were responsible for a variety of abstract and high level representations of Halle Berry rather than some simpler function such as edge discrimination. This neuron did not respond comparably to the hundreds of other images used in the study (Quiroga, et al., 2005). Again, the evidence is against the survival hypothesis; every aspect of a person’s mental function is produced by brain function".

Of course their is an different interpretation to this case and that is it shows very strong correlation but not cause.

"If there was empirical evidence for survival, that is, if consciousness persists without the brain, then we would expect to find some exceptions to the close, direct correlations between the electro-chemical events in the brain and mental states, cognitive capacities, and conscious experience. If there were cases where we could establish that some or all of the mind functions that we attribute to the soul occur in the absence of brain processes altogether, or in the absence of the particular brain processes that have been most closely correlated with those functions in other cases, then we would have some striking evidence for survival and against the first premise in our argument. Suppose that we found cognitive abilities and consciousness to be present or absent with no apparent relation to the state of the human brain. If brain damage of various sorts left cognitive functions unscathed, or if consciousness persisted despite alterations in brain chemistry and structure, then we might have some evidence to doubt the correlation and the causal connection. Likewise, if some mental function lapsed while the brain was completely intact and functioning, we might have an empirical indicator of mind/brain autonomy. But we find no such violations in either direction".

And we do have such violations as he would call them. Those violations are widely discussed in the Irreducible Mind book a Psychology for the 21st century.

Aware Update

I came across this new article with an update on the Nde Aware project and it looks like no one saw the picture facing the wall according to Dr.Russell Metcalfe-Smith.

Here is the article

http://www.croydonguardian.co.uk/news/8798707.Croydon_hospital_studies_life_after_death/?ref=rss

On the other hand here is what Dr. Sam Parnia has to say.

Dr Parnia refused to speculate on the results of his study but said many people interviewed had similar experiences.

He said: “The evidence that is interesting to me is that, contrary to my training, the entity we call the human mind and consciousness appears to continue to exist during the early stage of death.”

Remember though this is probably just one hospital reporting that no one saw the picture. Their are over 25 hospitals that are also putting up pictures. So we don't know the final results yet. Dr. Sam Parnia says either by the end of this year or next year we should know the final results of the study.

Love grows where my Rosemary goes

This is a good song from the late 1960's

So where is the afterlife?

After extensively researching this subject throughout psychical research my conclusion is that it is in other realms of existence. So it ain't up above and hell is not down below instead heaven is in another realm of existence and the lower realms of existence that you may want to call hell. I am currently reading a book called the evidence for an afterlife by Dr. Jeffery Long an Nde researcher his view is that nde's the nine lines of evidence he presents in his book proves that an afterlife exists.


I would have to disagree in science their is no such thing as proof. So the best you can get is strong evidence that points to the high probability of an afterlife. But with just those nine lines of evidence in his book it still doesn't amount to strong evidence for an afterlife. It's until you look at all the evidence for an afterlife together then you can say their is very strong evidence for an afterlife.


The nine lines of evidence he mentions such as blind people from birth that are able to see during cardiac arrest and clinical death. He also mentions accurate veridical out of body perceptions that are collaborated by doctors and nurses and staff. I would say Near death experiences and out of body experiences evidence does provide a lot of good evidence for an afterlife. However, just from that phenomenon it would be hard to come to any preliminary conclusions on rather their is an afterlife or not.

Psi and Psychology: The Recent Debate

Why Substance Dualism is indeed still alive

It is often claimed throughtout the web and textbooks and lectures that substance dualism is dead!!!. Nothing can be further from the truth, the naturalists proclaim that substance dualism invokes a non physical substance dualism that can't be detected. No naturalist admits that a substance dualist, sees the soul as a different type of matter that has different properties as well as its not bound by the known physical laws that we are know of.

That this different type of matter obeys a different set of physical laws where time doesn't exist. We know now that there is more than one type of matter than what we know of as well as possible universes with different physical laws as well. We also can very imagine different types of matter that are totally indestructible from the matter that makes up our physical bodies.

Naturalists say that brain damage affects personality radically as well as the fact that personality doesn't back. But they couldn't be more wrong, it appears that personality, memories etc can come back just shortly before death. As in people who have near death experiences where can physical impairment, also with any mental impairment is restored.

Happy Easter Everyone

I like to wish everyone a Happy Easter!!!.

Here are some interesting youtube videos that i have recently come across.

Lecture by Stephen E. Braude on the Photographs of Ted Serios

Pim Van Lommel Consciousness Beyond Life

Part 1


Part 2

Rebutting skeptic's arguments against Pam Reynolds NDE being evidence for life after death

I like to rebut a skeptic who said that Anesthestic awareness can explain all of the verdical perceptions Pam Reynolds had before and during her surgery. He/she says that she could hear the drill itself and that she was able to from awareness know what size it was and what it looked like. The very big problems with this explanations are these:

1) Only a tiny percentage of patients report anesthestic awareness out of thousands who are in cardiac arrest.
2) The known fact that her eyes were taped shut during this procedure so you would have to assume that somehow through her hearing alone if she could hear at all that is with the molded speakers in her ears. That she could imagine what this saw somehow looked like.

He/she says

If anesthetic awareness was operating, the sound of the saw, its sensation and vibration through bone conduction, and the movements of the surgeon’s hand, could all communicate significant information about the size, weight, and general function of the instrument. It would have to be hand held. The sound would give an indication of the size of the motor. The movements and actions would give cues as to the function of the instrument. Likewise, hearing the comment about veins.
_________________

That is assuming he wasn't given enough anesthetics, it order for this to work you have to assume that she wasn't given enough anesthetics. However, it looks like she was under heavy anesthesia making it medically impossible for her to have a consciousness memory of the experience.

Lets also not forget that

Pam Reynold's NDE while on operating table
aneurysm at base of brain (where meets spinal cord)

- body temperature lowered to 10-15'C
- blood drained from head
- brainwaves flattened
- heart stopped
- patient completely covered
- clicking modules in each ear


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anesthesia_awareness

He/she also says that

"I would estimate it to be scientifically impossible to establish that blind people can see during an NDE, unless they can see veridical information that is exclusively visually encodable".

The following additional would have to be satisfied

1) not similar to the already known visual phenomena sometimes recorded in the blind.

2) verifiable as totally without sight since birth (preferably by congenitally nonfunctional optical system).

My response- The visual phenomena that is reported in the blind sometimes is no near similar to blind people who have near death experiences/out of body experiences. Also as far as I know many patients were indeed blind from birth and had nde/obe.

Then says,

The fact is that blind people still have a functional occipital lobe, which adapts to conveying internal information in a "sight like way" without actual sight being possible. Someone truly blind from birth would be unable to distinguish this from "sight" unless they later had actual sight restored."

But here's the rub many of them didn't have a functional occipital lobe but were still able to perceive clearly during there nde/obe.

For an example of a case of a blind patient having a nde/obe go here her optic nerve was completely destroyed.

http://www.near-death.com/experiences/evidence03.html

You can read the skeptics arguments here for yourself

http://neardeath.ipbhost.com/viewtopic.php?t=8305&sid=47831cd9522e72255ca9880b423af2cf

The Observer in Quantum Physics plus what would be evidence that mind is somehow produced by the brain?

Skeptics have asked me what would be evidence that would show strongly that there is no mind and brain separation. My answer to that is if there was evidence of consciousness permanately erased after radicial damage coupled with approaching death. However that hasn't happen what we have in cases of people with radical personality damages changes after strokes, and brain damage however we have cases that show memories often come back when we approach death. Read about those cases here if you haven't done so i posted this link awhile back.

http://journals.lww.com/jonmd/Abstract/2009/12000/Terminal_Lucidity_in_Patients_With_Chronic.12.aspx

Also i want to talk about the observer in Quantum Physics, what it means is not just human observers but all living observers that interact with a mechanical instrument such as a telescope. Its been assumed that just a telescope can cause the collapse in the wave function so for example the moon doesn't exist with just the telescope present. But that isn't true that experiment has already been done to try to disprove that living observers had to be present. But it looks like indeed living observers not only have to be present but they must make the observation themselves by looking into the telescope for the moon to exist. If they don't look at the moon the moon will not exist. This strongly suggest that consciousness which is what were using to see the moon has some independent existence from matter. Also it has its own degree of freedom. This conclusion is not good for materialists, naturalists, physicalists who assert that consciousness has not real important role in reality.

Rebuttal to Steven Novella's Body Snatchers, Phantom Limbs, and Alien Hands

Dr. Steven Novella says that we cannot trust are own experiences, well of course we can't unless of course their is strong collaboration by highly credential scientists, as well as evidence to support it. Steven Novella then goes us to say that brain activity is sufficient cause to explain consciousness how so?. Simply saying so, is not going to do. Many neuroscientists have also lump into this false assumption perhaps brain activity strongly correlates with consciousness but isn't the sole cause of consciousness.

Why Saying Consciousness is energy is wrong!!!

There is a category mistake i get from a quite a few spiritual people and that is that because cannot be created or destroyed that it applies to consciousness. WRONG we know that matter is energy so that energy is just for the maggots, worms etc that eat your body when you are buried. So it would have to be some quantized energy packet that quantum physics talks about like the many world interpretations where is a conservation of energy.

Materialists always mention Gilbert Ryle a behaviorist book on substance dualism trying to discredit the ghost in the machine argument. I would say that the ghost in the machine argument obviously doesn't make any sense if there is a little man in the brain of instead the soul as similiar to the physical appearance of the physical body. The materialists don't obviously mention how behaviorism was a great failure a field that was a complete disaster.

For their to be afterlife there obviously would have to be a different type of matter that the soul is, dark matter if you will that would be indestructible. Also the laws of the physics would be different. That is what you have if you think parallel universes is true.

The Scole Experiment Video Now Released!!!

The video is here http://www.vimeo.com/18714325. I would also like to add a couple of questions skeptics would ask about the Scole experiment.

1) Why didn't the researchers bring in infrared cameras?
2) The researchers allowed the medium group to tell the researchers what to do and not to do

My answer to the first question would be that the typical accusation that the mediums were master magicians even in broad daylight and that they still fooled the researchers.

My answer to the second question would be the nature of the otherside, that we have to follow their rules, we don't get to set up our own rules on this side.

I just found this youtude videos on panic attacks

Here they are

How to end General Anxiety



Dealing with Anxiety and Panic Attacks



How to Stop a Panic Attack



Everyday Panic Attacks



Dealing with Panic Attacks



Jon & Jordan Knight On Panic Attacks

Panic Attacks

I wonder if anyone knows to beat panic attacks?. I am afraid that my increase in my medication will not work.I have had panic attacks since 2000 now. Lately i had a very bad spell of panic attacks, having them day and night now. I really don't what is causing my panic attacks. My symptoms are as follows:

-sweaty palms
-sweaty face
-sore stomach
-nausea and getting physically sick
-very dry mouth and stuffy nose
-chest pains
-loss of appetite and i don't drink (water, juice, milk or pop) very much now with these panic attacks
-my face turns beat red
-shaking
-stiff neck
-tense shoulders and back
-breathing heavy because of my nerves and panic attacks

My Top list of really good recent songs

So here it goes

Yeah 3X by Chris Brown


Just a dream by Nelly



The Time by Black Eyed Peas



I like it by Enrique Iglesias



What do you got? by Bon Jovi



The Payoff by Faber Drive



Bass Down Low by Dev ft. the Cataracs



Hold my hand by Michael Jackson duet with Akon

A truly awesome song Temporary Home by Carrie Underwood

I love this song i know its pretty old now but has a strong message, a message that i think is true based on my own assessment of the evidence for and against life after bodily death. That is this is only our temporary home that there are other universes/dimensions where we live in some some these realities are better than others.

What I got for christmas

Mario Kart with wheel for Wii
A t-shirt and a pair of pants
A sweater and a pair of pants
Two boxes of chocolate
A new cd player
Two movies

Girlfriend and got my job back

This is going to be an awesome year i think 2011, because i got a girlfriend who loves me for me. We kissed too it felt so good. Plus i am getting my job back at the Hector Exhibit Centre doing data entry there. The job at the Hector Exhibit Centre runs for 6 months until July. I will be getting my first pay this upcoming Monday for 4 day pay period. Then after that a 10 day pay period. Then Dayle said to me the last pay i will have will be a 1 week pay in July.