by Bernard J. Baars | Apr 8, 2022 | Cortex and Consciousness, mindbrain
Many scientists ask us “What is the meaning of consciousness?” That is an historical question, because none of the empirical sciences started with adequate definitions. Scientific concepts like “heat,” “force” and “momentum” evolved over long periods of...
by Bernard J. Baars | Mar 7, 2022 | conscious brain, Cortex and Consciousness, mindbrain
The Philosophical “Mind-Body” Debate. What is the Fundamental Nature of Reality? Is it Mental or Physical? Technical philosophers go into immense detail to justify their positions on the mind-body problem, but over the last 25 centuries there have only been three main...
by Bernard J. Baars | Aug 15, 2021 | conscious brain, Conscious Experiences, mindbrain
Suppose Captain Kirk and the Star Trek crew landed on a mysterious planet with an ancient, deeply buried Zombie civilization. How could Kirk find out if the Zombies are still secretly alive, somewhere deep underneath the planet? Or suppose your cell phone died one day...
by Bernard J. Baars | Nov 18, 2020 | Conscious Experiences, Feelings of knowing, mindbrain, Podcast, Psychobiology, Unconscious States
“Consciousness can be firmly embedded in biology, based on the fact that all kinds of [demonstrably biological] processes that are not [by themselves] conscious are important for conscious process[ing].” — David Edelman, PhD, a neuroscientist and a...
by Bernard J. Baars | Mar 24, 2020 | Cortex and Consciousness, cortical signaling, mindbrain
The closer cortical activity is observed, the more it resembles coherent, task driven signaling between small regions. Major features of conscious states and contents: 1. Raw scalp EEG signature of waking. The raw scalp EEG signature of waking appears to be...
by Bernard J. Baars | Feb 22, 2020 | gerald edelman, mindbrain, Podcast, Psychobiology
. . . “You can actually study consciousness. You can do psychological studies and behavioral studies. So the question I’ve been interested in is whether we can go beyond that...
by Bernard J. Baars | Feb 17, 2020 | conscious brain, Cortex and Consciousness, mindbrain, Unconscious States
It is surprisingly difficult to prove the complete absence of consciousness. Sleep can vary in arousability from moment to moment, much like vegetative states and general anesthesia. Some mentation is often reported even when subjects are awoken from slow-wave sleep....
by Bernard J. Baars | Oct 16, 2019 | conscious brain, Cortex and Consciousness, mindbrain
While conscious experience has been discussed throughout history, the late 19th century saw a rise in physicalistic reductionism, which, in its more extreme forms, declared “consciousness” and kindred terms to be unscientific. In the 1920s B.F. Skinner defined the...
