Discussion about consciousness research - read or listen.

[Beekeeper]

Author and scientist sees pattern of decreased brain activity during peak experiences.
http://www.skeptiko.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Meaning-in-Absurdity_300-193x300.jpg (http://www.skeptiko.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Meaning-in-Absurdity_300.jpg)Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Dr. Bernardo Kastrup, author of Meaning in Absurdity. During the interview Kastrup discusses his beliefs about human consciousness:
Alex Tsakiris: You make some interesting connections between the “fainting game”, erotic asphyxiation and some new research with psychedelic mushrooms. You suggest that when we really look at what’s going on in the brain we actually see a dampening down of brain areas – the opposite of what we would expect. So what are the implications of this in terms of this idea of filtering of consciousness?
Bernardo Kastrup: The current paradigm says that conscious experience is an epiphenomenon, a by-product, of brain activity. So you should always be able to find a tight correlation between conscious states as reported by the subject and measurable brain states as measured, for instance, with an FMRI scanner. Usually this correlation is there, but there are instances, like this study you mentioned, where this correlation is not there in a very spectacular and repeatable way. What it suggests is that we have to find another model of reality, if you will, to accommodate this. A model that accommodates both the fact that normally, ordinarily, conscious experience is modulated by brain states, but also sometimes there is a lack of correlation in a spectacular way....


http://www.skeptiko.com/bernardo-kastrup-consciousness-research/

[DarkChylde]

The current paradigm says that conscious experience is an epiphenomenon, a by-product, of brain activity. So you should always be able to find a tight correlation between conscious states as reported by the subject and measurable brain states as measured, for instance, with an FMRI scanner. Usually this correlation is there, but there are instances, like this study you mentioned, where this correlation is not there in a very spectacular and repeatable way.What it suggests is that we have to find another model of reality, if you will, to accommodate this. A model that accommodates both the fact that normally, ordinarily, conscious experience is modulated by brain states, but also sometimes there is a lack of correlation in a spectacular way....

that was just too interesting...i had to go read all of it.

[Neil Templar]

Thanks Beeky, i'll listen to that later..:)

[ButterflyWoman]

Through that post I found this blog: http://www.bernardokastrup.com/

It's fantastic.

I'm trying to get my husband to add the blog to his list of regular reading. I think it's exactly the way he might be able to get where he's been heading. He's pretty "scientific" (which is good; that's his job ;)), and he doesn't think or experience in mystical or intuitive ways. But I can't see any reason one can't "get there" by way of science. It's just a different approach.

[heliac]

really really cool finding.

There are some interesting webinars here. One coming up this Saturday. A bit of material surrounding what the members refer to as "the science of the subjective" laid out throughout the site.
http://icrl.org/index.html

[CFTraveler]

I listened to it, and enjoyed it very much.

[Neil Templar]

I just listened to the interview. Excellent!!! Thanks Beeky!