Who am I? (See details)

Following…don’t have time to look at the video, but what comes to mind, actually, is a person with a split personality. Who is the “real” person in a situation like that?

I haven’t read the article in question, but as a neuroscientist, it has become increasingly apparent to me that our sense of “control” is more a feeling of control than any real mechanical decision-making process.

If you think about it, I don’t think it really even makes sense to think that we have some controller in our brains, because then you get an infinite recursion problem—who controls the controller?

@Dutchess_III Do take time to watch the video when you find a moment. It’s pretty interesting if you find how our brains work to be a puzzling thing.

@nikipedia I share your suspicion of the Homunculus concept, but I do not follow the idea that it can be refuted by claiming it creates an infinite regression problem. I am certainly in control of what my computer is doing right now, and believing that causes no infinite regression paraxox that I can see. Please explain that thought more fully.

What a marvellous question and something I often ponder and have studied through my philosophical work. Excellent article and clip, thank you @ETpro

I too am not convinced by the infinite regress…homonculus idea. I understand the concept but I don’t find it a problem at all and I think you’re analogy with the computer is a very good one. I think this also touches on the problem of free will and choice which is in itself a massive subject.

I’d be interested to know what other areas of the brain ‘light up’ aside from the representative neurones of Marilyn Monroe et al. If we are our neurones, surely there must be some other activity lighting up as well???

I think the problem is with semantic application. Do we control our minds? Of course we do. All we can do from there is drill down to the meaning of “control”. Whether it is “conscious” or “environmental”, it is still a mechanical decision making progress.

Another spectacular question from ETpro.

@nebule & @crazyivan Unfortunately, because the neurosurgeons were really trying to treat intractable epilepsy in this study, they only implanted sensor electrodes at specific sites where they thought seizures might be arising. Hopefully, they will carry this work on. I am pretty sure that other areas than just the image light up in my own mind when you show me an image of her of call her to mind.

@ETpro Pretty exciting time to be alive if you’re paying attention, huh?

@crazyivan It certainly is. I only wish I were able to take in far more of what is going on. The men of the enlightment could truly be polymaths. In today’s world of specialization and light-speed advances on so many fronts, one can easily feel overwhelmed by it all.

@crazyivan and @ETpro not only are things advancing but the knowledge behind all these advances is increasing faster than ever in history.

Look at the changes in the world over just the last 50 years, since 1960. Imagine what things might be like in another 50 years with the rate of advancements continuing at this rate.

@PattyAtHome I wrote a blog on that subject a few months ago that you might enjoy.

@PattyAtHome Yes, advances just keep increasing exponentially. I am a WWII baby, so I have seem things go form a phone that had a coded ring on a party line, and no dial (you picked it up and the operator answered and dialed your number for you) to the iPhone and the 4G LTE Commercial. From ENIAC to supercomputers.