Phantoms in the brain
Neuroscientist V.S. Ramachandran is internationally renowned for uncovering answers to the deep and quirky questions of human nature that few scientists have dared to address. His bold insights about the brain are matched only by the stunning simplicity of his experiments -- using such low-tech tools as cotton swabs, glasses of water and dime-store mirrors. In Phantoms in the Brain, Dr. Ramachandran recounts how his work with patients who have bizarre neurological disorders has shed new light on the deep architecture of the brain, and what these findings tell us about who we are, how we construct our body image, why we laugh or become depressed, why we may believe in God, how we make decisions, deceive ourselves and dream, perhaps even why we're so clever at philosophy, music and art. Some of his most notable cases: A woman paralyzed on the left side of her body who believes she is lifting a tray of drinks with both hands offers a unique opportunity to test Freud's theory of denial. A man who insists he is talking with God challenges us to ask: Could we be "wired" for religious experience? A woman who hallucinates cartoon characters illustrates how, in a sense, we are all hallucinating, all the time. Dr. Ramachandran's inspired medical detective work pushes the boundaries of medicine's last great frontier -- the human mind -- yielding new and provocative insights into the "big questions" about consciousness and the self.
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19recommend
36mentions
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2008–2026years
75% recommend22% neutral3% critical
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What Hacker News says
- This is not new. Read Phantoms in the Brain
- Phantoms in the Brain [1] has fantastic examples of the type of scenarios you described.
[1] - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31555.Phantoms_in_the_Br...
- For compelling examples of the brain seemingly deliberate activities that occur without humans conscious awareness, highly recommend the great examples in:
"Phantoms in the Brain": https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31555.Phantoms_in_the_Br...
- Phantoms in the Brain is a fascinating book that deals with exactly this topic.
- The secret to understanding consciousness, and maybe help clarify the way to AGI, is probably on understanding how the human brain can do some very complex task, that would seem require absolute conscious actions, while at the same time not being conscious.
Examples:
- After a brain injury patient is able to speak but not write.
- You wake up on an absent mind. While lost in your thoughts, go to your car and drive to work. You then realize you just drove yourself to your old job location, instead of the location of your new office.
- Patient is not able to recognize faces but can remember persons names if described in text.
I strongly recommend [1] - "Phantoms in the Brain" from neuroscientist V.S. Ramachandran. The book has some fascinating examples, that help illuminate a little the connections between parts of the brain who do complex tasks, but don't seem to be able to have an emerging conscious domain.
For example, a simple mirror contraption that helps instantaneously stop the fathom pain from amputees, as soon as the visual system is fooled into thinking the amputee limb is still present. It's almost like the experience of pain is decided in a different part of the brain, that part of the brain decides pain will be present, and overrides whatever part of the brain allows for the experience of consciousness.
- You can find some kind of experimental evidence for your hypothesis that " the neurological process of seeing and the neurological process of being consciously aware of what I'm seeing are not the same thing" in this book: Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind by Ramachandran, Blakeslee
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