Inline again.
/Joe
"Sir Frederick" <mmcneill@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:be1lf1tau2p62ln3g1tum2ev177vfklg3m@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> On Wed, 10 Aug 2005 18:22:46 -0400, "Joe" <xxx@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
>>My comments are inline.
>>
>>/Joe
>>
>>"Sir Frederick" <mmcneill@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
>>news:8kkkf1pc6pv29abfersa4a4odg8d0ifivm@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>> On 10 Aug 2005 11:07:51 -0700, "The Daily Excerpt" <bzbz@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
wrote:
>>>
>>>>[QUOTE] Tammet is calculating 377 multiplied by 795. Actually, he
isn't
>>>>"calculating": there is nothing conscious about what he is doing. He
>>>>arrives at the answer instantly. Since his epileptic fit, he has been
>>>>able to see numbers as shapes, colours and textures. The number two,
>>>>for instance, is a motion, and five is a clap of thunder. "When I
>>>>multiply numbers together, I see two shapes. The image starts to
change
>>>>and evolve, and a third shape emerges. That's the answer. It's mental
>>>>imagery. It's like maths without having to think."
>>>>
>>>>.... Last year Tammet broke the European record for recalling pi, the
>>>>mathematical constant, to the furthest decimal point. He found it
easy,
>>>>he says, because he didn't even have to "think". To him, pi isn't an
>>>>abstract set of digits; it's a visual story, a film projected in front
>>>>of his eyes. He learnt the number forwards and backwards and, last
>>>>year, spent five hours recalling it in front of an adjudicator. He
>>>>wanted to prove a point. "I memorised pi to 22,514 decimal places, and
>>>>I am technically disabled. I just wanted to show people that
disability
>>>>needn't get in the way."
>>>>
>>>>FROM: http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/story/0,,1409903,00.html
>>>>
>>> 'Consciousness' is a quale on brain activity,
>>> similar to redness is a quale on certain sensory
>>> input. Thus 'consciousness' is as 'real' as redness.
>>> Both are functional delusions.
>>
>>I assume that you mean that certain patterns of brain activity give rise
>>to
>>what most of us perceive as consciousness, just as certain patterns of
>>sensory input give rise to what most of us perceive as redness. If we
>>dismiss
>
> Why do you dismiss? I did not. I said functional delusion.
> Do you understand the word 'functional'?
Yes. It was the juxtaposition of 'functional' and 'delusion' which I
misunderstood. I thought that you meant to say that, functionally,
consciousness was a delusion, while what you really meant was that
consciousness was a delusion but that it served a function.
> Representations of what is going on in our brain based
> models is very 'functional'. Though a construct, that representation
> has been found useful by evolution. What word or phrase would you
> use other than 'delusion'? 'Illusion' is too weak.
>
Fantasy, perhaps. Or misapprehension. Or misperception.
>>such concepts as delusional, I don't see how we can avoid dismissing
>>all perception - and therefore the ideas which we derive thereby - as
>>delusion. Aside from being able to tell ourselves, "There! Now we
>>understand
>>everything", I don't see what it gets us.
>>
>>Besides, functionally speaking, it seems to me would be unwise to allow
>>someone who is not acquainted with both concepts behind the wheel of an
>>automobile. .
>>>
>>> On savant autism : perhaps 'being human' is a preferred(normal)
>>> form of autism. It takes genius information transformation and
>>> confabulation to produce and project a 'personified self'.
>>> --
>>> Best,
>>> Frederick Martin McNeill
>>> Poway, California, United States of America
>>> mmcneill@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>> http://www.fuzzysys.com
>>> http://members.cox.net/fmmcneill/
>>> *************************
>>> Phrase of the week :
>>> "Your neocortex is reading this book."
>>> -"On Intelligence"-Jeff Hawkins (1957-)
>>> :-))))Snort!)
>>> *************************
>>
>
> --
> Best,
> Frederick Martin McNeill
> Poway, California, United States of America
> mmcneill@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> http://www.fuzzysys.com
> http://members.cox.net/fmmcneill/
> *************************
> Phrase of the week :
> "Your neocortex is reading this book."
> -"On Intelligence"-Jeff Hawkins (1957-)
> :-))))Snort!)
> *************************
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