...and have to say I have so far been pretty blown away. Mostly by the fact that Athene usually does silly youtube videos (that I like) and plays loads of games. LOADS of games. They also stand up for net neutrality which makes me happy.
So I thought it was gonna be a joke, but its not.
It has really, so far, stirred thoughts on how I act and my reactions to the world, in specific how I deal with the world when my mind gets scared.
Anyhoo, I wanted others to see this and to gather thoughts and opinions.
So far I've watched the first half, and it's nothing really new to me. The only thing I have a slight disagreement with is how they present evolution as having a goal, but, I know what they mean by it.
Can someone recap for those of us who don't have two hours to watch a video?
You lazy buger! 0_o
Seriously its well worth a watch and its 50 mins so not too time consuming. I wouldn't actually suggest watching in a single sitting and I will also need to watch it a fair few times. There is a good amount in here that I will never understand. But...
I find it interesting how he thinks about matter and that atoms dont split into smaller particles but instead are splitting into smaller chunks of quantized time of ever finer amounts (thats what my poor poor brain gathered from this anyway) I find it a real shame that I will never fully understand these concepts but its fun to dream a bit.
So far I've watched the first half, and it's nothing really new to me.
Its nice to have it put so simply tho and it may make more people wise up to the fact that yes, we control our own emotional states to a huge degree and that merely thinking about something has incredible effects on the "external" world. Since observation changes an experiment then so too does the act of being conscious. Does a falling tree still make a noise if noones around to hear it?
I also think it can explain phenomonon such as humans coming up with the same concepts and symbols even tho they are on opposite sides of the earth and they had nothing to connect each other. Psychic? I dont think so. Perhaps the fact that we are many parts that become conscious apply to the human race and that yes, we really do have a global consciousness. I know some of you will be higly skeptical and so you should be. The concept is not crazy tho and we see collective consciousness every day in a flock of birds, schools of fish, tree and fungal root systems (by consciousness here, I mean collectively aware of its surroundings which allows survival and co-operation, not "why am I here?" and "Im aware of me" consciousness)
I also think it can explain phenomonon such as humans coming up with the same concepts and symbols even tho they are on opposite sides of the earth and they had nothing to connect each other.
Or people just see similar things and interpret them in similar ways because we have similar brains that function in similar fashions, and with a large enough pool events are bound to be repeated.
Or people just see similar things and interpret them in similar ways because we have similar brains that function in similar fashions, and with a large enough pool events are bound to be repeated.
I would say you are right but, for reasons I cannot understand, I would say this is only part of the puzzle. Surely similarity alone would have some kind of astoundingly small statistical likelyhood of bringing about a uniform universe. Like I said, I truly do not belive people are psychic but that information is made up from something greater than the sum of its parts. Thats how our universe functions from the bottom up and I dont believe that it can be argued that: because the fabric of the universe has similar properties everywhere that this is the reason we see similar properties everywhere. Surely there must be some form of communication between particles if it is fact that the simple act of observation changes everything.
I observe, therefore I am
If our observation didnt change things then particles would only respond to direct influence. But observation projects influence that we dont understand yet, therefore there is a communication or passing of info that we dont understand. Under this premise I would say its highly likely that humans have a global consciousness that we are literally not aware of. The human race as a whole doesnt posses the ability to as itself "who am I? What am I? I am here" and other existential questions. However as smaller individuals we have progressed to the stage where we can ask existential questions on our place in the universe. Individually we are becoming mature. As a human race, I hope the same is happening collectively. Becoming aware of how our thoughts and feelings are processed is an unavoidable step to growing up as an individual, but many people never grow up, never question their motives enough to give pause to their actions and wonder why they did what they did.
The whole C = hf thing is unsupported and seems like total BS. It's the only really new thing brought to the table throughout the whole video--the rest is just a very well-done documentary on already-established information--and it's utterly unsupported sensationalism with multiple fundamental problems. E = hf describes the relationship between the energy of a photon of electromagnetic radiation and the radiation's frequency, and E is measured in joules. It doesn't describe the behavior of phenomena emerging from complex systems, and Athene is trying to use it to do exactly that. Aside from that, there's nothing about how he derived that, no mathematical proof, nothing.
Oh! Another problem. If C = hf, then C = E. If C = E, then C = mc^2, C = 1/2mv^2, etc. If consciousness is energy, energy must also be consciousness--an absurd consequence that arises from the fact that Athene is trying to apply a fundamental equation describing fundamental phenomena to the complex consequences of phenomena emergent from complex systems. It just plain doesn't work.
All right. I will burst it into chunks of 5:00 and do it that way.
0-5. They really said nothing but keep an open mind, and then said why. Nothing you don't learn in freshman year.
5-10. Difference between how we see ourselves and how others see us? Personally, there are few circumstances where I have actually cared about what others think about me, I am interested as to wear he gets this information.
Logically explaining why you act irrationally? When did I ever act irrationally? It would be possible, but I have never observed it myself, after I finish this hour watching the video I will be sure to spend an hour looking at his sources.
10-15. I remember talking about half-brained patience back in junior high. I don't remember anything about them not remembering half of someone's face, weather they had to get the left or right half of their brain taken out functioned just as if they had a whole brain.
Wasn't it nice of him to put it into 5-minute intervals for me?
Just got so bored by this video I stopped paying attention for a second. Sorry if I missed anything.
Wait, evolution became self-aware? And has a goal?
Right brain left brain thing: I would also like to see his sources on that.
15-17. Phased out again and only got half of it. Did he just say that we are connected with our mirror neurons? I could agree with that if he is saying that everyone else has a profound impact on you, but the way he says it isn't hypothetical kind of makes it sound like he thinks we are psychic or something.
Alright, I should probably stop there or I am going to be to bored to listen to any of this. His voice is kind of monotone and robotic, it is like Steven Hawking giving a lecture I don't really care about...
The first 20-some minutes is him recapping already-known neuroscience and passing it off as groundbreaking research and theorization. If you want to get to the part where he REALLY starts bull****ting, skip to 27:30. That's when he starts mutilating the math.
Athene is trying to apply a fundamental equation describing fundamental phenomena to the complex consequences of phenomena emergent from complex systems. It just plain doesn't work.
But why doesnt it work?
Nothing you don't learn in freshman year.
Many people in the world dont and wouldnt you say they could benefit from this type of thinking?
Logically explaining why you act irrationally? When did I ever act irrationally? It would be possible, but I have never observed it myself
You mean you have never observed yourself acting irrationally or that there is no way to explain irrational behaviour logically?
Many people in the world dont and wouldnt you say they could benefit from this type of thinking?
Thinking? It was just simple sociology and psychology, at least the parts I saw and managed to pay attention to. I managed to learn more in my junior high year, and my teacher was getting tired in his old age and mostly read out of the book the whole time, when he managed to stay awake.
I did learn a lot from that book, though.
You mean you have never observed yourself acting irrationally or that there is no way to explain irrational behaviour logically?
I do. I say "That was irrational" and move on. Depending on what I do, there also may be something like "I may be insane". But that rarely happens, and is usually things like making plane arms while walking on a curb or sprinting to a random tree and back. I usually admit to myself that I really had no reason to do it. And don't tell me you have never sprinted to a random tree and back.
He's blatantly misapplying the equation. I explained how. E = hf does NOT describe all matter, not at all. And even if it did, it would be restricted to describing fundamental interactions, not the complex outcomes of complex systems such as consciousness. If I'm playing Monopoly, the outcome is independent of the minimal amount of energy carried by a photon radiating at the frequency of the game, it's dependent on the rules of the game. He's using something that describes a very simple, very specific phenomenon and trying to use it to describe the nature of a very complex system. And as I said, TONS of problems arise from equating consciousness to pure energy as he attempts to do here. I've provided a lot of examples--and furthermore, the burden of proof is not on me to show that it DOESN'T work, but on you guys to show that it does. I see no support in his video, no proof, no derivation, and I see none coming from you either.
Alright, I skipped to 20 as your suggestion. Lets see if I can stay awake this time.
24:20 I see his logic, but I don't think it works that way. By his logic, if I where to drop a rock, then it takes a light second for the other person to see it, then that rock has not dropped until he can see it, since nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. But that sounds illogical, if I drop a rock here then it doesn't matter what is happening a thousand light years away, the rock still got dropped. At least that is what I am getting from this.
Then I stopped paying attention again. Did he just say we are psychic, but not crazy psychic? That is still crazy.
Wait. C=hf? Where does he pull that from? Then the images get trippy and I stopped paying attention again. Better wait until I can actually pay attention, I woke up at like four in the morning today and can sleep as long as I want...
