Is consciousness just a product of the Brain?

Question

In my opinion human consciousness is not a product of the brain. In order to process data carried on photons, the brain serves as a complex transducer converting consciousness from electrical photon energy to electrochemical energy. Human beings process all information, whether abstract or concrete through an extensive nervous system of insulated wiring. Electricity, a form of light energy, conducts consciousness throughout the body and provides animation and emotional response.

But im not biased, I just want to see other scientific explanations.

Answer 1

There are different aspects to consciousness.  To a large extent individual consciousness is the product of the functioning of our nervous system as a whole.  There is finer consciousness, pure consciousness we can perceive to various degrees depending on how clear and simple our own individual consciousness is.  In most cases our perceptions are limited to our own mind and senses, thus influenced by personality and conditioning.  The Brain in fact, is influenced by our consciousness and how we use it, depending our our own functioning.

Answer 2

Yes, the research into it indicates that consciousness is a product of chemical and electrochemical processes in the brain.  When part of the brain is damaged, it generally harms some part of our mental capacity: memory, balance, judgement, whatever.  And if the two hemispheres are separated from one another (they're normally connected by the corpus callosum), that has noticeable effects, such as making it very difficult to coordinate your right and left hand simultaneously.

The fact that drugs affect the mind also suggests that the mind is a product of our physical brains.

Answer 3

yes, if you want to prove this to yourself, slam your hand in a door willingly. if you think that is was a bad idea, your Brain is thinking on its own.  the will to resist, is a product of consciousness.

Answer 4

i watched a movie once called "waking life" directed by richard linklater.. in this movie there is a scene of 2 people laying in bed talking about consciousness.. what they said was very profound.. it was something along the lines of this.. "have you ever dreamed for several hours, and woke up and only 1 minutes has passed?" when we are physically dead we still dream, due to the brain activity after our heart has stopped.. dreams are a perception of the reality of time.. our conscience interprets time as moving rapidly.. so i would say that consciousness is not a product of the brain.. but more of junction to help the brain believe false realities

Answer 5

Consciousness only part of the picture. Humans do quite a bit with something after we become conscious of it. We have a great tendency to want to learn about things and figure out uses for them and what they do. We can put concepts together and develop ideas and various "what if" scenarios. For now, I suppose the bio electric model is established but not completely understood. The observation that the energy the brain uses could be more complex than we know seems right. I also wonder if the normal senses are the whole input story....

A quote from a Simpsons prototype...

"What is mind? Never matter. What is matter? Never mind."

Answer 6

My conscious brain would love to know the right answer to that question :)

Yes, consciousness appears to be just a product of the brain, based on current evidence. People who have had medical conditions resulting in the shutdown of their brain activity and who have returned to regular life do not recall any consciousness during the period of brain inactivity. The "out of body" experiences have come from patients with an actively functioning brain, not from inactive brain.

Answer 7

OK, I had a NDE, I had no connection to my body as it was lying on the floor.

My energy still had a thought process. My first thought was, "I am starting my new adventure."

I looked around my home, everything was exactly the same same. No floating energy fields waves. I did see the tunnel of light, it was shaped like the horn of plenty, the brilliance of the white and  glitter looking light was incredible. Put's our sun light to a dull ray.

My thoughts were in awe of what was happening, I knew I was disconnected from my body, couldn't care less. Was I disappointed in my return? Yes, in a way. I wanted to go on.

With my experience, I have to say, seperate,

Answer 8

No i dont think consciousness is just part of the brain....

Like Ghostly, I had an NDE, as i was laying there fighting to stay alive, within a second i let go of fighting, and found myself completely away from my body, and into another realm...It was still me, and i could think and i knew what was happening, and was happy to go with it, Until i was met by someone on the other side, and we spoke completely telepathically, as if a natural way, i Never even tryed to talk with my mouth....Thoughts were just turned into voices.....To be honest i didnt want to come back, it felt so beautiful and free....And i could see down on my body and everyone around me, But i didnt know what had happened to me......

The weird part was when i lay there on the road, i had no memory of who i was not even my name...soon as i parted from my body, in complete detachment, i could think again, who i was and everything....It just felt like me again, But out of my body and i could think better, and certainly got my memory back in an instance.....So back on the ground while i lay there, my brain wasnt working at all pretty much, had wiped all my details cleaned, not even knowing who i was...But as soon i left my body behind including my brain, my memory was back and everything went back to normal, that all followed me.....So i was able to fully function and better without having my brain attached to me, only my consciousness..............

And when i was finally brought back from death, and slowly started waking up, i still had no memory of who i was, now this was my brain working, back while i was back into my phsysical body......This lasted few hours for my memory to return.........

So in my physical being with having my brain, it didnt work for me, it completely shut down......When i was lifted out of my body in complete detachment, my consciousness, was all that i needed.......to be ble to function right, have my own thoughts, interact with other spiritual beings, talk telepathically, plus i could do or say anything i wanted to.....

Our brain is just another organ that provides life for us here, and when we are finished here, we leave it all behind, but we are still us, just in a different form, different plain of existence...and our thoughts seem to go with us.....

The brain does play a big part in our thoughts......but id have to say the brain and the consciousness can part their own way when its time, and consciousness is all we need to take with us.........

Answer 9

In my opinion, consciousness is an emergent phenomenon that is the product of synergy. In very simple terms, I'll give "The Universe" in its undifferentiated, infinite state the designation '0'. As soon as you have cleavage or division and "The Universe" has two or more component parts, then everything becomes an equation with the potential for synergy and, therefore, consciousness. There might have to be a critical mass for consciousness to occur. I know I haven't adequately elucidated why synergy woud equal consciousness, but it's early and I'm tired.

Answer 10

Do you think it has a celestial essence to it?