Week 6 - Philosophy Film - A Glorious Piece of Meat

I really liked the short film A Glorious Piece of Meat. Despite its short running length, it managed to cram in as much, if not more, information as any of the substantially longer pieces of work on neural philosophy. I found several bits of information to be highly amusing, as well as extremely enlightening. To begin with, the quote from Patricia Churchland was spot on:

“And then if it turns out that you just are stuff, that your brain just is meat, then wanting it to be different isn't going to change it.”

It somewhat amazes me at how much people really care about this subject. Does it really matter whether or not we are just bundles of neurons? That our brain is just a piece of meat? No, because it wont change who or what we are. We'll still feel the same about anything and everything that we do, we'll just know the truth. The only way that anything will change is if you let that little revelation dictate how you live your life. If this all really is an illusion, there's no reason we have have to stop embracing it.

I also found the films commentary on whether or not we are really in control of our lives to be intriguing, as well. We consciously control very few of our bodies processes, so is it too much of a stretch to think that we may have no control at all? This leads me back to another concept from weeks past, that of truth and illusion. If the truth really is that truth lies, then perhaps the greatest lie would be our belief in free-will. Maybe our bodies are really controlled unconsciously through any number of chemical reactions and our perception of “consciousness” is just a mask, shielding us from the ungodly truth of our own biologically determined existence. The belief that we have some form of control over our lives would only serve to give us purpose. Any seemingly “free” action would just be our bodies way of reinforcing the illusion.

What comes first, Neurons or Awareness? This simple question posed by the film was also completely fascinating, perhaps due to its paradoxical nature. It's very similar to the chicken or egg conundrum, but the answer is far more difficult to discern, as one doesn't really exist without the other. Neurons allow us to posses consciousness, but consciousness allows us to perceive neurons. I suppose this is just one more example of how we truly know nothing about this universe, and that all we can ever hope to achieve is a state of learned ignorance.

“Indeed, we know we are more than just neurons firing, or at least we think we are while the neurons are firing.”

That's as clear an understanding of our consciousness as there may ever be.