The Mind Is Immaterial & Indicates God?

Clark from CA believes that there is a separation between the mind and brain. The claim is that the mind is immaterial and doesn’t need to be connected to a physical form and that this somehow points to the existence of God.

This clip is from The Atheist Experience, Episode 27.09 for March 05, 2023 with Seth Andrews and Johnny P. Angel!

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[thatcarguyUZ]

Whenever I hear arguments like this that the mind is separate from the brain my simple reply to that is " why do people who suffered traumatic brain injury oftentimes end up with significantly different personalities?"

[MaximilliansHammer]

Yeah, I'm glad to see the Atheist Experience finding a post-Matt identity. Johnny, Seth, Forrest, Shannon, Dave, and JMike offer up a wide variety of thoughtful and informed perspectives, and have given the show a more 'Kill-Em-With-Kindness' vibe )))

[asagoldsmith]

When the guy said: "can you repeat what I said?" Matt would've hung up immediately. And he would've been right to do so. No argument or evidence, just pseudo-philosophical word salad and condescension.

[russswanson]

“Do you have actual proof that a mind can exist without a body?” First question from Johnny nails it. Clark never gets around to providing the correct answer: “No.”
Dear Clark, Get out more, you’ll be less lonely.

[UngoogleableMan]

Lol. What a bunch of gibberish. I assume he graduated from Jordon Petersons school for lobsters.

I love how Johnny is just like "oh ya, secondary principle eh. Sure, sure PSR."

[brianalmeida]

Brings to mind Einstein's comment that "If you can't explain it to a six-year-old, then you don't understand it yourself”!!

[faelheavymetal]

It's extremely difficult for me to think that callers like that aren't just trolling.

[stephenland]

Here's my definitive proof of God.
- Iceberg lettuce word salad inevitably leads us to Romaine lettuce word salad. From there we must accept the blending of kale and spinach word salad. Now add immaterial salad dressing..
- Ta-Da!! God...

[adriangeh]

No amount of navel-gazing nor word salads will ever be considered 'evidence' that there really is an invisible magical wizard with super powers living 'up there', who also dislikes foreskins.

[mcarp]

This guy did talk to JMike a few weeks ago, who basically told him the same thing Johnny did. But JM was able to follow the word salad.

[wizardsuth]

The mind is immaterial because it is non-compositional, i.e. it isn't made of anything? If he means that it is literally not made of anything physical, he's making a circular argument. If he means that the mind has no functional components, he's simply wrong. Not only can it be demonstrated that cognition has many different aspects, particular aspects of cognition are impaired when selected portions of the brain are damaged or inhibited. This supports the idea that minds are a reflection of brain activity and not vice versa.

[DanteCreed]

This team is really starting to grow on me

[johnmack]

Personality changes, often dramatic, that occur when parts of the PHYSICAL brain are damaged is clear contradiction to the caller’s claims.

[tonydarcy]

As the last thoughts of the motorcyclist about to hit a tree at 90mph went: *Well at least my soul will live on!"* As nice a put down for Clark as I have seen for philosophical gibberish !

[grabble]

Johnny just nodding and agreeing with the word salad while Seth practices his blue steel look...

[danielhill]

Sounds kinda like "I FEEL IT IN MY HEART" but you don't feel anything with your heart.

[michaelhoward]

The problem of interaction, the ability for something immaterial and material to effect the other, became so problematic and refuting to Descartes' Substance Dualism that he finally had to concede a material interface where such interaction could occur by proposing the Pineal Gland as an ad hoc solution. It really didn't solve the problem of how an immaterial mind interacts with the body, or brain specifically, but merely tried to point to a specific part of the brain where such interaction could occur. Nevertheless, Descartes died not knowing how wrong his solution was and today the entire Pineal Gland can be removed in a procedure called a pinealectomy when the gland becomes cancerous. And afterwards there is no loss of communication between the mind and body as one would expect if the gland was responsible for such interaction.

So unless modern dualists can propose an alternative to the Pineal Gland and resolve the problem of interaction that even the man who first proposed substance dualism couldn't, then they are in less of a position to defend dualism than Descartes at the time he first proposed it. And so the problem of how does smoke lift a glass, how does oxygen wear clothes, or how does a ghost open a door if it just floats through the wall remains. How does something without substance interact with something of substance?

[dr.leeaberle]

Translation: I did done take philosophy 101 and I are educamated.

[rafetizer]

Take it away, Clark! *barfs a torrent of word salad all over the table*
Aw, c'mon Clark! Now the studio smells!

[rafetizer]

Even if we go with the mind being separate, that still doesn't indicate God.