Anirban Bandyopadhyay - Does Consciousness Defeat Materialism?

What would it take for consciousness to defeat materialism or physicalism? This is the worldview that only the physical is real, which is the dominant view of scientists and philosophers. Here's what it would take: our inner awareness, our experience of what things feel like, could not be explained by physical brain alone That's it. A tall order, though.



Anirban Bandyopadhyay is a Senior Scientist at the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Tsukuba, Japan.


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[CristinaG]

Interesting, Anirban Bandyopadhyay - his culture is the oldest on Earth with Sanatana Dharma for dealing with the esoteric nature of the consciousness that is the driver of the body; itself being nothing more than a vehicle for learning in this 3d realm of Samsara - the wheel of rebirth. This conversation opens up so many fascinating doors.

[patrickwithee]

This sounds about right. Consciousness is special among real things because it’s an attempt at mirroring a pre-existing reality, of which it’s a part. Because it’s a part of the whole, consciousness can’t be the whole itself, for consciousness needs to be conscious of something.

[jackpullen]

I love that, fighting becomes very difficult when you come closer to the truth

[mitulkabutarwala]

The way he said consider... u knew that bengali in him.

[davidhoggan]

Did anyone else subconsciously read Airbnb...

[mikedziuba]

You could say that matter and energy come together in a computer, when you turn it on. And you get all kinds of symmetries in the computer as a result of its operating system and its computer programs.

Matter by itself is just a computer that's not running. So, there is nothing going on. But when you turn it on and put an electrical current trough it, then you get some information processing from it. And the computer's operating system and its programs provide the symmetries that are necessary for coherent information processing, rather than just having random noise.

So, a running computer is a kind of primitive consciousness.

[ximono]

My views certainly harmonize with his, even though they're completely new to me. I've seen a few clips with Anirban so far, and every one has left me with enough food for thought for a long trip. What an interesting perspective this guy has!

[Bill..N]

If I hear Anirban correctly, consciousness is a synergistic interaction between energy AND matter which is absolutely agreeable, BUT this is the position that most materialist would take..Sooo, it seems like a distinction without a difference between his perspective and that of materialism..Peace..

[williamburts]

Materialism is a concept within consciousness so it is consciousness that acts as the window that allows us to know the material world.

[m.x.]

Philosophical Materialism doesn't rule out the existence of something else that we still haven't discovered and that could explain consciousness. But whatever that "something else" might be, it must be something that is part of the reality and therefore material. If it was not material then we wouldn't be able to detect it, simple as that.

[mj-ucwc]

We are looking for the pattern/conditions not the building blocks alone.

[williamburts]

The question is: " What would it take for consciousness to defeat materialism " ? What you have to understand is that materialism is just a perception that says " all that exist is matter " but does matter tell you that? Does matter even know it's matter?

A perception is just how you see things, so a perception is just the outlook of an observer, without an observer no perceptions could exist and this why all of our perceptions and conceptions are in consciousness. The observer is the principle that defines material nature as a reality it is also the principle that knows itself as a reality.

You could study every chemical in the human body and you could put them under a microscope and know them in detail but no matter how long you study these chemicals they would not give you the knowledge of what is it like to be human, or what it is like being you even, or what is the human condition?

The reason why studying matter gives you no insight on this is because " experience " itself is something irreducible to chemicals " experience " itself which is the basis for all knowledge is it's own self-illumed reality. Being not the cause of knowledge the statement " all that exist is matter " is a contradictory statement since in no way can material chemicals have a " realization ".

Being that the observer is a principle that " knows " itself as reality and since in no way could you experience yourself as an observer within chemicals material knowledge itself is a by-product of two distinct principles ( matter, and consciousness ) so there must be a duality within reality for knowledge to exist.

[aporist]

Does Consciousness Defeat Materialism2
Nope, they are the two expressions, states if you like, of the matter.

[NLSasuga]

The point of Spirituality is not to defeat materialism but to find reconciliation with their ideas, which is perfectly possible. The mind has no control, it does nothing other that just perceiving. The brain would think exactly what it would think if there were no mind to experience these thoughts. That means that noting a materialist would say about the mind, is wrong and the study of mind is not the study of consciousness but of intelligence. It does not matter whether matter gives rise to consciousness of just conscious experience.

[Adeptus_Mechanicus]

I would consider myself a 99% materialist.

[raazbabbar]

So consciousness is byproduct of symmetry.

[TasteMyStinkholeAndLikeIt]

If I give you one octillion grains of sand, it doesn't matter how you arrange them, you'll never get awareness.
If I give you one octillion subatomic particles, it doesn't matter how you arrange them, you'll never get awareness.

[sunshine]

RLK didn't offer any comments after Anirban spoke.. Just laughed it off...😀😀

[KestyJoe]

I find it frustrating that this moderator allows some of his guests, such as this one, to spout nonsense on challenged

[bradk]

The thumbnail made me expect this fella to do a magic trick. 😂