Jurassic Park + Consciousness + 21 Grams
Let's talk about the Jurassic Park movie.
Well, it is based on scientists are able to clone dinosaurs from the DNA they found inside some mosquitos in an amber from 65million years ago. Of course this can't happen, because the blood has been stable for too long, and so far we are unable to clone dinosaurs from that long ago. Of course the mosquitos in the amber is true.
The next major science bit is that the T-rex in the movie has poor vision. But of course we don't know what their eyesights are, but it is still not correct to just assume because they have small eyes, they have poor vision. There was this part in the movie where a T-rex went right up to two main characters and the T-rex couldn't see. So, the T-rex just sniffed them and left them because the people weren't moving. Scientists later took several T-rex skulls and reconstructed it, and from what they know, they seem to be able to tell that because the shape of the skull, the T-rex seems to have superior vision compared to the other dinosaurs.
"Dinosaurs and men, two species separated by 65 million years of evolution have suddenly been thrown into the mix together. How can we possibly have the slightest idea of what to expect." - Quote from Jurassic Park
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| Consciousness |
Consciousness is variously defined as subjective experience, awareness, the ability to experience "feeling", wakefulness, or the executive control system of the mind. It is an umbrella term that may refer to a variety of mental phenomena. Although humans realize what everyday experiences are, consciousness refuses to be defined.
"Anything that we are aware of at a given moment forms part of out consciousness, making conscious experience at once the most familiar and most mysterious aspect of our lives." - Schneider and Velmans 2007
Consciousness in medicine is assessed by observing a patient's alertness and responsiveness, and can be seen as a continuum of states ranging from alert, oriented to time and place, and communicative, through disorientation, then delirium, then loss of any meaningful communication, and ending with loss of movement in response to painful stimulation.
Consciousness in psychology and philosophy typically means something beyond what it means for anesthesiology, and may be said in many contexts to imply four characteristics: subjectivity, change, continuity, and selectivity. Philosopher Franz Brentano has suggested intentionally. However within the philosophy of mind there is no consensus on whether intentionally is a requirement for consciousness.
Consciousness is the subject of much research in philosophy of mind, psychology, neuroscience, cognitive science, cognitive neuroscience and artificial intelligence. Issues of practical concern include how the presence of consciousness can be assessed in severely ill of comatose people; whether non-human consciousness exists and if so how it can be measured; at what point in fetal development consciousness begins; and whether computers can achieve a conscious state.
Science Myth of the Week
Does the soul weigh 21 grams?
Of course not! We don't even know if souls exists!
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