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[Lord Krump]

*Takes back control from Franish*

I will now start a series of weekly topics addressing certain topics of higher thinking. I'm doing this partly because I have an interest in this stuff, and partly because I think that added discussion over this type of stuff might improve my grade in philosophy class.

This week's topic is:

BRAIN VS. MIND

There's a school of philosophy- Reductive Materialism, if I am correct- that states that in order to have a mind, you must have a brain. Now, as fine and dandy as that argument is, there comes a problem. Namely, the ALIEN PHILOSOPHER scenario. Let's say Professor Gorgulax of Bobulon University in a galaxy far, far away was discussing this same thing. Only, the difference being, since he doesn't have human organs such as a brain, he's arguing that in order to have a mind, you must have a "nervulon core," the control center of that alien species. This creates a problem: if we must have brains to have minds, then what about alien species who- by philosophizing and questioning their own existance- demonstrates all the characteristics of having a mind, but they don't have a brain? This can be taken a step further, with the ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE scenario. Is it possible for a machine to demonstrate self-awareness and conciousness without having organic body parts?

Now, there's a school of thought that counters the idea of reductive materialism called functionalism, if I'm correct, that says that it doesn't matter how the mind works; it just matters what the mind does. So, if Professor Gorgulax demonstrates all the characteristics of having a mind and can philosophize with us, it doesn't matter. But does it really not matter how the mind works, however? This is a problem with this school of thought. Say, a person suddenly woke up the next day and his vision was inverted. The grass is red, and tomatoes are blue. Now, obviously, this person would still be able to function with this inverted color problem. But it wouldn't be the same; his perception would be drastically altered. And he probably wouldn't like it much, either. So, with this scenario, it demonstrates that how the mind works is important.

So, now that I have introduced a few scenarios, what do you think about "brain vs. mind?" Discuss, and let the knowledge flow.

[Mana7]

Well obviously you dont need a brain to have a mind you just need some way to have thoughts form and to gather intelligence to have a mind

[Popple]

You can't compare a color impairment and the relevance of a brain.

Colors are relative, we only see colors as the colors they are because that is what MOST people see.

Color blindness isn't the disability of not being able to see colors, you just see different colors.

Well, unless you see some colors as the same but that is besides the point.

The fact is that, it doesn't matter how the "brain" is composed the mind will reach the ultimate state which is consciousness and go no higher.

Past that is just details.

You can study this on our own planet even.

In truth, while we may have the same basic biological structure there are certain many many many variations of lifestyle that people across the world are subjected too, yet all those minds develop in the same way.

So people may not be as smart of others, and some less creative than others, but fundamentally the concept of mind itself is relatively the same.

This is based on the principles of self conscious and the yearning to learn more about the surrounding universe that comes with it.