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Article 1164 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: M16143@mwvm.mitre.org
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: Re: MIND, BRAIN, CONCIOUSNESS
Message-ID: <91303.33618.M16143@mwvm.mitre.org>
Date: 30 Oct 91 14:20:18 GMT
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LAS@CUNY write:
------------------------- Original Article -------------------------
>From: las@cunyvms1.gc.cuny.edu
>Subject: MIND, BRAIN, CONCIOUSNESS
>Message-ID: <1991Oct29.214816.23349@timessqr.gc.cuny.edu>
>Date: 29 Oct 91 21:48:16 GMT
>Having been trained as a mathematician I feel very inclined
>to ask for a defenition of what is meant by the following terms:
>a) mind
>b) brain
>c) conciousness.
>I once asked a Zen master this question. First he laughed at me, and
>then he said:
>"Brain happens to conciousness. Mind happens to brain after brain is
>happening to conciousness". I smiled and thanked him. you can
>imagine how I felt.  Does this make sense to any of you? I would
>appreciate an  honest reply. I know that Zen masters are notorious
>for not making sense.
-----------------------End Original Article--------------------
Perhaps if we try a differnt translation for "happens".  As in the
German Was Macht - how's it going, whatcha doin, what's happenin -
where Macht literally means "makes".  Perhaps a biological brain
reaches a critical mass where it "makes" consciousness - it attains
a functional state defined as consciousness.  Then the "mind" would
be the next state that controls the "brain" (making it do things
or restructuring through chemical activity) with "conciousness"
defining the initial conditions for this new state.
Well, it was an attempt at a serious answer.
Standard disclaimer. All opinions my own.
Tony Zawilski


