Are you a brain in a vat?

In philosophy, there is a common thought experiment about our perception of reality, called the "brain in a vat" scenario. In this scenario, we are nothing but brains receiving electrical signals from the outside world, causing our brains to tell us that we are having experiences (but the actual experiences don't exist--the only thing that exists is the electrical stimulation of neurons).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_in_a_vat#/media/File:Braininvat.jpg

With regards to human anatomy, this is actually describes the situation we are in perfectly. We 'feel' like we exist in our arms and legs, but we really don't--we exist only in our brain. When you feel something with your finger, your finger isn't conscious of anything--it's just part of the complex "vat" of bones, blood, muscle, and organs that supports the brain. There really isn't anything different about this scenario than a super-computer sending signals to each of your neurons in a coordinated effort. There is no way for us to tell the difference between the two scenarios!

It is important to keep this in mind, rather than ignoring it and simply assuming that the physical world exists, as most people are want to do. The implications are important for future arguments, which I will write on soon.

External Surfaces of the Brain

Check out my recent posts on the Screen Argument before reading this! http://honestsearchfortruth.blogspot.com/search/label/Screen%20Argument

Please note this is super, super simplified to make it understandable!

Brain cells have a lot in common with all the other cells in our body. In fact, there is a surprisingly small number of genes that differ between neurons (one kind of cell found in the brain) and, say, a hepatocyte (cell in the liver).

If we look at the external surface of the brain, we can pick out which parts are responsible for specific parts of our consciousness. These areas are called "Brodmann's Areas".

Let's look at a few examples.

Areas 1, 2, and 3: The primary somatosensory cortex, responsible for touch.
Area 4: The primary motor cortex, responsible for voluntary movement control.
Area 17: The primary visual cortex, responsible for vision.
Area 41: The primary auditory cortex, responsible for hearing.

I think this may give some hints for progress on the Screen argument.

Physically, the neurons in these different regions are very similar to one another--all of them are part of the cerebral cortex! (The cerebral cortex is the part of the brain that you think of when you look at a brain--the external surface)

There are many brain regions deep to the cerebral cortex with very different anatomy and physiology.

Anyway, it isn't the cell type that distinguishes functions across Brodmann's Areas. It's the difference in organization--the different connections that are made by the neurons--that differentiates the function.

But just consider HOW DIFFERENT these regions are as you experience them! Vision (Area 17) is WAY different than touch (Areas 1, 2, and 3)! Hearing is VERY different than movement control!

What I'm pondering is the relationship of this info about the brain to the Screen Argument. If our experiences are purely physical, we ought to be able to find our experiences in the brain. We can certainly point to the spots that correspond to our experiences (see that picture up there, we are memorizing that puppy in medical school right now, I dare you to point out a comprehensive pattern), HOWEVER, when we point to the spots, we see pretty much the same thing--neurons.

But then if we point at the unique patterns in each Brodmann's Area, we see a pattern of neurons, not a Screen (we don't observe, say, a picture of something you are looking at, or an experience of pain, or an audio recording that you are listening to). We just see neurons.

Read my other posts on this subject, and you may start to see why I don't think consciousness is reducible to the physical brain. Consciousness is consciousness, it corresponds to the brain, it doesn't equal the brain.

Podcast #2 - Dr. Joel Velasco, Fine-Tuning, Cosmological Argument, Screen Argument

Second episode of the podcast!

I'm joined by Dr. Joel Vesaco to discuss arguments for and against God's existence.