Dr. Mark Solms deftly demystifies Chalmers’ “Hard Problem” of Consciousness
Chance favors a prepared mind - and after nearly a year of dealing with “The Case Against Reality,” which, for me, was a collection of maddeningly dreamy philosophizing*; disconnected from physical reality; and dismissive of the known facts and Evolution, which is central to my understanding of reality. *(on the other hand)
Learning is about providing us with tools and concepts we can work with as building blocks towards further developing our overall conceptions. But Hoffman’s FBT theorem and ITP inspired “conscious agents,” was like a bad practical joke, offering little but frustration, luftgeschäft, irrelevance - no place to go with it once it's done.
As if on cue, YouTube prompted me with a suggestion that I might like this newly released talk: "The Source of Consciousness - with Dr. Mark Solms" posted March 4th and they weren’t kidding. Dr. Solms provides a way back to the solid ground of physical reality and serious science.
Among the speaker’s achievements, beyond being skilled as both psychoanalyst, plus neuropsychologist! Dr. Solms is the Director of neuropsychology in the Neuroscience Institute of the University of Cape Town, an honorary lecturer in neurosurgery at the Royal London Hospital School of Medicine, and a pioneer in the scientific field of neuropsychoanalysis, being credited as first to use that term, along with being the recipient of many honors and awards. He’s also credited with discovering and described the forebrain mechanisms of dreaming.
After I finished that first lecture, I had to listen to another one, then another, and another, two days worth of binging on Dr. Solms ensued before I was sated,... for the time being.
Solms is an enthralling speaker and his ideas resonate with my own life time of learning about natural sciences and this body I inhabit, I couldn’t get enough of him explaining his findings and their implications and I intend to read a couple of his books plus listen to some of those talks again. Lots to absorb.
All that inspired me to put together this collection of lectures given by Dr. Mark Solms PhD, I'll be following up with another post highlighting a few of his many scientific papers.
It makes a perfect transition between Hoffman's philosophizing and my own upcoming philosophizing. Whereas I can only offer reasoning behind the perspective I believe in, Solms provides us with scientific physical evidence and clear cut justifications that are harmonious with my perspective and trust in science.
Solms deftly demystifies Chalmers’ “Hard Problem” of Consciousness, thus taking the air out of the wavy gravy meta-physical approaches to consciousness that removes it from fundamental evolutionary processes and physical reality as we know it. It’s no wonder Hoffman never mentions Solms name, nor the promise of neuropsychoanalysis.
Among the points that resonated with my own understanding,
