Lunch. The time in school where students converge on grey tables and metal chairs to chomp down on your microwave noodles with a cold sweet tea and a bag of doritos. Lunch is an important time in the school day. In fact, if you asked me, lunch is my favorite time of the day besides dismissal. It is at the lunch table where life’s biggest questions are asked, and we attempt to answer them. Why are we constantly at war? Is there life beyond Earth? When is the second coming of Christ? Why does Bryan Potter play a Munchkin in The Wizard of Oz if he’s 6’4”. All very important questions. One day at lunch, I proposed a riddle to my lunch table. I had seen this riddle on YouTube a couple of weeks prior. The riddle goes as follows: if
…show more content…
He received his PhD in nonlinear information processing in 1982 from the Max Planck Institute in Tübingen, Germany. Koch believes that the Claustrum is the key to human consciousness. The Claustrum sends fibers throughout the Cerebral Cortex in the brain. It consists of a small layer of neurons that lies below the insular lobe. However, no one knows for certain what the function of the Claustrum is. If you remove it, what will happen? Nobody knows. However, while Koch was researching the Claustrum, he discovered a giant neuron that “engulfed the brain like a ‘crown of thorns’ with its colossal fibers” (Koch). Koch decided to run experiments on the Claustrum using mice. While the mouse was moving around, sniffing, eating, and doing other mouse things, Koch was monitoring the Claustrum, and the neurons began to light up. This however, means that Koch believes animals are conscious. This is a stretch for most people, but an interesting topic to …show more content…
My family has always had a dog, and I cannot understand how anybody could look upon their faces with disdain. Bella is my five-year-old Black Labrador Retriever, and she hates suitcases. The minute she hears the sound of the wheels rolling on the brown, hardwood floor, she perks her head up, bolts to my side, and begins to whine as if this is the last time she’ll ever see me. I don’t know what emotions dogs can feel, if they can feel any at all. What I do know is that Bella’s behavior mimics human characteristics. She’s sad when we leave for vacation, and joyous on return. When I walk through the door, I see her on the back porch, tail wagging, tongue flailing, unable to stand still, waiting, anticipating as I unlock the door to let her in. Once she barrels into the house, she runs circles around the house, attempting to get pet by everybody before diving into my parents’ bedroom for a twenty minute power nap. This behavior, I can only describe it as love. I cannot live thinking that my dog does not love me. Is she conscious then? We often associate love as being a characteristic of conscious beings only. Is my dog conscious. I want to believe she is, so first I must define consciousness.
* * * * * * * * *
For a brain to be self-conscious it must be able to represent the world symbolically, which implies the use of symbols such as marks, visual shapes and patterns, rhythmic and tonal patterns. Extended memory is
He received his PhD in nonlinear information processing in 1982 from the Max Planck Institute in Tübingen, Germany. Koch believes that the Claustrum is the key to human consciousness. The Claustrum sends fibers throughout the Cerebral Cortex in the brain. It consists of a small layer of neurons that lies below the insular lobe. However, no one knows for certain what the function of the Claustrum is. If you remove it, what will happen? Nobody knows. However, while Koch was researching the Claustrum, he discovered a giant neuron that “engulfed the brain like a ‘crown of thorns’ with its colossal fibers” (Koch). Koch decided to run experiments on the Claustrum using mice. While the mouse was moving around, sniffing, eating, and doing other mouse things, Koch was monitoring the Claustrum, and the neurons began to light up. This however, means that Koch believes animals are conscious. This is a stretch for most people, but an interesting topic to …show more content…
My family has always had a dog, and I cannot understand how anybody could look upon their faces with disdain. Bella is my five-year-old Black Labrador Retriever, and she hates suitcases. The minute she hears the sound of the wheels rolling on the brown, hardwood floor, she perks her head up, bolts to my side, and begins to whine as if this is the last time she’ll ever see me. I don’t know what emotions dogs can feel, if they can feel any at all. What I do know is that Bella’s behavior mimics human characteristics. She’s sad when we leave for vacation, and joyous on return. When I walk through the door, I see her on the back porch, tail wagging, tongue flailing, unable to stand still, waiting, anticipating as I unlock the door to let her in. Once she barrels into the house, she runs circles around the house, attempting to get pet by everybody before diving into my parents’ bedroom for a twenty minute power nap. This behavior, I can only describe it as love. I cannot live thinking that my dog does not love me. Is she conscious then? We often associate love as being a characteristic of conscious beings only. Is my dog conscious. I want to believe she is, so first I must define consciousness.
* * * * * * * * *
For a brain to be self-conscious it must be able to represent the world symbolically, which implies the use of symbols such as marks, visual shapes and patterns, rhythmic and tonal patterns. Extended memory is