Louisville, Kentucky April 5, 2025
HANDS OFF!
Blogroll
The Hard Problem: Consciousness
I have been thinking a lot lately about the hard problem, consciousness. I have been reading about it, watching videos, and listening to podcasts. Recently, I listened to a podcast with Annaka Harris and her husband, Sam Harris. First off, I didn’t know they were married. That was a pleasant surprise. I had previously watched a video with her on Big Think where she talked about consciousness as a “felt” experience. This has given me a pause. I had always thought of consciousness as an “awareness” of experience. I decided to do a little research. Turns out we were both right, as the following explanation describes it.
Consciousness is both felt and an awareness, depending on how you approach it.
Felt Consciousness (Qualia)
From a subjective, first-person perspective, consciousness is felt—we experience emotions, sensations, and thoughts directly. This is what philosophers call qualia, the raw, subjective feel of experience (e.g., the redness of red, the warmth of sunlight, the taste of coffee). This aspect of consciousness is what makes it deeply personal and difficult to explain purely in physical terms.
Consciousness as Awareness
On the other hand, consciousness is also an awareness, meaning it involves cognition, perception, and the ability to recognize oneself and the environment. This definition aligns with how many neuroscientists and cognitive scientists approach consciousness—as a state of being aware of internal and external experiences. This awareness allows us to think, reflect, and make decisions based on our perceptions.
Blending the Two
While consciousness involves feeling (subjective experience) and awareness (cognitive recognition), the two are deeply intertwined. Some theories suggest that the ability to reflect on our own experiences (metacognition) gives rise to our rich inner life. Others argue that raw feeling, without structured awareness, is still a form of consciousness (as seen in dreams or deep emotions).
So, in essence, consciousness is both felt experience and awareness—two sides of the same phenomenon.
Nothingness
Anguish is the apprehension of nothingness.
Vertigo is the anguish not of falling over a cliff
but the thought of throwing oneself over.
What should I do?
Throw me off a bridge or jump out a window?
Decisions. Decisions.
Perhaps I’ll fly a kite instead.
Stop Elon Musk
I recently attended a Stop Elon Musk Rally at the IBEW Local Union Hall here in Louisville, Kentucky.
There were many speakers there including Kentucky Congressman Morgan Mc Garvey who spoke out against Musk.
The crowd was quite energized and gave me hope that we might prevail against the tyrants who would dismantle our government and destroy our democracy.
The main takeaways were the three pillars of dissent: Litigate, Legislate, and Agitate.
It is said that when Fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in a flag and carrying a bible.
All photos by the author.
Turtles All the Way Down
William James was giving a lecture about the nature of life and the universe. Afterward, an old woman came up to him and said, Professor James, you have it all wrong.”
“How so, madam?”
“Things aren’t at all like you said.” The world is on the back of turtles.”
“Hmm,” mused the professor. “That may be so, but where does that turtle stand?”
“On the back of another turtle.”
“But, madam, where does that turtle stand?”
The old woman replied triumphantly, “It’s no use, professor, it’s turtles all the way down!”
Timequake by Kurt Vonnegut
A book review
Timequake is a novel about free will. Vonnegut freely intersperses throughout the novel his own stream of consciousness. Oh, and there is also his alter ego, Kilgore Trout, who exclaims, “Oh Lordy, I am much too old experienced to start playing Russian Roulette with free will again.”
The premise of Timequake is that a Timequake, a sudden glitch in the time-space continuum, made everybody and everything do exactly what they’d done during the past decade a second time. It was déjà vu all over again for 10 years. The timeframe Vonnegut chose was February 13, 2001 – February 17, 1991. The Timequake would zapp everyone back in an instant to 1991. They had to “live” their way forward to 2001. Or you might say, back to the future again. Only when people got back to 2001 did they stop being robots of their past. Kilgore Trout would say, “Only when free will kicked in could they stop running an obstacle course of their own construction.” Free will. That is what the novel is about. Do we have it or not? That is the question. You would think that because the author mentions “when free will kicks back in” some 20-odd times he was arguing for free will. But no! Not so fast! I’m not so sure.
Other pithy comments by Kilgore Trout would include, “If brains were dynamite, there wouldn’t be enough to blow your hat off!” and “Ting-a-ling, you son of a bitch!” which is the punch line to a variation on a joke having to do with Chinese doorbells.
So, it goes.
Vonnegut goes on to say, in his own peculiar voice, that writers of his generation had reason to be optimistic because of things like the Magna Carter, the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, The Emancipation Proclamation, and Article XIX of the Constitution giving women the right to vote. He advocated for two more amendments that he would like to add: Article XXIII: Every newborn shall be sincerely welcomed and cared for until maturity. And Article XXIX: Every adult who needs it shall be given meaningful work to do at a living wage.
Another pithy saying he was fond of throwing around was, “I never asked to be born in the first place!”
Photo by the author.
Musings from 30,000 Feet
Star date 09242024
In his Critique of Dialectical Reason, (1960) Jean-Paul Sartre asks the following questions: 1) Why is violence so universal a feature of human experience, especially in politics? And 2) What becomes of man’s freedom in a world where human beings are constantly threatened by what he called the “practico-inert” (alienation)?
Example: A motorist is caught in a traffic jam created by the increased availability of cars whose original intention was to enable men to move about more freely. Human beings are increasingly and inevitably held prisoner by their own creations.
In economics, this would be an example of diminishing returns. A concept I learned in the 5th grade, which struck me like a thunderbolt and has stuck with me ever since.
Another concept I learned a couple of years later in the 7th grade, was the concept of manifest destiny. Again, this was like a thunderbolt out of the blue, but I think it might have set me on the wrong path for years to come. If you don’t think that schools were indoctrinating students in the 1950s you are sadly mistaken. But I digress….
KAMALA HARRIS
In Sanskrit, the word Kamala means Lotus Flower. The Lotus is a symbol of purity and the simultaneity of cause and effect. Out of the mud rises the fragrant Lotus Flower. This is exactly the metaphor needed at this time in this place. Kamala, the Lotus Flower, rises from the slime and muck of Donald Trump and his ilk in triumph and exaltation. Go ahead, Kamala!
Hiking the Coral Ridge Trail
Jefferson Memorial Forest
There are a lot of trees down blocking the way
I had to crawl through some of them
This tree snapped creating a perfect triangle
Otherwise it was a nice day in the forest. The temperatures were in the mid-70s and sunny.
Police Crack Down on Student Protests
Do you see this image? This is a picture of a student shot dead by the National Guard at Kent State University in Ohio. I remember when this happened, and I can tell you it was a dark day in America. What were the students doing? They were protesting the war in Vietnam. It was largely because of these protests that the war was brought to an end.
Fast forward to today. We have protests all over America, indeed the world, of the war Israel is waging against the Palestinians. It is not antisemitic to protest the slaughter of thousands of innocent women and children and other noncombatants. This slaughter is inhumane and tantamount to genocide, regardless of what the U.S. Government is saying. It should be protested and attention must be paid!
We see police action and the National Guard being called up in some states to quell these protests. This must stop! We do not want another Kent State. I understand that we have to support our allies, and Israel is an ally, but this needless slaughter of the innocents must stop! It goes against American values, and it goes against my values. I stand with the protesting students.
Ghost Dog 