Brain workings and freedom
-
- Posts: 2466
- Joined: December 8th, 2016, 7:08 am
- Favorite Philosopher: Socrates
Re: Brain workings and freedom
Why are you here now I'm having dinner? What's wrong with you?
- Present awareness
- Posts: 1389
- Joined: February 3rd, 2014, 7:02 pm
Re: Brain workings and freedom
-
- Posts: 2466
- Joined: December 8th, 2016, 7:08 am
- Favorite Philosopher: Socrates
Re: Brain workings and freedom
- Present awareness
- Posts: 1389
- Joined: February 3rd, 2014, 7:02 pm
Re: Brain workings and freedom
My philosophy is not based on knowlege. I know enough to know that I don’t know anything at all. There is nothing to prove to anyone. I believe that all philosophers should base their beliefs on their own experiences because when it comes down to it, you are all you’ve got!Eduk wrote: ↑May 26th, 2018, 2:04 pm mild schizophrenia can be achieved simply by considering, carefully, who is thinking (and so on). But still unknown = unknown. Once you do know, prove it, and make some kind of dualism computer or energy source and become super mega rich and famous, I wish you the best. Until that point I'm going to assume you know as much as anyone else.
I may be right or I may be wrong, and it matters not, for it is simply a way of looking at things. “If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change” Wayne Dyer!
-
- Posts: 2466
- Joined: December 8th, 2016, 7:08 am
- Favorite Philosopher: Socrates
Re: Brain workings and freedom
You seem to think reality is whatever you make of it. Implying all kinds of things which would lead to existential issues such as I believe I can fly.
However in action we are the same, or close enough. Neither of us has stood on a high cliff and thought we could fly (for example).
- Present awareness
- Posts: 1389
- Joined: February 3rd, 2014, 7:02 pm
Re: Brain workings and freedom
Sounds like you have a solid and correct way of looking at things, Eduk! I don’t believe a person can change reality by the way they think, since reality, is as it is. Take the glass that is half full, or half empty, depending on how you think about it. The glass itself remains the same but the attitude towards the glass is different. Whether one is optimistic or pessimistic about a situation, does not change the facts, however, it has been proven in medicine for example, that the placebo effect is very real and that a persons belief that a certain drug is helping them, does in fact, help them in many cases.Eduk wrote: ↑May 27th, 2018, 4:41 am Yes the thing is I have my philosophy that nature appears to be consistent, is testable and considering the alternatives I act as if that is more or less correct with, of course, the understanding that new evidence my arise to disprove some of those assumptions.
You seem to think reality is whatever you make of it. Implying all kinds of things which would lead to existential issues such as I believe I can fly.
However in action we are the same, or close enough. Neither of us has stood on a high cliff and thought we could fly (for example).
-
- Posts: 2466
- Joined: December 8th, 2016, 7:08 am
- Favorite Philosopher: Socrates
Re: Brain workings and freedom
- Present awareness
- Posts: 1389
- Joined: February 3rd, 2014, 7:02 pm
Re: Brain workings and freedom
The power of belief and it’s effect on brain workings and freedom, should not be underestimated. It may play a small role in medicine, but it does play a role, nevertheless. Things are as they are and no amount of wishing they were different, will change that, but ones attitude towards what happens in life, does make a difference.Eduk wrote: ↑May 27th, 2018, 9:55 am The placebo effect is small. For example no amount of placebo effect will reattach a severed arm. Actually this belief that belief has a huge role to play in health is pernicious. For example you will often hear/read people talking about 'fighting' cancer. That's wonderful but what then is the conclusion if you happen to die? That you were weak mentally? That you just didn't want it enough?
- Felix
- Posts: 3117
- Joined: February 9th, 2009, 5:45 am
Re: Brain workings and freedom
Not at all, and the proof of this is that it can work in reverse, i.e., it's been found that giving people an actual drug while telling them that it's merely a placebo with no medicinal value, can dramatically reduce or even cancel out the efficacy of the drug.Eduk: The placebo effect is small.
See: http://www.emedexpert.com/tips/placebo.shtml
It's not just a matter of positive thinking, visualization and biofeedback techniques have been shown to bolster immune defenses - and alleviate pain.For example you will often hear/read people talking about 'fighting' cancer.
Well, one should be careful about what placebo one chooses, some have a better track record than others.That's wonderful but what then is the conclusion if you happen to die? That you were weak mentally? That you just didn't want it enough?
-
- Posts: 2466
- Joined: December 8th, 2016, 7:08 am
- Favorite Philosopher: Socrates
Re: Brain workings and freedom
- chewybrian
- Posts: 1602
- Joined: May 9th, 2018, 7:17 pm
- Favorite Philosopher: Epictetus
- Location: Florida man
Re: Brain workings and freedom
Eduk wrote: ↑May 27th, 2018, 9:55 amThe placebo effect is small. For example no amount of placebo effect will reattach a severed arm. Actually this belief that belief has a huge role to play in health is pernicious. For example you will often hear/read people talking about 'fighting' cancer. That's wonderful but what then is the conclusion if you happen to die? That you were weak mentally? That you just didn't want it enough?
I think you are both right. The placebo effect is only a tiny glimpse into something much more important. Attitude is not medicine, but in the end, it could be more helpful most of the time (when you haven't actually severed your arm).Present awareness wrote: ↑May 27th, 2018, 10:20 amThe power of belief and it’s effect on brain workings and freedom, should not be underestimated. It may play a small role in medicine, but it does play a role, nevertheless. Things are as they are and no amount of wishing they were different, will change that, but ones attitude towards what happens in life, does make a difference.
When I read "The Enchiridion", I knew right off my life would be better as a result. I could feel anger and resentment diminishing word by word. Your interpretation of events affects their impact on you. It's not that often that so many bad things happen to us, as much as we take them as bad things when they are neutral (or might even turn out to be useful if we quit whining and pay attention). It's the wishing that allows events to be so crushing in the first place. Grounding your perceptions in reality makes progress smoother and simpler.
The 'placebo effect' is real but not material. Changing attitude can change latitude, though. Your interpretation of events is a huge deal.
-
- Posts: 2466
- Joined: December 8th, 2016, 7:08 am
- Favorite Philosopher: Socrates
Re: Brain workings and freedom
For example a patient who is receiving good medical care and trusts they are receiving good medical care is in the sweet spot. A patient who is receiving good medical care but doesn't trust that care is suboptimal. They will do fine with curing cancer or mending a broken arm but humans are complex and they may decide to stop using the good medical care in favour of a multitude of Quakery. Of course at that point they become a patient receiving poor medical care but trusting the poor medical care. This is the worst situation so far and causes people and families untold damage.
So modern medicine could make an argument that they should trick people into trusting good medical care. Which is machevallian in my book and likely to backfire.
-
- Moderator
- Posts: 6105
- Joined: September 11th, 2016, 2:11 pm
Re: Brain workings and freedom
- LuckyR
- Moderator
- Posts: 7990
- Joined: January 18th, 2015, 1:16 am
Re: Brain workings and freedom
-
- Moderator
- Posts: 6105
- Joined: September 11th, 2016, 2:11 pm
Re: Brain workings and freedom
Yes. I do support patient power as a general rule. But ideally the medics should take the time adequately to inform patients. There isn't the time in a 10 minute consultation to do so.
In the absence of adequate information it's perhaps the next best thing for medics to retain authoritative mystique. One bad effect of medics' conceding to what ignorant patients want is that medics prescribe unnecessary antibiotics to please them and make them go away satisfied.
The freedom that education of patients brings is costly and can be adequately provided only by a socialist state.
2024 Philosophy Books of the Month
2023 Philosophy Books of the Month
Mark Victor Hansen, Relentless: Wisdom Behind the Incomparable Chicken Soup for the Soul
by Mitzi Perdue
February 2023
Rediscovering the Wisdom of Human Nature: How Civilization Destroys Happiness
by Chet Shupe
March 2023