What is experience?

tolteq

or consciousness.

InFront

I don't know, the sum and dynamic interaction of events in an individuals awareness that shape his outlook or expectations?

Maybe you should expand upon the question?

Joey the lips

Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes.
Oscar Wilde

scanlas

Conscousness is the awareness behind are thoughts, it is the feeling of stillness you get when looking at the vastness of the universe at night.

tolteq

ah i cant get it past my head that like.....what is the point of life. like. where did it all come from.

i mean like god cant of just been there. and said right. today there is a universe.

Wibbs

Why not if one accepts the idea of a creative force/god? I feel both theists and atheists when discussing the concept get too restricted by the human experience and perception to make any meaningful comment on it. They both limit the idea just from different angles.

We can't know really, either way, though the idea of a personal god is very hard to believe(at least for me). We are within the universe and are shaped by it. No matter how hard we try we will always be caught within that. The idea of before or after itself is a human perception. There was no before at least in our way of thinking. Time itself started with the universe. Even if you accept the theory of inflation and contraction and inflation again and time along with it as an endless cycle, it is very hard for us to describe it in any meaningful way. Even forever is a concept bounded by our own experience and biology. And so ultimately is any notion of a creative force.

Porkpie

How do you describe Mozart to a deaf person who has never heard music? Our human experience and intelligence is limited and we are probably lacking some 'sixth sense' that can make more sense of it all. No one can say with absolute certainty that a God does or does not exist as we do not have solid evidence. Maybe we are asking all the wrong questions. Our logical minds think in a 'why, when, how, past, future' kind of way. All these are human experiences. Maybe the universe operates outside these rules. Maybe there is no explanation - it just is.

And consciousness is such a perplexing, mysterious thing to understand. It is strange to think that before you were born, your consciousness, your essence or 'soul' if you like, simply did not exist. Even more mind boggling is what exactly happens to your consciousness at the very moment of death? Anyone else ever think like this? If you believe in God the answer is conveniently available, however, I am an agnostic and find it intriguing but baffling.

Joycey

tolteq wrote: »

or consciousness.

A mechanism which arises spontaneously from a sufficiently complex arrangement of matter whereby raw sensory data is converted into narratives in order to comprehend the world. If my account is right then it would be heavily reliant on some linguistic capability to emerge.

peasant

Our cats have learned from experience that whenever there's coffee being made and the fridge openend that there is a reasonable chance of getting a drop of milk.

They are however conscious of the fact that it is only a chance but not a certainty.

Taking both into account, they make a conscious decision whether it is worth it to leave the comfy, prized place on the chair on the off chance of getting milk.


Or in other words ...I think we humans tend to attach far too much value to our own experience and consciousness. They are both merely a result of evolution. We just have the luxury to talk about it.

LouOB

Experience is something you have after it was needed

johnnyskeleton

tolteq wrote: »

ah i cant get it past my head that like.....what is the point of life. like. where did it all come from.

i mean like god cant of just been there. and said right. today there is a universe.

Life becomes a bit easier when you realise that there isn't necessarily a point to it, or a plan or anything else to shape it. Life just is, I suppose, try to see the funny side of it.

philologos

tolteq wrote: »

ah i cant get it past my head that like.....what is the point of life. like. where did it all come from.

i mean like god cant of just been there. and said right. today there is a universe.

Why can't God have been there, and why can't an intelligence have formed the world?

For your answer on consciousness, it is a process which is carried out by the brain operating. It isn't a physical thing. That's my view on it. Poor Descartes who said the mind and the body were separate, unfortunately he didn't live in the age we do now

johnnyskeleton: Really? For the naturally inquisitive that isn't really easier at all is it?

tech77

peasant wrote: »

Our cats have learned from experience that whenever there's coffee being made and the fridge openend that there is a reasonable chance of getting a drop of milk.

They are however conscious of the fact that it is only a chance but not a certainty.

Taking both into account, they make a conscious decision whether it is worth it to leave the comfy, prized place on the chair on the off chance of getting milk.


Or in other words ...I think we humans tend to attach far too much value to our own experience and consciousness. They are both merely a result of evolution. We just have the luxury to talk about it.

Like the OP, I used to find the whole notion of consciousness from non-conscious components mind-boggling and awesome.
Now i tend to think more and more like the above poster.
It's probably not such a big deal when it comes down to it.

Then again i start thinking no, that's sacrilege and how incredible it really is.:)

An interesting aspect of this issue is:
If consciousness is explainable away, what then?
Is it good that it's mysterious.

waitinforatrain

tolteq wrote: »

or consciousness.

All explanations are inadequete, as any explanation can be considered an emanation from the "Source" of consciousness. In essence it is the part attempting to describe the whole.

Therefore, the only true relationship you can have with the source of consciousness is the experience of it.

waitinforatrain

Joycey wrote: »

A mechanism which arises spontaneously from a sufficiently complex arrangement of matter whereby raw sensory data is converted into narratives in order to comprehend the world. If my account is right then it would be heavily reliant on some linguistic capability to emerge.

Ah the illusion of knowledge!

The camera has a lens just like your eye, but the camera does not 'see'. If you were to construct a machine with similar components, would it be 'alive', 'conscious' etc?

Certainly there is a mechanical evolution on the physical plane, and certainly the brain is like a programmable machine, but there is a programmer too (consider the phrase "your brain"), and this does clearly does not follow the same rules.