The Neuroscience of Consciousness

A great lecture given by Susan Greenfield, who is a researcher focused on brain physiology, particularly on the brain mechanisms of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases.

What she argues in this lecture is an inspiring idea on modelling any scientific concept on a continuous scale rather than being discrete. When we mention consciousness, we automatically think of it as it exists or not, analogous to thinking of a light bulb being only on or off, or a bit being equal to 1 or 0. What about thinking of a degree of consciousness, modeling it as a variable which can take values between 0 and 1, rather than being only 0 or 1? This perspective also provides answers to the questions about when a foetus becomes consciouses, or how much consciouses are you under the influence of drugs or alcohol? I hope you enjoy listening the neuroscientific point of view of such a concept discussed among philosophers and biologist for centuries, and yet cannot be defined nor explained completely.

Now I am Become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds

For the memory of August 6 and 9, 1945.

One of the greatest minds in the history, and he can’t even look at the camera in the eye.

I guess that’s what makes me watch this over and over again.

Remainder for the ones who does’t know the whole story : Oppenheimer wanted to demonstrate the atom bomb, never encouraged to blow it up over people. But I guess when army spends gigantic amounts of money to something, independent of what it is, they use it.  

"We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried. Most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita; Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and, to impress him, takes on his multi-armed form and says, 'Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.' I suppose we all thought that, one way or another.”
                                                                     - J. Robert Oppenheimer

For the whole story : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1DhWglFeLU