James of Seattle

Observer of the world, tryin' to keep things straight.

[James of Seattle @jamessseattle]

What is Psychule Theory? 🧵

It is my explanation of the physical basis for the emergence of consciousness. The psychule is to consciousness as the H2O molecule is to water. If the psychule is the molecule, basic physical interactions are the atoms.

1/n

[James of Seattle @jamessseattle]

@bryan_johnson Society

[Deivon Drago @DeivonDrago]

My latest essay: An evolutionary history of cognition and consciousness.

I argue for a naturalistic/physicalist account of how consciousness came about as a result of evolution.

https://t.co/ng4JFI9moP

[James of Seattle @jamessseattle]

@mike__wiest @StuartHameroff https://t.co/WPWmiFFSMI
“The cytoskeleton, and in particular microtubules, … participate in the mobilization …, thus influencing … synaptic transmission. Notably, alterations of cytoskeletal dynamics have been linked to alterations of neuronal excitability.”

[Mike Smith @SelfAwarePatter]

For All Mankind and Star City

I was leery of the show For All Mankind for a long time. The promotional material made it sound more like a political drama than a space adventure. And sure enough, the first time I tried to watch it a few years ago...
https://t.co/bfy2OWRyI0

[James of Seattle @jamessseattle]

@Briankeating @ShawnRyan762 and … er… World Cup, apparently. (First time seeing it up close in Seattle …)

[James of Seattle @jamessseattle]

@AdamFrank4 Looking forward to an explanation of why a probe, or any AI, would just decide what it wants. Kinda don’t think that’s where “wants” come from.

[James of Seattle @jamessseattle]

@sammyhill99 @StuartHameroff Information is not bits. My problem is with the equal signs. Consciousness is about information processes, but in humans it’s at least somewhat analog as opposed to digital. Something like “if 57% of synapses active, and <5% inhibited, then fire at 20hz, elsif 80% active and …”

[James of Seattle @jamessseattle]

@StuartHameroff It’s not about whether a neuron fires. It’s about the *rate* at which it fires, and about the *coordination* w/ the *rates* at which other neurons fire. It doesn’t matter if you can still make the neuron fire if you can’t make it fire at the right rate at the right time.

[James of Seattle @jamessseattle]

@StuartHameroff I have no problem with the action of anesthetics being through microtubules. The question is: how would the effect on microT’s change consciousness? Changing the firing rate of some (not even all) neurons could be sufficient, and changing internal transport could do that.

[James of Seattle @jamessseattle]

@StuartHameroff I’m referring to things like this: https://t.co/2YhaEWwU2z
and this: https://t.co/IYQfwENYU4

[James of Seattle @jamessseattle]

@StuartHameroff Except the depolarizations are affected in that the rate of depolarizations changes, which of course would be relevant to consciousness. A neuron firing at 40 Hz is not the same as a neuron firing at 10 Hz.

[Keith Frankish @keithfrankish]

Alex O'Connor (@CosmicSkeptic) interviewed me for his podcast. https://t.co/QLTfcdmJ6k

[Disagreeable Me @Disagreeable_I]

I really enjoyed this conversation between @keithfrankish and @CosmicSkeptic. The questions were probing and gave Keith the opportunity to explain his view clearly. https://t.co/b9EXlTYo4E

[James of Seattle @jamessseattle]

@DeivonDrago @m966021 Incarceration is gonna be more expensive for any crime, so does that make execution preferable? And really, how many life prisoners commit significant crimes?

But I haven’t seen any mention of it, so maybe what you should be considering is deterrence for the rest of society.

[James of Seattle @jamessseattle]

@DeivonDrago @m966021 What’s wrong with life in prison?

[James of Seattle @jamessseattle]

@DeivonDrago Didn’t think I was talking about macroscopic objects. Thought I was talking about things like electrons …

[James of Seattle @jamessseattle]

@DeivonDrago What can you say about the location at the time of collision of the rod that was thrown into the room? How precise can you be?

[James of Seattle @jamessseattle]

@DeivonDrago Precise point on our scale, but how are you measuring its location except by hitting it with something else? Suppose you have a room full of long rods hanging from strings and you throw a rod into that room. You can only tell if a rod was hit if the string moves.
…