Circles into circles...

Thought 5: A Perfect Circle. What can be said? Though I've heard some negative reviews of their latest release, The Thirteenth Step is inordinately awesome. And have I mentioned These Are the Vistas by The Bad Plus? Both albums rule the roost- at least my roost. You should definitely check them out.

Thought 6: All I can think is that there is some level of brain function (and I suspect it's neuronal) that is responsible for consciousness, and that if we can adequately model this function consciousness will be found to accompany it. I'm not arguing for epiphenomonalism here, only that we do in fact find consciousness along with certain kinds of brain function, and not in their absence. Though it is certainly conceiveable that the appropriate level might be sub-cellular, and while in order to model neurons in a robust way we must take sub-cellular dynamics into account, the neuronal level at least at first glance appears to be low enough. It may also well be that such low-level modelling is unnecessary, that taking into account the dynamics of certain populations would be sufficient, but proper neuronal modelling should encompass or give rise to those higher levels functionally.
Artificial consciousness: dangerous technology or medical breakthrough? Discuss...