Customer Reviews

Consciousness

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The ramifications of the theories explored in this series are intense! Basically, the idea is that biology might have found a way to detect quantum signals, similar to the way it optimized neurons to detect photons in our eyes, which are made of neurons and are extensions of our brain. If neurons figured out how to interpret light, then perhaps they are developing to interpret quantum particles, which are simply particles even smaller than photons. If the brain can do this, then the feelings of being connected are real, and would explain why some people have these feelings more strongly than others. Imagine the first life-forms that could interpret light, how strange it must have been, and unbelievable to those life-forms that couldn't. It also means we would be connected in real time to other similarly-built life-forms across the universe. Of course, at this point, our quantum abilities are probably so rudimentary that we only detect these tiny particles/frequencies the way a bat senses light, with little accuracy or definition.

This series not only explores these theories, but also entertains most other major current ideas of the small but growing league of scientists brave enough to tackle this exciting new field. Most of the people in the series are top professors at major universities, and this is the topic that consumes them most, so it's very much worth viewing. And, it might well be that some of these people and their theories go down in the history books as revolutions in science, the way Einstein and Bohr and Heisenberg and their original theories of quantum physics are now acknowledged as revolutionary. And, at $39.95, this is a steal. Most series of academic quality like this cost several hundred dollars. The company behind it is obviously more interested in dispersing knowledge than in making a buck, which is a refreshing attitude. This new 5 DVD version should be a part of everyone's permanent collection.

This box set is a must have for anyone who finds themselves constantly thinking about the bigger questions in life, unwilling to accept the stock answers inherited from our past. This title was made around the same time as "What The Bleep Do We Know" and has some of the same scientists, as well as quite a few others who will probably go down in history as the forefathers of the scientific pursuit of consciousness.

Many of the biggest names in the field (Hameroff, Radin, Newberg, Woolf, Tuszynski, LaBerge, Ramachandran) are allowed to fully elaborate on their research, theories, thoughts, and feelings, without their words being edited out of context to fit some filmmaker's silly theory, which is what other titles are often critiqued for. If you like your science served raw, straight from the source, with no middleman spin, this series is for you.

Francis Crick, co-discoverer of DNA, spent the final third of his life trying to solve the great mystery of consciousness, so it is no easy task. Nonetheless, the 20 scientists in this series have essentially dedicated their lives to the quest.

The great thing about this series is that it was not created with an agenda, which is the flaw in many titles, and which is antithetical to science itself. Some of the scientists argue persuasively that our brains can achieve a quantum state, and that this state would allow us to become entangled, or essentially become one with, each other, which would explain a lot of the feelings of connectedness we have. Others in the series offer complete counterpoints to this argument, with theories that at first sound even more impossible, but which may in fact turn out to be accurate, like Sevush's theory that each of our neurons is individually conscious, but that we need billions of them in order to amplify the signal enough to make our body move.

There are persuasive arguments from all sides, making this title a very balanced, in depth exploration of this exciting new field of study. I highly recommend it.

Overall I enjoyed watching the DVD. I ended up viewing it over the course of a week, watching one disc per night. I found some of the topics much more interesting than others, but there is a good amount of variety amongst the thinkers in this film.

If you are looking for fancy animations or backgrounds you won't find them in this set. The person simply sits in front of a blue background and speaks on their field. I'm not quite sure if it's entirely worth the $40, that's the only reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5. It's incredibly interesting, but I think it should be more like $25 or $30.

If you have watched What the bleep or have read any other books on meditation, spirituality or the brain, this DVD set will provide a more in-depth look giving many different viewpoints & opinions. If you're into this sort of thing, you should definitely get it.

This total immersion into the world's latest theories on consciousness includes in-depth discussions with the twenty scientists listed below on topics as diverse as quantum biophysics, nano-neuroscience, philosophy, meditation, metaphysics, dreaming, causation, and the paranormal, all of which are converging into the greatest exploration of all time, to understand just who, or what, we are. This series not only includes top scientists from "What the Bleep", but also many others who have been working on this grand equation for decades, including the following great minds, a virtual who's who from this exciting new field:

Dr. Stuart Hameroff, M.D. Professor, Anesthesiology and Psychology, Associate Director, Center for Consciousness Studies, University of Arizona.

Dr. Andrew B. Newberg, M.D. Professor, Dept. of Radiology, Division of Nuclear Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, co-author of "The Mystical Mind"

Nancy J. Woolf, Ph.D. Professor, Laboratory of NanoNeuroscience, Department of Psychology, UCLA

Jack A. Tuszynski, Ph.D. Professor of Biophysics, Condensed Matter Physics, University of Alberta, Canada

David Chalmers, Ph.D. Professor, Department of Philosophy; Director, Center For Consciousness Studies, University of Arizona,

Dick Bierman, Ph.D. Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Utrecht University

Vilayanur Ramachandran, Ph.D., MD Director, Center for Brain and Cognition; Professor, Department of Psychology and Neurosciences Program, University of

California, San Diego; Adjunct Professor of Biology, Salk Institute

Paavo Pylkkanen M.Sc., Ph.D. Professor, Consciousness Studies Programme, Department of Humanities, University of Skovde, Sweden.

Dr. Petra Stoerig, Ph.D. Professor of Experimental Psychology, University of Dusseldorf

C. Van Youngman, Professor of Psychology, Art Institute of Philadelphia, Department of General Education

Dr. Steven Sevush, M.D. Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology, University of Miami

Stephen LaBerge, Ph.D. Director of the Lucidity Institute and author of Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming.

Dean Radin, Ph.D. Senior Scientist, Institute of Noetic Sciences

Tony Bell, Ph.D. Senior Scientist, Redwood Neuroscience Institute

Ellery Lanier, Ph.D. Interdisciplinary Program, New Mexico State University

Gregg H. Rosenberg, Ph.D. Post-doctoral Fellow/Assistant Research Scientist,

Artificial Intelligence Center, The University of Georgia

Christian Seiter, Department of Psychology, Institut für Umweltmedizin, University of Freiburg

Chester Wildey, M.Sc. The University of Texas at Arlington

Willoughby Britton, University of Arizona, Tucson

Susan Blackmore, Author of "The Meme Machine"

Adele Engel Behar, Satellite Captiva Ltd.

This excellent DVD box set documented interesting presentations on several theories of consciousness. The presenting researchers included MD's and other individuals with world class credentials in: brain research, molecular biology, neurobiology, organic chemistry, computers and electronics, test engineering, math and statistics, theoretical and experimental physics, philosopy and even some part time poets. Although this box set was a bit pricey it was a high quality DVD production hosted by a talented and intelligent interviewer and very well edited. As far as presentation it is a discussion of each of the speakers findings and does not include any screen graphics or other visual materials. Excellent editing does a good job of making up for this omission.

One speaker indicated that consciousness may exist in the universe and is something that we are able to "tap into" biologically in order to acquire awareness of self. Furthermore, it is partially explainable on a quantum level using the Schrödinger equation. A good case for this theory has been made to the satisfaction of a significant portion of the growing consciousness community. High speed quantum computers are currently at a prototype level and only beginning their technological evolution.

I am excited by this idea because it opens up the possibility that a sufficiently complex machine can acquire some form of consciousness without necessarily taking a biological path. Although we all "experience" consciousness, there is no way we can really convince another of our own "awareness" on philosophical grounds. I do have to admit that as a practical matter, I am convinced of my own consciousness as well as yours. Notwithstanding, that is not what the philosophers tell us, and I believe it may be rooted in "existentialism".

Since an early age I have believed that the future held two very exciting possibilities. Either we will be able to construct a fully conscious machine, or we will by default, demonstrate the "spiritual nature" of self awareness, as this may be something that mankind will never be able reproduce no matter how clever we become with our computer technology. This is sometimes referred to as "the ghost in the machine" and can be found in respectable literature and film.

It is for the above reason that I find sci-fi movies that deal in a serious way with "conscious" computers or robot developments especially fascinating. I have also been waiting (with considerable disappointment) for the development of AI and a fully autonomous humanoid robot. Although IBM's chess master "Big Blue" and HONDA's humanoid bipedal robot, ASIMO, have been two noteworthy developments, I have been waiting for at least 50 years and still continue to wait.

While we may never be able to produce conscious computers, there is still hope for constructing a machine similar to 2001's HAL computer which Arthur Clarke projected to possess intelligence (AI) by that year. At least during his early years, Clarke believed there was no practical way to test for consciousness in AI machines beyond something called the "Turing test", discussed below. I have only recently learned that later in life he believed not only in AI, but that the future held the development of conscious computers. This despite the failure of his prediction of an AI computer like HAL by 2001. He may have changed his opinion due to the current state of development of quantum computers which are projected to be capable of computation speeds approaching that estimated for the human brain by 25 to 50 years from now. I personally believe we will be able to produce convincing AI and the fully autonomous robot within 20 years from today with some clever programming work as well as the speeds permitted by silicon chips.

I have until now found compelling the well known argument that there is no way to test for machine intelligence, let alone consciousness, beyond the Turing test. The Turing test is a proposal for a test of a machine's capability to demonstrate intelligence if not awareness. Described by Alan Turing in the 1950 paper "Computing Machinery and Intelligence," it proceeds as follows: a human judge engages in a natural language conversation with one human and one machine, each of which try to appear human; if the judge cannot reliably tell which is which, then the machine is said to pass the test. In order to keep the test setting simple and universal the conversation is usually limited to a text-only channel such as a teletype machine (as Turing suggested).

This DVD discusses new developments that make me uncertain about the limitations of our test capabilities for machine awareness, and the theories covered in this DVD hold hope for understanding human, animal and even machine sentience, as well as new practical tests for awareness.

Be prepared for some pretty articulate speakers and some unconventional people as far as behavior, dress and just plain brilliance are concerned. A couple of these individuals appeared to hold some very strange ideas; however, most of them are scientists in the strictest sense and deserve your attention.

If you liked "Dinner with Andre," then wait for the weekend, order in some Chinese and kill some very meaningfully spent time. The "cast" is uneven - which makes for nice juxtapositions. My favorites: Hammeroff, Ramachandran and the grad student in her mid-twenties (can't remember her name right off the bat). Hammeroff - an intellectual "tank." Ramachandran - succinct. The grad student - probably a mirror image of a developmental state that most who'll watch this DVD set has gone through - the stage of intense intellectual seeking and idealistically contagious impatience for a paradigm shift. The interviewer models a marvelously authentic immersion in the speaker's subject matter while at the same time maintaining - in some kind of meta-cognitive parallel - the capacity for tactfully challenging questions. This was fun to watch: instructional, informative, panoramic, intriguing and pregnant with implications. Time well spent!

Pavel Somov, Ph.D., Licensed Psychologist, author of "Eating the Moment: 141 Mindful Practices to Overcome Overeating One Meal at a Time" (New Harbinger, 2008)
[...]

This DVD set contains roughly 6-7 hours of "talking heads" imparting a wide variety of views and information on the topic of consciousness. Since the talking heads belong to renown subject matter experts, a high level of discussion is maintained throughout all interviews. Some of the towering figures in the philosophy department, such as Dennett and Searle, are conspicuously absent and as a result the discussion appears to be somewhat neuroscience-oriented; at times it becomes slightly technical. Yet, it is still easy enough to be understood by laymen with limited knowledge of brain physiology such as myself. Because present day science doesn't have a working theory of consciousness, the topic is approached from many different angles. Some examples: Stuart Hameroff explains how conscious experience may arise from quantum coherence in microtubules. Steven Sevush presents the single neuron consciousness theory according to which consciousness is a fundamental property which even subatomic particles (or collections of them) might have. V. Ramachandran explores what synaesthesia and cognition might tell us about consciousness. Susan Blackmore articulates a "mysterian" perspective on consciousness. Dick Biermann investigates the deep questions of quantum mechanics and how these questions relate to consciousness. Andrew Newberg investigates meditation and spiritual experiences and talks about the ramifications for science. C. Seiter elucidates an experiment that seems to show that consciousness of two persons can get entangled. Parapsychologist Dean Radin talks about a remarkable experiment involving random number generators and apparent correlations between numerical patterns and the collective state of human consciousness. - These are just a few examples. - I gave it four stars instead of five for the absence of a wider presentation of philosophical ideas of consciousness.

I think this is a fantastic work done by conscious scientistis who are helping us understand the forces at work in the universe. It should be shown to school classes at all levels so that many people can view it and get aware of the uniqueness of the world we are living in.

A lot of top researchers talking about consciousness but...one of them asks for a chalk board or a piece of paper to write down a simple drawing! A blue background (as those used in chroma keys) and some (weird ) transition effects...and that's all. A poor piece of film, extracted from an interesting (I suppose) conference on Consciousness. Shame on you! It's really the first time I feel deceived by Amazon, my everyday companion, who furnishes all the books I need but can't find in Brazil.
Sorry, but you ask for it. I cannot lie.
PS.: Send the "poet" to Limbo, before he drop in Hell.

Nobel Laureates, before leaving this vale of tears, search for meaningful and profound challenges. Many of them settled on the question of consciousness and the brain. Jack Eccles proposed consciousness resides in dendrites and "psychons"; Gerry Edelman suggested that it is inherent in coordinated firing within 'neuronal assemblies'; Francis Crick suggested that, astonishingly, consciousness is nothing but the sum total of neuronal activity whereas Roger Penrose, a physicist, speculated that consciousness may originate from quantum effects caused by "non-computable collapses of the wave function" in the brain.

Enter a gaggle of second order theorists who took these ideas and ran with them. A psychologist named Pribram imagined that the brain functions as a quantum holograph machine that is somehow channeling Bohm's 'implicate order'. People featured in this DVD range from semi-crackpots (Hameroff & Chalmers) to researchers who have capitalize on their empirical credentials with excessive ego-driven enthusiasm (Ramachandran). Like Pribram who had no compunctions about extrapolating hard core physiology of De Valoises to nebulous ideas about quantum free will, other theorists happily invent theories with fancy sounding names (usually including the word 'quantum'). Hameroff, for example, is an anesthesiologist who combined the least appealing and verifiable aspects of Pribram's, Eccles' and Penrose's hypotheses into the idea that consciousness is subserved by quantal entanglements at the level of microtubules (cytoskeletal scaffold molecules that impart rigidity to cells). Never mind that there is close to zero experimental evidence for macroscopic quantum effects in the brain. Or that Hameroff willfully displays fundamental ignorance of basic brain physiology (witness his idea bout the role of 'gap junctions'). Thinking, like Chalmers and Bierman appear to, that the brain is an enormous quantum machine which "collapses wave packets" sounds cool but is a bit delusional and certainly unsupported by evidence. And the idea that robots will one day build still more intelligent robots is, well, worthy of manga comics.

It seems that these guys have created an alternate scientific reality that operates in parallel to peer review system and the scientific consensus. Tis' simple: you create an unsolvable, "hard", problem and suggest an unfalsifiable approach to resolve it - and voila, you get a plum job at the University of Arizona. To paraphrase David Joravsky - Hameroff, Pribram, Chalmers and friends "invent mysteries or nonsense, or both together." The only interviewee who actually makes sense amongst this roster of scientific, philosophical and intellectual pretense is Willoughby Britton, a graduate student.

I think DVDs like this appeal to people who like "The Secret" or "What the Bleep" by lending a patina of 'science' to the belief du jour. But it has little, if anything, to do with real science. Or reality.