Chapter One Flashcards
The Survival Hypothesis
The hypothesis that consciousness of some sort survives (at least for a while) after physical death.
Altered States of Consciousness
- A state of consciousness that is different from the ordinary waking state along some dimensions of interest.
- A stable state.
Behavioural Consciousness
- A third-person (from the outside) definition of consciousness.
- An organisms ability to discriminate among stimuli and act in a goal directed manner.
- Has both input + output, not just awareness.
Phenomenal Consciousness
- A first-person (from the inside) definition of consciousness.
- Subjective events suffused with existential qualia that occur privately for a person (ex. feelings).
Qualia
- The “raw feels” associated with sensory perceptions.
Existential Qualia
The sense of existence that goes on for a person.
- The sense that something is going on.
A State of Consciousness
Is a stable configuration of consciousness.
Ordinary Waking State
- The normative state of an organism with behavioural consciousness.
Alteration of Consciousness
An alteration of consciousness along some dimensions of interests.
A broader designation that includes unstable or altered states of consciousness.
- Includes an ordinary waking state, daydreams, emotions, etc.
Living Agent PSI (LAP)
A way to explain anomalies by positing that they are the result of anomalous processes among the living.
- Ex. Medians
Imaginary Materialist (LAP) Survival Dial
Materialism → LAP → Survival
- Want to know how far RIGHT (towards survival) we can turn the dial.
Chris Koch’s Beliefs about Consciousness + Reality
Koch experienced a sense of unity with the universe.
- Came to the conclusion that consciousness is primary to our existence.
Materialists
- Those who think that the universe is a physical place that follows deterministic laws (“laws of nature”).
- Sees science as the proper way of knowing something (NO religion).
Conservatively Transcendent Position
- Place an emphasis on meaning, religious ideas, and the importance of phenomenal consciousness.
- Dualists: spirituality and physical.
Extraordinarily Transcendent Position
- Those tending towards this position may have had an usual experience that science would have difficulty explaining.
- Have claimed that their ideas have changed dramatically from the past.
Scientism
Inauthentic science.
- Science that is stuck on materialism (materialistic world view).
- Methodology is rigid.
Authentic Science
Science as an open-ended exploration of nature and reality.
- Knowledge that is for someone.
- Methodology is responsive to questions.
- Worldview is responsive to data.
Vertical Near-Death Experience
- Near death experience with vertical perception.
Temporal Anchor
- Event that allows for timing of a near death experience to be fixed.
Anomalous Phenomena
- Phenomena that does not fit into prevailing ideas about reality.
Remote Perception
Perception of events outside the range of ordinary physical senses.
- Can be time-displaced into the past or future.
Remote Influencing
Mental influence on physical manifestation without physical mediation.
Precognition
- Becoming aware of something that occurs in the future.
Retrocognition
- Becoming aware of something that occurred in the past.
Groupthink
- Falling in line with the way a person is expected to think.
Boggle Threshold
- The degree to which a person is willing to deviate from normative beliefs.
Inauthenticity
- Idle talk, curiosity, and ambiguity.
Bias Blindness
- The inability to see one’s own biases.
Conversation Experience
- Change of fundamental beliefs.
