perhaps those external stimuli are always present in some form, even if they are extremely minimal, indirect, or invisible to us at first glance.

I still think the connection between external stimuli and consciousness are a lot more glaring than what you realize. After all it is how we medically determine consciousness in humans. Our ability to process and respond to external stimuli is a direct reflection of our somatic and autonomic physiology.

We could even say that it may be impossible to isolate the mind completely from all stimulation in the first place.

You can, it’s called anesthesia.

In that sense, the claim becomes less about the absence of stimulation and more about how little stimulation is actually enough to sustain consciousness or mental activity.

Its interdependent on your period of development. In gestation unborn infants produce more grey matter than what is really needed to sustain life and can get by with internal stimuli and the external stimuli provided by the womb. However as we develop we become more dependent on higher and higher levels of interaction with our environment to develop our mental capacity.

If a person were to be put under anesthesia since early development or e acquired a tbi that made them unresponsive at an early age, they would all likely mentally deteriorate to a persistent vegetative state.

One is normal brain development, and the other is consciousness itself. It’s true that a human being needs certain external stimuli for the brain to develop in a healthy way and for mental experience to be normal and stable. But that does not mean that, without those stimuli, consciousness does not exist.

Human beings require external stimuli for any higher brain development to happen, not just healthy brain development.

But that does not mean that, without those stimuli, consciousness does not exist.

Yes… It does. Any example you would like to share of a conscious individual who lacks access to any and all external stimuli?

A person can still be conscious and yet suffer severe cognitive, emotional, or behavioral changes because of sensory deprivation or an extremely limited environment.

Yes, but they did not develop in that extreme deprivation. And even if they did develop in a way that was restricted, they did not lack external stimuli completely.

Your body literally need to be experience external stimuli to develop the capacity for consciousness.

There’s fundamentally not much difference between our brain and a fly’s, at the cellular level.

There’s fundamentally not much difference between the silicon in an n64 and the silicone in a quantum computer… That doesn’t mean you can make a quantum computer out of an old n64.

However, consciousness is likely just an internal illusion.

Internal… as it can only be confirmed by the individual self? Consciousness is an ontological term to define the human condition. There is purposely no exact definition, as an exact definition of consciousness would only be utilized to strip rights away from those who do not fall under the exacting definition. There are however generally agreed upon criteria and criteria that have been hotly debated for hundreds of years.

There’s no obvious reason we can’t scale up from a fly to a human brain, other than difficulty.

To make this claim requires someone to have a limited understanding of what consciousness is, and how it develops. It completely ignores the mind body problem, and treats the human brain as something that can operate outside the body as if it were some sort of computer.

Consciousness in humans develops and sustains itself as we physically interact with the world around us. This is true in both development in childhood and as we continue to age. As we physically interact with phenomena around us we mentally develop, as our senses start to fail us in age we mentally decline. Even if I were to just cut off your arm, there would be a plethora of changes to the physiology of your brain that would alter the way it functions and the way it is shaped.

A person born stripped of all physical phenomena would never develop a conscious to begin with, and a if it were stripped away after consciousness had developed they would lose it. Hell, even sticking someone in an area with restricted physical phenomena for a short period of time can drive them insane.

Consciousness is not purely a metaphysical phenomenon. And from what we currently understand of it can not be recreated purely in a virtual format.

Speaking of new toothpaste, I’d highly recommend picking up a toothpaste with 10% Nano Hydroxyapatite. It helps remineralize your enamel and can actually repair small cavities that haven’t made it down to the root of the tooth.

The only real downside is that it’s hard to find one with fluoride in it, I usually add a fluoride additive to mine a couple times a week. But yeah, biggest game changer for my teeth in years.

Ehh… I still don’t think you would really classify it as kimchi without further clarification. It’s typically referred to as “fresh” kimchi, or kimchi salad.

I would say it’s a similar argument as trying to classify the difference between wine and vinegar. They are made from the same thing, and at points they can be in-between the definitions.

Judging by the recipe this could qualify as kimchi if left on the counter for a few days to ferment, if eaten fresh it would be more of a salad.

an idiot intern has to read it and follow the instructions exactly on what to do?

Kinda the main factor you keep in mind when writing medical notes. The notes are to inform anyone reading them what your subjective and objective observations were and, your actions, and plan of care for the patient.

Just an fyi. A lot of things can be considered kimchi, but the thing they will all have in common is that they will be fermented. This would be more like a spicy salad, something like Sangchu Geotjeori, but with cabbage instead of lettuce.

Looks great though!

I don’t know if I would agree… Variety and uniqueness doesn’t equate to art. There’s an infinite amount of ways to write a medical note, and in a large office of providers I can tell who wrote them based on composition and style…that doesn’t make me an artist.

I work in medicine, and certain sects of our field have a similar issue. They promote pragmatic and utilitarian thinking, which when utilized within the field makes sense. The problem is when people utilize this kinda problem solving on social problems at a grand scale. I would have a similar problem with people learning how to do triage or surgery at the same age kids are getting into cs.

Studying computer science coaches young people’s brains into only thinking in terms of binary reasoning, and is the reason so many tech bros are fascist. I think it’s actively harmful to people’s development, and should be kept away from children until they are emotionally mature.