Due to page and space restrictions, the following quotes and text was edited from the original essay that I wrote for the 'Spectacle of the Mind' catalogue. I include it here for your information.
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We’re just very, very complicated, evolved machines made of organic molecules instead of metal and silicon, and we are conscious (Daniel Dennett) 1.I used the word ‘soul’ because, out of all the various words that one might use —‘consciousness’, ‘intentionality’, ‘mind’, and so forth — it is the one that I think most evocatively suggests the deep mystery of first-person existence that any philosophically inclined person must wonder about many times
during their life…(Douglas Hofstadter) 2.
Although Hunt (1995) maintains there is no neurophysiologic research which conclusively shows that the higher levels of mind (intuition, insight, creativity, imagination, understanding, thought, reasoning, intent, decision, knowing, will, spirit, or soul) are located in brain tissue, EEG’s have been associated with particular states of consciousness. Consequently, clinical applications of EEG feedback have elicited various responses in popular culture particularly science fiction films, such as Forbidden Planet (Wilcox, 1956), Prisoner television series (1967), Sleeper (Woody Allen, 1973), The flight of the Navigator (Randal Kleiser, 1986), The Lawnmower Man (Brett Leonard, 1992), Total Recall (Paul Verhoeven, 1990) and Torchwood television series (2008), just to name a few. As a symbol of scientific progress, the inclusion of an EEG device within the film’s narrative established a connection between the opposing themes of science and fantasy, personal control and lack of it.
However, far from being controlling, EEGs have therapeutic applications. They are used to provide biofeedback to individuals to enable them to alter blood pressure levels, relax their muscles or reduce chronic pain, revealing that we have a certain amount of conscious volition over those seemingly ‘hard-wired’ bodily functions. Through specialised computer brain interface, many individuals are able to recover lost bodily functions after disease or accident. Understanding brain neuroplasticity enables us to apply positive or cognitive behavioural thinking to modify our behaviour and greatly improve our lives.
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1. Daniel C. Dennett (1991). Consciousness Explained, Boston, Toronto, London: Little, Brown and Company, p.431-432.
2. Douglas Hofstadter in: An Interview with Douglas R. Hofstadter by Tal Cohen and Yardin Nir-Buchbinder, Haayal Hakore, September, 2007, reproduced on line at http://tal.forum2.org/hofstadter_interview
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