Civilization and Consciousness

[Praxis101]

Hi, I'm looking for some reading amaterial for fun mostly. I'd like to read about civilizations, esp. some really science-fictiony kind of theories about high levels of civilization or cool stuff about how civilization advances (if anyone knows Borodog's post on Time Preference and Civilization, stuff like that is pretty sweet too.)

And the same type of stuff about consciousness. Like, if there are different dimensions of consciousness and crazy/science-fictiony stuff about high levels of consciousness and stuff. Or just your own theories about these matters. Bonus points if the resource includes both. Preferably free material, as I have been flirting with busto.

[tame_deuces]

I'll recommend some fun fiction:

Asimov's 'foundation' is cool stuff if you haven't read it. It is basically about the end of a civilization and how using science some people tried to lay the foundation for the advancement of a new civilization to be based on rational ideas through a series of 'trials'.

Hamilton's 'Night's dawn' trilogy is a pretty sweet read that would seem to qualify all your criteria, it is also (science) fiction which dabbles in the existence of souls, consciousness and big spaceships with huge guns.

Both authors are cool since they both have atleast slight clues to much of the stuff they describe. For more academic stuff I'm blank, but I'm sure others can fill in.

[hitch1978]

'foundation' is cool.

Also, Arthur.C.Clarke, has written allot of short storys about some philosophical/science fiction based possible futures.

[Copernicus]

"The question What is consciousness? provokes all kinds of responses, ranging from jokes about psychedelic drugs to brow-furrowing discourses on life's meaning. Nearly everyone has an opinion, despite the lack of meaningful data explaining the phenomenon. Susan Blackmore posed this question to 21 leading scientists and philosophers who study consciousness for a living, compiling their responses into lively, though slightly repetitive, Q&A interviews. In each case, Blackmore asks, What's the problem with consciousness? Why does it differ from other targets of scientific inquiry? Several thinkers insist that it does not and that researchers will fare better when they treat consciousness like anything else in nature. Others assert that consciousness is fundamentally different, constituting something extra beyond the ordinary physical world. Says David Chalmers, an Australian mathematician- turned-philosopher: The heart of the science of consciousness is trying to understand the first-person perspective-- to explain subjective experiences objectively. In grappling with what neuroscientists call the hard problem--the struggle to explain how neural processes create subjective experiences--the experts are long on theories but short on answers. Nearly all agree that classical dualism doesn't work--that the mind and brain cannot be made of distinct substances. Many refer instead to the neural correlates of consciousness, the neural activity present during a person's conscious experience. Blackmore queries the thinkers on such issues as life after death, the self and free will. Most say they do not believe in extracorporeal survival, in contrast with 55 percent of U.S. residents. Most also agree that scientific evidence does not support the notion of free will, despite the gripping feeling that it exists. And because the search for the source of a conscious I in the brain has turned up empty, the existence of a distinct self seems remote, although subjective awareness suggests each person needs a self to experience consciousness. Blackmore also asks the researchers why they chose to study consciousness and how doing so has affected their lives. Several refer to a fascination with altered states of consciousness prompted by drugs, meditation, dreams or anesthesia. Many abandoned fruitful research careers in other areas to pursue the Holy C. Perhaps the most extreme case is that of Francis Crick, a physicist who won the Nobel Prize by decoding DNA's structure and then at age 60 turned his attention to consciousness work for a quarter of a century. Crick's interview by Blackmore was his last; he died shortly thereafter, in July 2004. "

about this book

[Copernicus]

BTW a fun book is Holographic Universe by Michael Talbot. Its broader than consciousness, getting into the nature of existence altogether. It takes some giant leaps in logic, but no worse than ACists do. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]