"The nature of consciousness is considered one of science’s most perplexing and persistent mysteries. We all know the subjective experience of consciousness, but where does it arise? What is its purpose? What are its full capacities? The assumption within today’s neuroscience is that all aspects of consciousness arise solely from interactions among neurons in the brain. However, the origin and mechanisms of qualia (i.e., subjective or phenomenological experience) are not understood. David Chalmers coined the term 'the hard problem' to describe the difficulties in elucidating the origins of subjectivity from the point of view of reductive materialism. We propose that the hard problem arises because one or more assumptions within a materialistic worldview are either wrong or incomplete. If consciousness entails more than the activity of neurons, then we can contemplate new ways of thinking about the hard problem. [There are] phenomena that apparently contradict the notion that consciousness is exclusively dependent on brain activity, including phenomena where consciousness appears to extend beyond the physical brain and body in both space and time. The mechanisms underlying these 'non-local' properties are vaguely suggestive of quantum entanglement in physics, but how such effects might manifest remains highly speculative. The existence of these non-local effects appears to support the proposal that post-materialistic models of consciousness may be required to break the conceptual impasse presented by the hard problem of consciousness."

Source: Wahbeh, H., Radin, D., Cannard, C., & Delorme, A. (2022). What if consciousness is not an emergent property of the brain? Observational and empirical challenges to materialistic models. Frontiers in Psychology, 5596. 

frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.955594/full

Cover Art by Kushu: https://www.instagram.com/p/CoKgbZUoxcH/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

‘The Immovable’ - A Micro-Sermon Wrapped in a Guided Meditation

"The Spring Peeper [i.e., Pseudacris crucifer] is a small frog that is generally under 4 cm in body length. Individuals range in colour from tan, grey, rusty brown or dark brown. There is a conspicuous dark X-shaped marking on the back, a triangular or V-shaped marking on the head between the eyes, cross bands on the hind legs, and a dark stripe that extends from the snout, through the eye and part way down the side to the groin. The belly is white or cream-coloured and the inner thighs are light to dark yellow. The skin is granular in texture and individuals have small but obvious toe pads and lack webbing between the toes. Larvae (tadpoles) have long tails with a large fin and lack front legs (newly hatched tadpoles are legless). In Canada, the bodies and tail musculature of young tadpoles are tan/brown with darker mottling and the tail fin is clear. As the tadpoles age, they gain golden or brassy flecking on the body and large dark blotches along the edges of the tail fins. The larvae typically grow to 3–4 cm in total length before metamorphosis. The call is a single high-pitched “peep” which is repeated. There is also an ascending trill which is used in male-male interactions, and this trill is sometimes confused with a chorus frog call. / Spring Peepers occur throughout large expanses of Canada that are relatively undeveloped, and threats to this species are minimal throughout most of its range. Habitat destruction, particularly the loss of breeding ponds, can result in population declines or local extirpation. Pollution, such as herbicides and road salt, can be detrimental to frog populations by causing direct mortality as well as developmental deformities. Road mortality can be a significant threat when roads bisect the species’ habitat. Pathogens such as chytrid fungus and Ranavirus can cause mass mortality of frog populations. Climate change may also pose future threats to Canada’s frog populations."

- The Canadian Herpetological Society 

https://canadianherpetology.ca/species/species_page.html?cname=Spring%20Peeper

Pseudacris Crucifer Chorus

Music / assorted audio wing of Abandoned Spirit House Films with a penchant for hip-hop, jazz, “ambient” and all things experimentally electronic. Much love. ashexhibit@gmail.com

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