My Right Elbow
Years ago, I fell while running. I shattered my right elbow on the asphalt and needed surgery to fix the break. I still have a dozen pins and screws surrounding the joint and a couple of plates. There was lots of fallout from the injury; I have written about the complication that could have killed me. This essay is about the other thing that happened due to my fall.
I have long been a student of consciousness, meaning I know as much about it as you do, next to nothing. I remember buying Daniel Dennett’s book Consciousness Explained. I soon realized that no one has a clue what consciousness is, why humans have it, and where it comes from. Is it a function of the physical brain? Does it somehow emerge from the physical characteristics of the brain? How does that work? Why does a brain create consciousness while other biological systems don’t, or at least do not appear to?
Is consciousness merely fundamental to the universe? Is it something necessary for the existence of a universe? While unsatisfying, that may be true. It is all very mysterious. The nature of consciousness is unknown. Lots of researchers disagree about how to even approach the problem. In my view, no one knows what it is. No one is even close to understanding its nature. Especially the anesthesiologists.
And there you have it, those highly paid doctors, the ones you trust your life to when you need surgery, don’t know why anesthesia works. They really don’t. Have you ever had a chance to ask one of them? Go ahead, corner one of them, and start a conversation. You will be shocked at the answers. Sure, they know how much gas to give you and are experts at monitoring you when you are under, but that is about it. They know as much as you do about consciousness.
As you might have guessed, I was put under when I had my elbow surgery. It was the first time I had experienced anesthesia, and I use the term “experienced” very loosely. The first whiff of gas and I was gone, unconscious. I was not in a dream state; it was as if I no longer existed. Where was I? I have no idea. I was unconscious.
Of course, I talked with my anesthesiologist before my surgery. He laughed when I told him that he had no idea how the cocktail of gases worked to put me under. He laughed and readily agreed. He was happy to admit that no one had any deep understanding of how anesthesia works; he just knew that it did work and worked remarkably well. I quickly reminded him that to understand how anesthesia works, one must understand the nature of consciousness. No one alive has a deep understanding of that. He laughed again and nodded his head. I must admit that I felt a lot better about the coming surgery after talking to him. I would have objected if he tried to snow me into thinking he understood consciousness. Such a person who can demonstrate the true nature of consciousness will instantly become the most famous scientist in the world. Quite possibly the most famous scientist that has ever lived. The topic is that big of a deal. Brilliant people have been working on it for hundreds of years, and I do not believe any real progress has been made. Lots of speculation but no quantifiable scientific insight.
Being under the effects of anesthesia was weird. It was the strangest physical experience of my life. I was simply gone. I was not in a dream state; I certainly was not asleep. I was simply gone. I am happy the anesthesiologist, with his primitive caveman knowledge of the true nature of human consciousness, was able to bring me back. Three cheers and a tiger for that guy. You know what I mean.
I have taken a deep dive into the nature of consciousness for the last few months. It is either emergent, rising out of the physical brain by an unknown process, or fundamental to the universe. When I say no one can prove either position, I mean no one has a clue. Lots of religious people will tell you… Yeah, I don’t care what they think, and I use the term “think” loosely. The thing about science is that you can never appeal to the supernatural. That is not what science is. No deities allowed, never. Spewing that “Well, God did it and…” doesn’t help. It is tiresome and uninteresting.
How can consciousness emerge from a brain and not my right elbow? They are both biological systems, right? Descartes, way back when, called this the mind-body problem. I would suggest Descartes knew as much about it as we do. Scientists and philosophers call this the “hard problem.” That is a bit of an understatement. How hard can hard be? Unsolvable, maybe. I will be watching closely to see if a clever person can tackle this problem in a novel way. I guess we will need to create consciousness before we can fully understand it. An accidental creation of consciousness, while not probable, is possible. I’ve seen Ex Machina and the clever reverse Turing Test central to the movie. The point is Alicia Vikander, in whatever form, would be easy to fall in love with if you were a young man out and about in the world.
Will someone offer up an in-depth explanation of consciousness before my own expires? I hope so, but I doubt it. Perhaps this is the greatest mystery facing humanity. Many other questions about human nature will be framed quite differently if we can get a handle on consciousness. Unfortunately, I do not see that happening anytime soon. Don’t be surprised if, when an answer is offered, it is entirely unsatisfying. Consciousness might simply be an epiphenomenon of the evolutionary process that created the universe. If so, we are all left to bask in the mystery of life. I am resigned to such a possibility.
