Comment by rixed
4 days ago
I don't know why you single out memories.
Certainly, if some mad scientist were to stimulate via an electrode some parts of your brain to make you experience pain, you will remember it. Also, it's not unreasonable to assume that it would be equally feasible to create fake memories by stimulating other parts.
If there is a hard problem, memory is not it.
It's some of the lower hanging fruit that is complex enough that we don't understand, but we don't have to question thoughts, or consciousness.
What I'm saying isn't that if you stimulate pain, you won't remember it.
False memories would be a challenge. How would you input a memory of going up a tree to rescue a cat. Where would you even begin?
Granted, memory is certainly more complex than basic feelings and can probably not be generated on demand by stimulating a few neurons in a single place. We are certainly far from being able to create memories by electric stimulations, but I see no reason to believe it's impossible. Therefore invoking "memory" (or any other complex though, really) does not refute "[the mind] is the sum of electrical and chemical network activity in the brain".
Anyway, I suspect in those discussions more time is spent disagreeing on the meaning of words than on the core concepts.