If you grow a brain in a lab, will it have a mind of its own?

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(2018-05-05, 09:59 PM)stephenw Wrote: What cells in the cortex are receptor cells and what physical signal are they receiving, to qualify as the stimulus for content in dreaming?

Neurons can send signals to and receive signals from other neurons.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuron

Also, I'm a bit curious as to why you inserted this sentence, "And just to stay on topic - I don't think growing brain cells will make a human mind, however it seems logical to accept that they could be stimulated to process information." into the quote box containing the rest of my post. Are you going to try to pretend later that I said this?
(This post was last modified: 2018-05-06, 12:45 AM by fls.)
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(2018-05-06, 12:42 AM)fls Wrote: Neurons can send signals to and receive signals from other neurons.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuron

Also, I'm a bit curious as to why you inserted this sentence, "And just to stay on topic - I don't think growing brain cells will make a human mind, however it seems logical to accept that they could be stimulated to process information." into the quote box containing the rest of my post. Are you going to try to pretend later that I said this?
Sorry for the inadvertent mistaken location of my closing comment.  I didn't proof-read the post.

I think this is an important topic.  Human minds are characterized by agency.  The thought experiment Sci has suggested brings out the issue of AI and how mind works.

"Neurons send and receive signals" in a physical manner that is well documented.  The topic here is mind and resulting agency from its workings.  There is no agency inherent in signals unless there are encoded messages with the capability to convey agency into real world environments.

The Wiki article you cited was extensive reporting of the electro-chemistry of the physical signals and the channels that they use to transmit signals.  In the whole of the article -- all that addressed agency and mental output - is a mention of neural coding. 
Quote: Neural coding is concerned with how sensory and other information is represented in the brain by neurons. The main goal of studying neural coding is to characterize the relationship between the stimulus and the individual or ensemble neuronal responses, and the relationships amongst the electrical activities of the neurons within the ensemble.[24] It is thought that neurons can encode both digital and analog information.[25] 

In other words (please read the whole of the neural coding entry) - there are only vague inferences about how semantic meaning, context for external reality and purposeful intentions come from electro-chemistry.  It is nothing but promissory materialism, and why informational realism is needed to bring agency into a scientific analysis of the natural events of mind.
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