anaesthetic

Newstatesman

When under general anaesthetic we are basically dead. I cant easily reconcile how consciousness/qualia/awareness can be simply turned off!? If its that simple, then who's to say that doesn't happen when you die?

I've always had trouble with this one, and I think that perhaps, when under anaesthetic we aren't entirely unaware.

Mountains

You're not basically dead. You're basically asleep. If you're basically dead, then somebody's not doing their job! You can be under a relatively deep general anesthetic and still have all of your autonomic functions fully intact (heart beating, breathing, etc). The art of anesthesia is balancing things just right so that those things remain intact, but you don't feel or remember anything. But it's not perfect. Sometimes there is awareness. Your body still reacts to painful stimulus, and there are many documented cases of patients being able to state correctly who said what during their operation, despite being (by all ways we have to measure it) completely anesthetized. That's *extremely* rare, but it does happen. But you can also have some level of awareness, yet not have recall, since many anesthetic drugs also produce profound amnesia.

It's actually a pretty complicated subject area (and one I'm very familiar with)

Newstatesman

Ok I think you misunderstand what I'm trying to say.
I dont mean we are basically dead in the literal sense, I mean our awareness is completely shut off.

What I'm saying is: if our awareness can be temporarily destroyed, then who is to say that same thing doesn't happen in death.
I'm having trouble with this because:
If some part of our awareness is not localized in the brain, then how can it be disabled?

Does that make sense?

Mountains

I understand what you're saying. But believe me, the whole concept of "awareness" is very, very fuzzy. Lots of people in the medical field are studying it even as I write this. There is no universally accepted definition of the word.

I really don't think the subject is all that important in any event though, since ultimately it doesn't matter, right? Whether we're "aware" or not, the fact is that after we're dead our consciousness in this body and in this life goes away. When we are reborn into another body and another consciousness, it begins anew.

Newstatesman

I think sometimes I anxiously imagine death as a never ending anaesthetic, and that's a terrifying thought (I don't know why though).