geordief

I think others here have noted possible observations that would show if a subject was conscious or not. I initially had in mind to drill down into more basic and fundamental reactions of the subject with its environment that would show up the fundamental concept. But I have given up on that idea because I find the subject so difficult and ,perhaps defuse. I do like the idea of the connectome as mentioned by @Prometheus but note the apparently enormous practical difficulties in studying that concept. But perhaps my test might boil down to whether the subject interacts with its environment in an"interesting" way(as Peterkin has said we as the experimenters seem to have a priori defined a conscious system as "something like us" and so "interesting" may be the most we can or should hope for)

I see.Perhaps we might even devise a test to determine whether another person had a qualitatively higher level of self awareness than oneself? I am not being serious .I must admit the subject is a lot more difficult than I had imagined. The answers I got to the OP have been helpful and informative. It seems there has been a fair bit of research into the subject.....

Posting this in General Philosophy if that fits. My question is this: "Is there any kind of a test (perhaps along the lines of the Turing test) that we could administer to a sentient creature (or a machine) that would allow us to define or determine whether or not the said subject was actually conscious? I don't know,but it seems a central feature of my existence that I tell myself that I do possess consciousness but I cannot see a way to verify this other than to take it as a matter of a priori belief. Could there be any possible tests or is it just the Turing test that might be applicable? Apologies if this question has been asked before(said sarcastically as there is apparently no emoji for that)

Was that 1941 parade directly targeted in the way it has been suggested that the upcoming May parade might be? How are the two parades comparable? Personally I feel that such an attack might play into the hands of the Russian Disinformation Services(though their dirty work has mostly been done by now,I'd say) It could present a pretext for threats of nuclear attacks and so could conceivably even be staged for that purpose.

Well that is what immediately came to my mind when I noticed this. It felt just like when you are in the train station and there is a train alongside the one you are seated in Then you notice that the other train is moving,but there is no way of knowing whether it is really the train you are in that is moving or the train alongside (unless your train accelerates strongly or jerkily enough for you to notice that and so make a determination) In the case of looking through the windscreen of the car with a stream of water (ie the rain) running downwards the effect was to make an illusion of the scene the other side of the windscreen run upwards. But I, as the viewer was motionless, so it was not quite the same scenario as with the train -and also it was the first time I had ever noticed it.

I was looking through the car windscreen today as the rain came down (parked with the wipers off) Through the windscreen I was looking at a roughly painted white wall (a rendered finish which appeared as a collection of small pebbles-I think it may be called "pebbledash,actually) Anyway the visual effect was that ,as the rainwater ran down the 45° angled windscreen the "pebbles" seemed to move up the wall in an odd kind of opposing direction. Anyone noticed this ,or similar before?

Would you say that this "self coupling" of the gravitational fields demonstrates the very essence of relativity? Is it a very central property?( might sound a bit ironic ,put that way when the absence of centres is what I think I am trying to describe)

I don't think global destabilization would have been a conscious goal of his but I can see that he might welcome it and foster it if occurred "on his watch" as it were And yes ,very hard to juggle those balls but he might feel that his ineptitude has set a very low bar and so might ,if allowed be willing to roll the dice

What is surprising to an outsider is that Finland should have had any misconceptions about the character of the Russian political system. Indeed, notwithstanding those recent polls for staying out of Nato,I have heard that the memory of the last Russo- Finnish war has lain very close to the surface of the public's conscience there ever since. Perhaps the Fins like all of us were taken aback by the neck of Putin who imagined that the invasion of a neighbouring country could be undertaken almost for sport. The fate of his endeavour seems to pivot on some kind of a "success" in the Dombas. I wish him God speed to Hell this time around and a dose of smelling salts to his lackeys in the Russian political system.

Pissing in the bath?

I think I may be more worried about the idea that there may have been nuclear weapons on board the Moskva and that the Ukrainian missile had to somehow avoid hitting them directly. I am only just learning about this Is it routine for the major militaries to carry nuclear weapons into war zones?

You might send the Russians a few echo locators so you can be even handed about things.

Wonder if it sank in Ukraine's territorial waters.

Russia has a deployed a new submarine corps in the Sea of Azos https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-europe-61101906

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antigonish_(poem)

Yesterday, upon the stair, I met a man who wasn't there He wasn't there again today I wish, I wish he'd go away... When I came home last night at three The man was waiting there for me But when I looked around the hall I couldn't see him there at all! Go away, go away, don't you come back any more! Go away, go away, and please don't slam the door... (slam!) Last night I saw upon the stair A little man who wasn't there He wasn't there again today Oh, how I wish he'd go away

With regards to the Taiwan part of the OP Stephen Sakur interviewed the Taipei representative to the EU on Hard Talk on the BBC last night. Quite pointed questions and relevant to this thread,which was started before the actual invasion. I imagine it can be found on satellite or the BBC player.(eventually youtube)

Russian State TV apparently (have posted this elsewhere, but I think it deserves sharing)

Sniffs?

All politicians are lying wind bags? Any other sections of society this can also be said of? Btw I used until recently to think Churchill's "fight on the beaches..." speech was all front ...until I heard Zelensky

https://youtu.be/zSmZ1Mlz5k8 "The Deserter" is very good(part 3)

At least the Russian expeditionary force had their papers in order when they crossed over the border. Apparently the Ukranians are denying responsibility....(as of course do the Russians-for everything) Oh ,this was a nice story about that long convoy that never made it to Kiev(how true I have little idea) https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/28/the-drone-operators-who-halted-the-russian-armoured-vehicles-heading-for-kyiv

Scummy is as scummy does. Edit: is that stuff all projection? (getting your retaliation in first)

It has occurred to me that Putin 's demise may be brought about just by his accepting the offer of face to face negotiations with Zelensky. ** He continues to impress-no donkey he. Here's hoping.

More like gnats crawling through his lobes. A BBC report on Abrahamovich last night suggesting he might be Putin's banker. Good riddance(even if he was also being used for espionage purposes,hopefully)