In the computer metaphor for explaining the self, comparing the soul with the user mixes the inanimate with the animate – isn’t it better to compare consciousness with electricity?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

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thank you in the computer metaphor for explaining the self compare the hardware to the body the software to the mind and the user to the soul isn’t it better that the soul’s consciousness compared to the electricity which is what enables the hardware software to function similarly consciousness helps the body to function by bringing the user we are bringing the animate we are mixing the animate with the inanimate in in the metaphor that creates a confusion and then we say the computer system includes the user which also isn’t exactly true answer yes we might be able to compare it to the electricity and consciousness it depends on what the purpose of the metaphor is comparing the consciousness to electricity raises the question that the body functions not body functions by physical energy also we eat food and we get in the physical energy so then for the functioning of the body electricity this just like a robo functions without consciousness the body can also function although there will not be any emotions or feelings but the physical functioning and even the information processing in the mind can happen so the soul and consciousness exist in a different category and that categorical difference is highlighted when we talk about the user in the metaphor because the user also is in a different category as compared to software and hardware so the software hardware are mechanical and the user is personal so the body mind are also mechanisms they are material mechanisms where the soul is a personal spark of consciousness we see Shila Prabhupada when he used the car body analogy he didn’t compare the soul’s consciousness to the petrol that is to the petrol or whatever fuel is used that is causing the car to move now without the fuel the car won’t move similarly we can say without consciousness the body won’t move but then the fuel can be compared to again the physical energy in the body the fuel is a physical mechanism that can be replenished by material means similarly physical energy is a physical thing that can be replenished by eating physical food and same way electricity if the charge in the computer gets discharged then the battery gets discharged the battery can be recharged so there is the tradition where our Acharya Shila Prabhupada has avoided using the mechanical to compare with the to equate with the conscious in metaphors he has consciously used the conscious to compare with the conscious similarly Sadaput Prabhu uses in the in his article on virtual reality in his book Maya the world is a virtual reality again a computer metaphor and then he talks about how a person playing a virtual reality video game say driving a car in the video game can meet a virtual death if the car falls off a bridge and that happens because of the projection of the consciousness of the user of the game player into the mechanism of the video game similarly 13.22 in the Bhagavad Gita says that the soul is transcendental but soul becomes situated in the body made of material nature because of the projection of the consciousness into matter with the desire to enjoy matter by when we compare the soul’s consciousness to electricity electricity is not personal so we also end up supporting a more impersonal conception of spirituality spirituality is not just of life’s spiritual dimension it’s not just the flow of consciousness like there is a flow of electricity rather that flow of consciousness is coming from a conscious entity and electricity really does not have much existence in a personal sense separate from the body, separate from the computer it exists simply as a flow but electricity does not have its self existence so the concept of disentanglement or liberation also becomes very difficult to explain using the metaphor with the electricity being compared to consciousness when we consider the user then user to be comparable to the soul then we can talk about the projection of the consciousness as the cause of entanglement and as soon as the projection stops then there is a possibility for disentanglement also so because of the soul being in a different category because the physical energy of the body comes from a source different from the soul and the physical energy is more comparable with the electricity in the computer because the the previous devotee scholars and Shri Prabhupada devotee scholars and scientists have used the metaphor of the soul being compared to the user and because this explains the phenomena of both entanglement and disentanglement of the soul better I would say that it’s much more coherent and cogent to use the to compare conscious being soul with the computer user rather than to compare consciousness with the with the electricity in a computer system thank you