Non-sense data

[os.motic]

Empiricism requires the utilization of all sense data in order to form an accurate representation of this world. However where it falls short is that humans only have their 5 senses and consciousness. Could there be another form of sense data stream that humans are not tapped into, drastically limiting their own perception of reality? 

[Wuzzums]

Humans have 20+ senses. Pressure, pain, pleasure, thirst, hunger, warm, wet, cold, and so on are all senses. We have the required amount of senses that allowed us to become the dominant species, an extra sense would be pointless and an overall negative because it will occupy a part of the brain that could be used by a more useful sense.

[villagewisdom]

Humans have 20+ senses. Pressure, pain, pleasure, thirst, hunger, warm, wet, cold, and so on are all senses. We have the required amount of senses that allowed us to become the dominant species, an extra sense would be pointless and an overall negative because it will occupy a part of the brain that could be used by a more useful sense.

 

What reference do you use for 20+ senses? What you describe here are experiences and most are recognized through the sense of touch. 

[RichardY]

Empiricism requires the utilization of all sense data in order to form an accurate representation of this world. However where it falls short is that humans only have their 5 senses and consciousness. Could there be another form of sense data stream that humans are not tapped into, drastically limiting their own perception of reality? 

Non-sense, nonsense?

 

Non-sense, so output orientated, the creative sense, an amalgamation of all the other senses. Not aware enough of the unconscious mind perhaps. Maybe meditation is a way of allowing the creative sense a way of expressing itself in more conscientiousness individuals. Perhaps if the mind is at rest, when conditions are stable, what is left is creativity, maybe like a snake eating its own tail, Ouroboros(symbol of introspection).

 

Reminded of an experiment with a chimp, a human child and a box. In the box was food initially shown to the child or the chimp, then placed in the box. The researcher then used a stick tapped the box a couple of times(a superfluous act) and removed the food. Which one copied the researcher and which one just removed the food? Which was more creative?

[os.motic]

Humans have 20+ senses. Pressure, pain, pleasure, thirst, hunger, warm, wet, cold, and so on are all senses. We have the required amount of senses that allowed us to become the dominant species, an extra sense would be pointless and an overall negative because it will occupy a part of the brain that could be used by a more useful sense.

 

I'm not advocating another sense. I'm also not saying the evolutionary process has arrived at it's destination biologically; that humans (read the human mind) will continue to grow and adapt to the environment as it always has. Voluntary choice so to speak has been the latest evolution and who knows where the prefrontal cortex is headed in the next 10,000 generations. What I'm asking is that when we get to that stage, how will we look back on sense perception and the nature of reality, like we do with our ancestor of a meager 1000 years ago! If the conditions for acquiring knowledge evolve, it means that our current understanding of reality would evolve as well. Which raises several questions about where we are and what we know now. 

[Wuzzums]

What reference do you use for 20+ senses? What you describe here are experiences and most are recognized through the sense of touch. 

 

A "sense" is defined as the ability to detect a stimulus. The receptors of the body are numerous. The ability to feel pain is not the same as the ability to touch for example. You can feel pain without touching and can touch without feeling pain. Color, movement, shape and distance are all perceived through the eyes. Difference neural pathways are produced for each and each is being perceived by different parts of the brain.

[MrCapitalism]

 

Non-sense data.

Nonsense data? It's interesting that this pejorative word, 'nonsense,' describes the status of all knowledge not available to the sense.

 

Also, I suggest podcast FDR25: Validating the senses.

http://media.freedomainradio.com/feed/validating_the_senses.mp3

Could there be another form of sense data stream that humans are not tapped into, drastically limiting their own perception of reality? 

There are many. Here is my attempt at a list. Would others please contribute from your specific fields.

Magnetism,

Electric charge,

All of the radio spectrum, excluding visible light.

All visible objects, the size of which is indiscernible to the naked human eye.

Gaseous pressure,

Ph of solutions.

Gravity intensity.

All sound frequencies outside of the range of human perception.

The passing of time.

[Songbirdo]

What reference do you use for 20+ senses? What you describe here are experiences and most are recognized through the sense of touch. 

The traditional “five senses” model (sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste) is credited to Aristotle

 

A simple Google search for "How many senses do humans have" comes up with this:

http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2010/07/humans-have-a-lot-more-than-five-senses/

 

 

 

• Sight:  This technically is two senses given the two distinct types of receptors present, one for color (cones) and one for brightness (rods).
• Taste:  This is sometimes argued to be five senses by itself due to the differing types of taste receptors (sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami), but generally is just referred to as one sense.  For those who don’t know, umami receptors detect the amino acid glutamate, which is a taste generally found in meat and some artificial flavoring.  The taste sense, unlike sight, is a sense based off of a chemical reaction
• Touch:  This has been found to be distinct from pressure, temperature, pain, and even itch sensors.
• Pressure: Obvious sense is obvious. 
• Itch:  Surprisingly, this is a distinct sensor system from other touch-related senses.
• Thermoception:  Ability to sense heat and cold.  This also is thought of as more than one sense.  This is not just because of the two hot/cold receptors, but also because there is a completely different type of thermoceptor, in terms of the mechanism for detection, in the brain.  These thermoceptors in the brain are used for monitoring internal body temperature.
• Sound:  Detecting vibrations along some medium, such as air or water that is in contact with your ear drums.
• Smell:  Yet another of the sensors that work off of a chemical reaction.  This sense combines with taste to produce flavors.
• Proprioception:  This sense gives you the ability to tell where your body parts are, relative to other body parts.  This sense is one of the things police officers test when they pull over someone who they think is driving drunk.  The “close your eyes and touch your nose” test is testing this sense.  This sense is used all the time in little ways, such as when you scratch an itch on your foot, but never once look at your foot to see where your hand is relative to your foot.
• Tension Sensors:  These are found in such places as your muscles and allow the brain the ability to monitor muscle tension.
• Nociception:  In a word, pain.  This was once thought to simply be the result of overloading other senses, such as “touch”, but this has been found not to be the case and instead, it is its own unique sensory system.  There are three distinct types of pain receptors: cutaneous (skin), somatic (bones and joints), and visceral (body organs).
• Equilibrioception:   The sense that allows you to keep your balance and sense body movement in terms of acceleration and directional changes.  This sense also allows for perceiving gravity.  The sensory system for this is found in your inner ears and is called the vestibular labyrinthine system.  Anyone who’s ever had this sense go out on them on occasion knows how important this is.  When it’s not working or malfunctioning, you literally can’t tell up from down and moving from one location to another without aid is nearly impossible.
• Stretch Receptors:  These are found in such places as the lungs, bladder, stomach, and the gastrointestinal tract.  A type of stretch receptor, that senses dilation of blood vessels, is also often involved in headaches.
• Chemoreceptors:  These trigger an area of the medulla in the brain that is involved in detecting blood born hormones and drugs.  It also is involved in the vomiting reflex.
• Thirst:  This system more or less allows your body to monitor its hydration level and so your body knows when it should tell you to drink.
• Hunger:  This system allows your body to detect when you need to eat something.
• Magnetoception:  This is the ability to detect magnetic fields, which is principally useful in providing a sense of direction when detecting the Earth’s magnetic field.  Unlike most birds, humans do not have a strong magentoception, however, experiments have demonstrated that we do tend to have some sense of magnetic fields.  The mechanism for this is not completely understood; it is theorized that this has something to do with deposits of ferric iron in our noses.  This would make sense if that is correct as humans who are given magnetic implants have been shown to have a much stronger magnetoception than humans without.
• Time:  This one is debated as no singular mechanism has been found that allows people to perceive time.  However, experimental data has conclusively shown humans have a startling accurate sense of time, particularly when younger. The mechanism we use for this seems to be a distributed system involving the cerebral cortex, cerebellum, and basal ganglia.  Long term time keeping seems to be monitored by the suprachiasmatic nuclei (responsible for the circadian rhythm).  Short term time keeping is handled by other cell systems.

[Jaeger]

 

The traditional “five senses” model (sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste) is credited to Aristotle

 

A simple Google search for "How many senses do humans have" comes up with this:

http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2010/07/humans-have-a-lot-more-than-five-senses/

 

• Equilibrioception:   The sense that allows you to keep your balance and sense body movement in terms of acceleration and directional changes.  This sense also allows for perceiving gravity.  The sensory system for this is found in your inner ears and is called the vestibular labyrinthine system.  Anyone who’s ever had this sense go out on them on occasion knows how important this is.  When it’s not working or malfunctioning, you literally can’t tell up from down and moving from one location to another without aid is nearly impossible.

I would get vertigo do to Meniere's disease that would last hours and was confined either to bed or on the bathroom floor.  I couldn't walk so had to crawl to the restroom to puke because of motion sickness even though I wasn't moving.  I felt I was crawling on the wall even though it was the floor.  My whole perception was turned sideways. I also get what they call drop attacks.  The bad ear would send a signal to my brain that I was falling when I wasn't,  That caused me to instantly fall to the ground as my body tried to correct itself.  The doctor ended up injecting gentamicin into my ear to kill the vestibular nerve so I wouldn't get vertigo and drop attacks.  That killed all vestibular function in my left ear.  After the first shot, It took me a couple of days after to be able to walk while my mind adjusted to only having one good ear.  After that it took weeks to fully be steady on my feet.  The vestibular system also stabilizes your vision while you walk or run so the horizon bounced up and down for me for months after the shots. I will say it's better to have no vestibuar function than a faulty one as eventually the brain adapts to the new norm.  I also lost most of my hearing in that ear as well but that was nothing compared to lack of balance.  At least for me.