Hi there, just thought I would tell everyone about my first trip from
MG seeds. It was last Sunday and me and a friend were out riding around,
when I saw one of those garden centers and thought what the hell, let's
see if they have any. So I go in and buy about 5 packages of seeds at
$1.29 apiece. They were about 3.5 grams each, there were some other
brands, but they generally weighed less and cost more.
  So while I'm driving home I decide to start eating them right there
in the car. I get through about 2 1/4 of them and dont think I can take
anymore, and by this time I am home anyway. First thing I notice about
30 minutes later is a sick bloated feeling, which I kind of expected. I
am not the type to get sick and puke, but about 15 minutes after that, I
think I'm gonna have major regurgitation, so I look around and find some
pepto-bismol. It helps for about 5 minutes and the nausea is back, then I
remember that dramamine helps this kind of thing, so I hop in the car
and drive to the Giant Eagle. No luck there, and by this time things are
starting to get a little more colorful, but it is taking all of my willpower
not to hurl. I try the Acme, but they don't have any either, I start to
panic. I go to K-Mart and thank whatever gods are watching me when I
finally spot the Dramamine II(less drowsy formula) and rush to the
checkout. Before I am even out the door, I have popped one of those
suckers and go back home.
  I decide to sit out on the deck for a while and notice that the sky
has what looks like the veins in an elm leaf running all over it. "Check
out the sky." I tell my roommate. She looks at me like OK, whatever. Things
are starting to get extremely wierd and while in the bathroom I notice
that my pupils have grown to cover about the whole surface of my eye. Not
noticable at all (unless you're blind.) Just then, my other roommate
asks me if I am ready to go, and I say "Go where?" "To the drive-in." He
tells me. I had totally forgotten that we were all going to the movies
tonight. Even worse, a girl I am dating is going with us and I am totally
losing touch with reality. At least my stomach stopped bothering me. So
we all hop in the back of the truck, all ten of us.(Damn good deal, $10
for a carload) And go see Independance Day and Broken Arrow. It was supposed
to storm that night and the rain held off through the first movie, but
there was still lightning, and to me, the movie wasn't just on the screen
anymore. I was seeing jets fly right off the edge and into the sky. I
think I will have to see it again because I missed most of the effects.
Whenever there was any kind of pattern on the screen, it shifted and
rotated until I couldn't tell what I was looking at. The only way I could
tell who was talking was listening to the voices, their faces just
made no sense. Did anyone else notice that Data from Star Trek played
the scientist? (just wondered) The worst thing was the mosquitos, they
were all over the place, and with my senses in turmoil, they were
everywhere I looked on my body, so I just ignored them all. (even the real
ones, I was covered with bites the next day.) At one point in the movie,
the president is giving a speech to everyone, and it pumped me up so
much that I just yelled "YES!", everyone thinks I'm a little strange
anyway. During Broken Arrow, it looked like John Travolta was having
terrible facial spasms, and everyone seemed to have broken out in facial
warts. I almost asked my date if they were real, but then I remembered that
she still had no idea I was tripping. After the movies, the ride home
still felt like I was watching a movie. I came home and went to bed, still
tripping hard 7 hours after taking the seeds.
  My recommendation, try them. Definitely take a Dramamine first, but
it was very similar to acid, and legal too.

"If this [sassafras] oil had been used to produce Ecstasy tablets, millions of people would have suffered," he said.

Likewise, perhaps consciousness is what emerges when the brain is actively engaged in its various functions. When we are perceiving stimuli, keeping information in our working memory and manipulating it, carrying on an internal conversation with ourselves, etc. - all of these things add up to consciousness without the need for any extra added thing. In this sense consciousness in an emergent phenomenon - not a new law of nature or a bit of mysterious magic. While I admit it is difficult to fully comprehend this notion, I find it the most compelling of all the options.

Chalmers’ primary objection comes down to - why do we experience anything? Why aren’t we zombies - carrying out all the functions we ascribe to consciousness without being conscious. I think the simple answer is - what’s the difference? What if carrying out all the functions of consciousness IS consciousness?