Prof. Desmond Hettiarachchi seems to be convinced that recent neurophysiological findings provide conclusive evidence in support of the Materialist Theory of Consciousness (MTC). Hence, he arrogantly advises those who are not so convinced or who hold different views on consciousness to promptly update their knowledge on these researches and not to get trapped in religious interpretations of consciousness (‘The Island’, 19.04.08 , 30.04.08 ).

Prof. D H says that " newest scientific findings show how the brain generates consciousness." If this is true, it will not only lend irrefutable support to the MTC but also will bring an end to the brain – mind controversy. If we are to accept the notion that the brain produces consciousness, it must be scientifically demonstrated that the brain is positively capable of producing consciousness. Have the neurophysiologists done this? What they have discovered up to now is that the human cerebral cortex has specific areas for dealing with different components of consciousness. These findings are based on psychological studies and case studies of conscious states and deficits caused by lesions, strokes, injury and surgery that disrupt normal function of the brain. Further it has been shown that certain drugs (anaesthetics, sedatives) can knock off different components of consciousness by differentially acting on areas of the brain responsible for those functions. These findings also suggest that there could be a widespread cortical network involving the lobes of the cortex and deeper layers of the brain such as the thalamus, which is necessary for the occurrence of consciousness. The cerebral cortex in human beings has evolved to its present size and complexity in order to accommodate these centers and links involving large number of neurons.

But does all this mean that the brain produces consciousness? Does it reveal the exact type of functional dependence between consciousness and brain? True, disruption of a particular area in the cortex knocks off a particular component of consciousness but does it prove the hypothesis that the brain produces consciousness? One cannot come to the conclusion that it does until it is shown that the stimulation of a particular area produces the component of consciousness assigned to that centre. If the brain produced consciousness then stimulation of the areas responsible should produce beliefs or decisions. This has not been convincingly demonstrated as yet. Therefore, nobody can take up the position that the MTC conclusively explains how consciousness happens.