https://www.amazon.com/Incognito-Secret-Lives-David-Eagleman/dp/0307389928
It explains a lot. And yes, it has a plethora of political implications. Botttom line, you only think you are in control of yourself and the reality is, you are an amalgam of unconscious subroutines with a narrator telling yourself a story about your life.
To further tie it to politics, statistical senticing. Which looks at the probability you will re offend as opposed to a punitive or revenge model. Already being done with pedos.
As in purpose of jailing is not punishment but behavior modification.
Neuroscience pretty definitively says free will is ■■■■■■■■■ You are a product of genetics and unconscious subroutines laid down in childhood. You didn’t make you, you, you were shaped into you. That’s why we berate ourselves and make contracts with ourselves, because we are many subconscious entities masquerading as one coherent being. The you is the narrator, you aren’t conscious really, just an observer and a narrator backed by evolutionary subroutines.
o, I am in control you shout, really? Can you control being sad when a loved one dies.? Can you control when you are happy or sad? When you get an idea, where did it come from?
It or they come from subconscious subroutines your brain runs without conscious control.
The conscious is a narrator, not an orchestrator
Interesting stuff. We’re basically really complicated algorithms and our actions aren’t free will, they’re (potentially predictable) reactions to stimuli.
The conscious self trains new subroutines. Basically the trainer for AI. subroutines. Then our left half of the brain makes up a narrative to explain our actions to ourselves. If you sever the corpus callosum and show the right brain a pickture of the word walk, the subject will get up and walk, if you ask the left brain why he is walking, he will construct a reason, I was thirsty and am getting a glass of water. Spooky stuff. Everyone should read Eaglemans new book, Incognito.
The problem with consciousness is that no one knows exactly where it comes from.
Not sure it even exists beyond observer and narrator, all the thinking takes place behind the curtain. I just had an idea, did you? Where did it come from?
Processing is internal, definitely. I’m more interested in the source of the signal.
My thinking is going that way as well, entirely possible our consciousness is remote. My only problem with it is, everything I know about myself tells me, I wouldn’t have volunteered to play this human game. So maybe, it isn’t voluntary. Eagleman drops that bomb at the end of Incognito…
I wouldn’t necessarily say remote either. Everything physical about us comes from an underlying field. It’s all connected, notes on one flute, etc…
But, you might have though. One of the rules of life is our brains don’t get to process memories that happened before they were formed.
All I can say for sure is, if offered the choice to begin again as a random human on this planet now, I would most definitely decline unless the alternative was very bad. I would take an infinity of non consciousness as a better alternative. And I am currently pretty happy with my life, but I know I am an exception, not the rule.
Being a non-physical entity bound within a physical body, I can’t imagine how thought processes occur outside of time. Every time I’ve ever been without time, it was just pure existence, with an awareness of existing, but no thoughts about it or anything else. Pure un-involvement. Pure bliss.
Eagleman points out, consciousness only comes online when needed, which is why a familiar drive or act can leave you without temporal awareness. It’s only called upon to deal with the new or novel. We run a sim of reality in our head and only update changes to it.
Oh and I am losing my hearing and will be getting his haptic vest when it comes out. Brilliant invention, turns out, your brain can hear with any input that translates sound to data signals. Humans are weird. Doesn’t matter if those signals are picked up by eardrums or skin cells. Works for vision too.
Have you heard of blind sight? Some stroke victims can go blind, but they don’t even realize it. They just go on operating on their head sim of reality. Hey lady, you are blind, no I’m not, I see everything just fine.
If you believe his presuppositions, it may seem true. What are his presuppositions upon which he builds his theories about the causes of our actions?
