Consciousness as experience buffer.

Ahnimus
Ahnimus Posts: 10,560
edited March 2007 in A Moving Train
I just thought of this.

Because the brain gives emergence to consciousness and decisions are made 300ms prior to awareness, it seems that the purpose of consciousness eludes us.

Perhaps what actually occurs is everything that constitutes experience is placed into a buffer(s) and stored as an experience event. The stored events are later referenced like maps of what occurred with a previous experience.

Alternatively the experiences occur instantaneously and autonomously and immediately stored into reciprocal engrams.
I necessarily have the passion for writing this, and you have the passion for condemning me; both of us are equally fools, equally the toys of destiny. Your nature is to do harm, mine is to love truth, and to make it public in spite of you. - Voltaire
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  • Hoon
    Hoon Posts: 175
    Ahnimus wrote:
    I just thought of this.

    Because the brain gives emergence to consciousness and decisions are made 300ms prior to awareness, it seems that the purpose of consciousness eludes us.

    Perhaps what actually occurs is everything that constitutes experience is placed into a buffer(s) and stored as an experience event. The stored events are later referenced like maps of what occurred with a previous experience.

    Alternatively the experiences occur instantaneously and autonomously and immediately stored into reciprocal engrams.


    I never thought of it as the first two sentences described.

    I have had thoughts of us as something "greater" than ourselves poking into this "world", thus only part of yourself is known.

    And I do believe there are filters (that a separate selection of or all can be removed) that reduce reality to Try to make it more comprehensible.

    But because of that time span between event and experience I would say that it is being prepackaged as you say, because the stored event maps are there. It is important to make sure your maps are in good order.
    If you keep yourself as the final arbiter you will be less susceptible to infection from cultural illusion.
  • Ahnimus
    Ahnimus Posts: 10,560
    Well, the question I have is "What does consciousness do?"

    Scientifically speaking it appears to have no purpose. Some neuroscientists like Prof. Kristof Koch speculate that it is responsible for long-term planning. As much as I respect Prof. Koch, I disagree. I think consciousness only serves it's purpose as a seat of awareness. All awareness is experienced in the consciousness, the consciousness does not appear to do anything else.
    I necessarily have the passion for writing this, and you have the passion for condemning me; both of us are equally fools, equally the toys of destiny. Your nature is to do harm, mine is to love truth, and to make it public in spite of you. - Voltaire
  • farfromglorified
    farfromglorified Posts: 5,700
    The purpose of consciousness is to replace instinct, Ahnimus. Your consciousness is a construct given to you by nature so that you can self-observe.

    In essence, it's the same reason you have a mirror in your bathroom.
  • Ahnimus
    Ahnimus Posts: 10,560
    farfromglorified wrote:
    The purpose of consciousness is to replace instinct, Ahnimus. Your consciousness is a construct given to you by nature so that you can self-observe.

    In essence, it's the same reason you have a mirror in your bathroom.

    Hmm, well I think instinct is a completely separate set of functions.

    Instinct would be like, "Oh I gotta eat.", "That round thing dangling from that branch smells good and my mouth waters from looking at it and smelling it.", "I think I should eat it."

    Consciousness is the experience of everything.
    I necessarily have the passion for writing this, and you have the passion for condemning me; both of us are equally fools, equally the toys of destiny. Your nature is to do harm, mine is to love truth, and to make it public in spite of you. - Voltaire
  • farfromglorified
    farfromglorified Posts: 5,700
    Ahnimus wrote:
    Hmm, well I think instinct is a completely separate set of functions.

    It is. And it's a set of functions you don't have.
    Instinct would be like, "Oh I gotta eat.", "That round thing dangling from that branch smells good and my mouth waters from looking at it and smelling it.", "I think I should eat it."

    Instinct would not be like "Oh I gotta eat" or "I think I should eat it." There is no I in the absence of consciousness. There is only eat, eat, eat.
    Consciousness is the experience of everything.

    That's wonderfully meaningless.

    Consciousness is your ability to recognize your existence and what it means and entails as an active agent. It is not the "experience of everything".
  • Ahnimus
    Ahnimus Posts: 10,560
    farfromglorified wrote:
    It is. And it's a set of functions you don't have.

    Instinct would not be like "Oh I gotta eat" or "I think I should eat it." There is no I in the absence of consciousness. There is only eat, eat, eat.

    That's wonderfully meaningless.

    Consciousness is your ability to recognize your existence and what it means and entails as an active agent. It is not the "experience of everything".

    You are going to have to both quantify and qualify what you are trying to say. Because it's not making any sense to me. There is most definitely an "I".
    I necessarily have the passion for writing this, and you have the passion for condemning me; both of us are equally fools, equally the toys of destiny. Your nature is to do harm, mine is to love truth, and to make it public in spite of you. - Voltaire
  • farfromglorified
    farfromglorified Posts: 5,700
    Ahnimus wrote:
    You are going to have to both quantify and qualify what you are trying to say. Because it's not making any sense to me. There is most definitely an "I".

    Do you understand your own words when you say 'seat of awareness'?
  • Ahnimus
    Ahnimus Posts: 10,560
    farfromglorified wrote:
    Do you understand your own words when you say 'seat of awareness'?

    I think so. I mean, I said it right?
    I necessarily have the passion for writing this, and you have the passion for condemning me; both of us are equally fools, equally the toys of destiny. Your nature is to do harm, mine is to love truth, and to make it public in spite of you. - Voltaire
  • farfromglorified
    farfromglorified Posts: 5,700
    Ahnimus wrote:
    I think so. I mean, I said it right?

    You did say it. But I'm not sure you understand what it means.

    With an absence of consciousness, how can you have a "seat of awareness?"
  • Ahnimus
    Ahnimus Posts: 10,560
    farfromglorified wrote:
    You did say it. But I'm not sure you understand what it means.

    With an absence of consciousness, how can you have a "seat of awareness?"

    I don't think you can, and that's not what I am saying. I'm attributing the purpose of consciousness to awareness.
    I necessarily have the passion for writing this, and you have the passion for condemning me; both of us are equally fools, equally the toys of destiny. Your nature is to do harm, mine is to love truth, and to make it public in spite of you. - Voltaire
  • farfromglorified
    farfromglorified Posts: 5,700
    Ahnimus wrote:
    I don't think you can, and that's not what I am saying. I'm attributing the purpose of consciousness to awareness.

    Ok. Then how can there be an "I" in the absence of awareness?
  • Ahnimus
    Ahnimus Posts: 10,560
    farfromglorified wrote:
    Ok. Then how can there be an "I" in the absence of awareness?

    I guess it depends on how you define "I". It sounds like you need "I" to include some kind of soul or spirit. Because without either of those two things, "I" simply describes the being that is using it.
    I necessarily have the passion for writing this, and you have the passion for condemning me; both of us are equally fools, equally the toys of destiny. Your nature is to do harm, mine is to love truth, and to make it public in spite of you. - Voltaire
  • farfromglorified
    farfromglorified Posts: 5,700
    Ahnimus wrote:
    I guess it depends on how you define "I". It sounds like you need "I" to include some kind of soul or spirit. Because without either of those two things, "I" simply describes the being that is using it.

    Hehe...no. What is needed for there to be an "I" is awareness. And what is needed for awareness is consciousness. The entire purpose of consciousness is to provide an "I", which in turn provides the faculties of self-examination, logic, and something you so commonly attribute to magic known as free will.

    "It" would describe a being. Only "I" can be used to describe a being that is consciously aware.
  • Ahnimus
    Ahnimus Posts: 10,560
    farfromglorified wrote:
    Hehe...no. What is needed for there to be an "I" is awareness. And what is needed for awareness is consciousness. The entire purpose of consciousness is to provide an "I", which in turn provides the faculties of self-examination, logic, and something you so commonly attribute to magic known as free will.

    "It" would describe a being. Only "I" can be used to describe a being that is consciously aware.

    No that's wrong. I'm sorry.
    I necessarily have the passion for writing this, and you have the passion for condemning me; both of us are equally fools, equally the toys of destiny. Your nature is to do harm, mine is to love truth, and to make it public in spite of you. - Voltaire
  • farfromglorified
    farfromglorified Posts: 5,700
    Ahnimus wrote:
    No that's wrong. I'm sorry.

    Hehe...don't apologize to me.
  • Ahnimus
    Ahnimus Posts: 10,560
    farfromglorified wrote:
    Hehe...don't apologize to me.

    Well, it'd just take way to long to disprove all of that and I think you honestly believe it to the point you will never change.
    I necessarily have the passion for writing this, and you have the passion for condemning me; both of us are equally fools, equally the toys of destiny. Your nature is to do harm, mine is to love truth, and to make it public in spite of you. - Voltaire
  • farfromglorified
    farfromglorified Posts: 5,700
    Ahnimus wrote:
    Well, it'd just take way to long to disprove all of that and I think you honestly believe it to the point you will never change.

    "I think"??? Hehe...no. It reacts, or so I've been told.
  • baraka
    baraka Posts: 1,268
    Ahnimus wrote:
    No that's wrong. I'm sorry.

    ffg's description of consciousness is pretty much on par, ahnimus, although I'm not so sure about the free will=magic comment. I'm suprised you disagreed.

    Here's an interesting question.......How about, what is the origin of moral consciousness? Is that learned or innate?
    The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance,
    but the illusion of knowledge.
    ~Daniel Boorstin

    Only a life lived for others is worth living.
    ~Albert Einstein
  • farfromglorified
    farfromglorified Posts: 5,700
    baraka wrote:
    I'm not so sure about the free will=magic comment.

    I was being fascetious there. Ahnimus is constantly challenging people here to explain to him how free-will is magic. I've tried to explain in the past why free-will doesn't have to be magic, obviously to little avail.

    Ahnimus, unfortunately, would be the guy who goes to the magic show and, when he discovers the smoke and mirrors and trapdoors, would declare that the magician doesn't exist.
  • Collin
    Collin Posts: 4,931
    http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1580394,00.html
    The Mystery of Consciousness
    By STEVEN PINKER
    Friday, Jan. 19, 2007
    Time Magazine


    Interesting read.
    THANK YOU, LOSTDAWG!


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