verklingen

I just got to thinking what an amazing thing consciousness is when something dawned on me. Consciousness is basically an atribute of an existence that has found itself some free time. All the glories of our culture. . . our art; literature; music; techology. These are the existential footprints of a species who calls itself concious; a species who has so mastered its skills of survival that it is afforded some breathing room from which it may enter the creative process and create novel experience.

Our brains grew to enourmous proportions relatively quickly. This reflects a time period when our ancestors had found themselves able to devote more and more of their brain's processing power on simply imagining things. And the result is all we have today!

So something conscious is something that can imagine, and something can imagine when its entire being isn't wrapped up in trying to survive. That doesn't sound all too hard. If the universe is abundant with life -- which is pretty much a given imo with all the organic compounds they keep detecting in exoplanetary objects and deep space -- then maybe it's teeming with an orchestra of imaginations

__________________

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”

Mescalito

I think of consciousness as a flashlight in the dark. We chose where to shine it a lot of the time.. and we can adjust the focus and intensity as needed. No light.. no awareness.

M

The Rev

If you really want to blow your mind, try to find the point at which conscious awareness and the experiences that fill it are divided. When you realize there is no such line, the world starts to look really, really different.



The Rev

__________________

flappy

__________________
<> <><><><><><><><> <><><><><><><><><> <>

Waves

So did our consciousness evolve out of organic matter and the interaction of attention (in that case what exactly IS attention?) with environment or did our bodies evolve to the point where our consciousness could inhabit them?

what caused our priority to change from being survival-orientated to beings influenced to do different things with our time, like art? when did the animal become a self conscious choosing entity?

could it have been the introduction of some kind of different consciousness altogether? that would imply that our primitive ancestors were sort of soul-less machinations and at some point we evolved the ability to choose what to do other than follow our instincts, i think. could that be that far from the truth?

i lean towards the idea that all consciousness works the same, so to speak. in other words, the consciousness of a dog and the consciousness of a human both work the same way. its just been programmed differently. like two computers who both run on electricity, but have two entirely different operating system.

so consciousness is like a function/facet of existence or reality much like electricity is a function/facet of energy. to experience reality there must be some awareness of that reality. as we were primitive our awareness of that reality is limited, limited to basic ideas like survival and stuff. maybe over time as we gain experience and knowledge our intellect can expand in different ways to encapsulate more aspects of our existence. like art. or even the fact that we exist at all. maybe that self awareness is a point of evolution, like a tipping point of some sorts. if an organism can reach that point all bets are off, survival is no longer the main factor, and free will and choice become the main factor. we are still influenced by our genes to carry out basic animalstic instincts, like mating and eating, and even breathing, but our awareness of ourselves and what it means to be ourselves is greater.

__________________
On this life that we call home
The years go fast and the days go so slow

hijabihippie

Check out "The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress" by Robert Heinlein for a great read, and thoughful discussion on the nature of consciousness.

verklingen

this is an excellent point, and i'm inclined to go with the latter. i believe consciousness is an inherent aspect of all things that exist, and we have a bias that construes our apparent intelligence as consciousness.

not so much a different consciousness, i don't think, but rather a new aspect of an already existing consciousness that our biological configuration allowed us to tap into.

word

dogs have consciousness, but the behavior of our ancestors produced a physiological circuitry that acclimated them to discover its "intelligent" aspect: the ability to conceive, anticipate, prepare for and influence future events. this is the creativity i mentioned. before that point, life was a creation with the capacity to create -- or more precisely, reiterate -- only itself. since then, in us, consciousness has found a conduit to explode with relatively instantaneous novelty with limitless potential.

QFT!

thanks for chiming in waves, this is exactly where i was trying to go with that stoned post of mine

it's a definite tipping point, setting in motion an asymptotic progression toward infinite novelty to use the verbiage of terrance mckenna. let's ride it to the "end"

__________________

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”

The Rev

Consciousness could not have evolved out of organic matter or functions. The experiencer cannot be duplicated without creating contradictions (such as being, and not being, at the same time), but the body can, theoretically. Consciousness MUST NECESSARILY orginate in some other way than physical objects, organic or otherwise, do.



The Rev

__________________

John F. Kerry

so now i see what conciousness and new super mario bros have in common lol .

__________________
Nasa under Obama

Mescalito

What doesn't have something in common with mario bros!? heh

Also I have this great article about consciousness on my drive somewhere.. will root it out soon..

M

Mescalito

I think we are always pure consciousness in expression.. and it's who we are...

The degree to which we are aware of this determines whether we 'remember'.

M

Mescalito

Probably the most interesting bit of copy and paste I have ever done...

'Consciousness is all and everything in the virtual hologram of our experiences brought into awareness by the brain which is an electrochemical machine forever viewing streaming codes for experience and interpretation. Consciousness originates from a source of light energy for the purpose of learning. The human biogenetic experiment is consciousness brought forth into the physical by the patterns of sacred geometry that repeat in cycles called Time.

Reality is about the evolution of consciousness in the alchemy of time. To become fully consciousness, is to remember who you are as a being of light, why you are here, and where we are going as dictated by the collective unconscious that creates the programs of realities through which your soul experiences simultaneously.'

M

Waves

i definitly agree. to bring it to a much more esoteric and trippy level, the fact that our universe, which is something, eventually was created out of nothing, is something to think about when pondering the origins of consciousness too. when the big bang happened our universe was a tiny particle, but what created THAT particle?

__________________
On this life that we call home
The years go fast and the days go so slow

Roach

eat one large orange

take 4 way hit of blotter acid.

call me in a week.




all right ,I admit...it was me.








It was a sh-art actually.
bad chilli.

Mescalito

THIS...

When we put our clothes on in the morning, we are conscious of them against our skin, but because the signal from the periphery is steady and repetitious, it evokes an equal but opposite cancelling signal, so that consciousness of the clothes fades; we 'get used to them': our response becomes automatic (sub-conscious): we become habituated -- unless they suddenly snag on a nail, when the sudden change of input again engages consciousness, and we are again aware of our clothes.

Similarly, when we hear traffic start up early in the morning, we are conscious of the sound. But as the roar of starting lorries merges into a steady hum, we get used (habituated) to the sound and soon we are no longer conscious of it. But if there is a CHANGE, a sudden silence, or a sudden crash, we are again aware (conscious) of the traffic.

Thus consciousness is OUR RUNNING RECORD OF CHANGE OF INPUT TO THE NERVOUS SYSTEM ... regular, routine input evokes automatic, subconscious response, while consciousness is triggered by non-routine, unusual stimulus, which evades our habitual response system, and penetrates to the centre, to the cerebral cortex, engaging the imagination which continually integrates the non-routine input from our senses, weaving it into the 360-degree glorious technicolor 'big picture' which we call 'reality'!

The nature of the negative-feedback processes regulating our behaviour are such that the brain acts continually to reduce input from the internal environment by outputting the appropriate pattern of signals to the muscles for the sequence of behaviour needed to correct the imbalance signalled by the flow from within.

For instance, urgent (that is unusually frequent) signals from within indicating LOW blood-sugar levels will generate 'seek food' behaviour (looking around) and when input from the peripheral senses (eyes, nose) indicates the contrast (rapid change of input) between red apple and green foliage, say, the streams of input from interior and exterior are combined and processed, finally to emerge and trigger the pattern and sequence of muscular activity which carries the fruit to the mouth and consumes it, thus RAISING the blood-sugar level. A different pattern of input -- say low input from within due to HIGH blood-sugar levels combined with the same external input, might generate the pattern of muscular activity which puts the apple in a pocket for later.

'Attention' is in fact 'attenuation' of input: if a light flashes, say, or a bell rings, the change in rate of input evades the automatic responses and penetrates to the cortex, engaging the imagination which has the function of initiating non-automatic, original behaviour to attenuate (attend to) the sudden influx and reduce the flow of input to a steady stream, dealt with routinely by the automatic systems, freeing the cortex to prepare for further sudden developments.

The biological function of consciousness is prediction and the integration and initiation of non-routine behaviour to enable rapid adaptation to rapidly changing circumstances.

Since consciousness is our response to changing input, while regular, routine, unchanging input is coped with habitually, that is SUB-consciously, it follows that WHAT IS AROUND ALL THE TIME IS INVISIBLE ... it is impossible to see the wood for the trees, and people can be manipulated via their habit-forming systems by repetition. So-called subliminal advertising is not hidden from view, which would be self-defeating, but on the contrary is ubiquitous, and therefore invisible. Guinness is good for you: however obvious the lie, sufficient repetition gets it swallowed by the subconscious (automatic) response system, unless some non-routine event (reading drugwar notes) triggers attention, engages the imagination, and breaks the habit.