thoughts on thoughts

This blog has reached 100 posts and I feel it is time for a little summary. The object is a make it easier for my visitors to find what they want among the posts. I have made a list of general ideas/questions that I am trying to investigate, and then, for each heading, I list the posts that apply to that idea.

Purpose of the blog

The aim of this blog is to prepare people for the revolution that is going to happen soon in neuroscience. The very first post (1 Jun 08 aims ) outlined the scope of the blog. The aims are enlarged on later in (10 Aug 08 scientific shocks). To give an indication of the type of material that was intended in the blog an early post gave a list (12 Jun 08 what do we know about consciousness) and another gave probable functions (2 Jul 08 does sconsciousness have a function). Putting consciousness in context was the purpose of (9 Oct 08 one way to look at consciousness).

 

A different way to look at consciousness

Some posts have been specifically written to help people come to grips with a different way of viewing their mental life. These posts hardly contain any quotes or links to scientific material. I have used some descriptions of my own way of seeing myself: (6 Jun 08 living without a conscious mind) (10 Jul 08 decisions) (15 Aug 08 who is watching) (18 Oct 08 why make problems) (15 Nov 08 metaphors for consciousness) (30 Nov 08 metaphor) (15 Dec 08 a few definitions) (18 Mar 09 Little thought experiment) (22 Feb 09 A framework) (23 Apr 09 History of the quest)

Some posts look at more specific problems in understanding consciousness

• The question of how qualia or the quality of our experience is produced has been a problem, especially for philosophers. (13 Jun 08 why not) (21 Sep 08 the wrong questions) (5 Jan 09 Experiencing someone else’s qualia)

• Consciousness includes awareness of fringe events. (25 Oct 08 a certain feeling) (12 Nov 08 fringe consciousness) (3 Dec 08 confidence) (24 Jan 09 Feeling a presence)

• There is also a problem of what to do about free will. M Gassaniga has put forward the idea of an interpreter that makes sense of our actions. (26 Jul 08 the interpreter) Other posts on this subject: (17 Sep 08 the problem of free will) (15 Oct 08 a feeling of will) (31 Oct 08 virtual agency) (3 Nov 08 Llinas) (6 Nov 08 more Llinas) (18 Nov 08 decisions without frontal lobe activity) (14 Jan 09 The moment of decision 1) (17 Jan 09 The moment of decision 2)

• A spatial construction is basic to consciousness. (19 Aug 08 the 3D world) (30 Sep 08 built-in sat-nav) (2 Jan 09 Border cells)

• There is one is probably one mechanism for various types of awareness. (4 Sep 08 shared workspace) (8 Sep 08 what goes on in dreams) (3 Oct 08 consciousness in Zen meditation) (21 Nov 08 default network) (9 Dec 08 hypnosis) Thinking can be different when it does not have to be tied to awareness of the thinking. (27 Sep 08 eureka). Possibly imagination can be different from experience (1 Feb 09 Visual imagery).

• An important question is how we live in the present when it takes time for the brain to process information and render it part of consciousness. (24 Jun 08 living in the present) Changizi explains some visual illusions by projection into future (26 Aug 08 living in the present 2) It affects tennis refs (9 Nov 08 prediction). Not only does it take time to produce conscious experience, the process is like frames of a movie, so it is discontinuous rather than being continuous. (19 Jul 08 watching the movie). Also (26 Jan 09 Surprise) (6 Mar 09 Up the garden path)

• What is the relationship between consciousness and our sense of self? (22 Oct 08 the homunculus problem) (8 Jan 09 Self is not simple) (9 Mar 09 Meta-representation) (08 Apr 09 Conscious computer)

• Personally I suspect a close relationship between consciousness and memory. (4 Feb 09 Towards understanding working memory) (7 Feb 09 Memory) (10 Feb 09 Memories in time) (13 Feb 08 Implicit and explicit memory) (15 Mar 09 Keeping echoes in mind) (11 Apr 09 Visual memory)

• The focus of attention is related to consciousness. (14 Apr Attention 1) (17 Apr Attention 2)

Old ideas that get in the way

There are ways of thinking that interfere with understanding the brain. (12 Dec 08 a different angle)

• Some people take the metaphor between computers and brains a little too seriously. (19 Jun 08 brain-computer metaphor)

• Many people are resistance to there being a continuity between our brains and those of other animals. (4 Aug 08 are animals conscious?) (23 Aug 08 a birds eye view) (28 Oct 08 dogs) (24 Nov 08 Occams razor and rules of thumb) (12 Dec 08 hangover from the Great Chain of Beings) (27 Dec 08 not just a few animals)

• I have encountered a strict identification of language with consciousness that I think is counterproductive. (7 Aug 08 the inner voice) (24 Sep 08 unconscious meaning).

• A leftover from Freudian theories is a distrust of unconscious thinking. (6 Oct 08 bad press for unconscious)

• The idea that the neo-cortex is the only part of the brain involved in producing consciousness is counter production. The thalamus as well as the cortex is important in producing consciousness (11 Sep 08 Grand Central Station) (21 Dec 08 thalamus waves)

• There may be some resistance from philosophers to scientists look at an area that has until now been only examined by them. Thankfully, there are not many philosophers taking umbrage and I hope these are not among them. (29 Jan 09 New philosophical research project) (30 Mar 09 Reductionism is necessary) (05 Apr 09 Biology and culture)

• But religious fundamentalists are not happy with recent developments. (12 Mar 09 Fundamentalists will challenge) (2 Apr 09 No conflict with science)

Some ‘how’ hypotheses

There are some hypotheses that seem very convincing. So far we have taken a quick look at the following:

• Bayesian calculations create consciousness. (2 Jun 08 is the brain bayesian) (24 Dec 08 Friston’s law ) looked at the possibility put forward by K Friston.

• R Rensink has a hypothesis that there are two aspects of consciousness, the big picture without detail and the focus with a few items in detail. (29 Jul 08 change)

• R Llinas puts forward a hypothesis that the thalamus controls consciousness (6 Dec 08 yet more Llinas)

• The Gaillard group and others are finding the neural correlates of consciousness. (21 Mar 09 Neural correlates of consciousness) (24 Mar 09 The global workspace) (27 Mar 09 The P3 wave)

• My own hypothesis for many years has been massively parallel overlapping feed back loops within the cortex and between the cortex and the thalamus. (4 Jul 08 ambiguous perceptions) (14 Sep 08 feedback) (25 Feb 09 A different kind of computing) (28 Feb 09 Analog computers) (3 Mar 09 A big network) (26 Apr 09 My own tentative view)

• It is always a good idea (if you can do it) to understand something by reinventing it. (19 Feb 09 On the way to artificial consciousness)

Miscellaneous bits and pieces

(23 Jul smell is different), (30 Aug 08 do grandmother cells fly?), (12 Oct 08 metaphor to embodiment), (27 Nov 08 not inside us), (11 Jan 09 Epistemology changes), (20 Jan 09 Proprioception), (16 Feb 09 Other definitions) (20 Apr 09 A kluge?)

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