|
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Herschel asked:
|
|
Do you think consciousness is a emergent phenomenon, and if it is, is it just an analysis? Or is
Consciousness a product of something greater and fundamental? I was wondering how an answer
might account for near death experiences and anaesthesia
|
|
============
|
|
A Danish popular science writer, Tor Norretranders, wrote a book called The User Illusion,subtitled
"Cutting Consciousness Down to Size" (1991, translation in Penguin 1998). I found it fairly
persuasive, and the facts related fascinating. May I recommend you read it if you haven't already
done so. His conclusion is that consciousness is an illusion! He attempts to prove that we make many
routine and critical decisions, and act on them, BEFORE we are conscious of the need to. If he is
right, one wonders why consciousness exists at all.
|
|
Tor Norretranders would say, I think, that consciousness is an emergent phenomenon, but it is vastly
over-rated. It emerges from something greater and fundamental — the non-conscious computational
processing done by the human brain, viewed as a massively parallel distributed processor. By
contrast, he likens consciousness to a serial information stream controlled by a primitive computer
with just a single CPU. The bandwidth — the information processing power, in bits per second — of
the brain is enormous. But that of consciousness is tiny.
|
|
Tor Norretranders argues that an inordinate emphasis on consciousness has large, destructive
effects in society and in our personal lives. Definitely worth a read. There's a lot in it to assimilate. I
think I'd better read it again!
|
|
Yahya Abdal-Aziz
|
|