From: Chris Taylor (christ@ebi.ac.uk)
Date: Mon 11 Apr 2005 - 00:11:26 GMT
>> Just climbing down from my hobby-horse now . . .
>
> Yet what about the so-called "benign user illusion" or
> the notion that "self" is but a memeplex? All this
> metarepresentation you talk about could be reduced to
> memetic activity and "we" would thus be taken out of
> the picture, the pseudo-homunculi "we" are...
Yaaay that's what I'm about! Government does not require the existence
of anything but the same humans that chipped flint -- it emerges as the
information encoded in the system increases, and simultaneously other
features of the environment like persistence (archives) and connectivity
(measured as internode length or whatever) change (similar to going from
several small biomes [=reserves or whetever] to one large equal area biome).
> Don't get me wrong, I'm on your side, but I'm trying
> to anticipate arguments from hardcore meme machinists.
Oh. Ahem. In 'my' defence there is no 'me' as such...
> But in doing so aren't I exercising some freedom of
> thought beyond the constraints of whatever stuff is
> floating in my head thanks to Blackmore and Dennett?
> Are my memory fragments pulling my strings or am I the
> executive in charge here?
The appearant sensation of linear, rational consciousness is extremely
deceptive and is full of holes but you have to look sideways to see
them; for example the apparent persistence of the first second on any
watch with a second hand that you begin to look at -- this is because,
apparently in defiance of the arrow of time, your brain has filled in
the saccade time for your eyes with the image of that which they could
not yet see, then presented this as somehow plausible to your
consciousness. The key is that of course we are _so_ far removed from
reality in terms of whateverthebloodyhell 'we' are (and I _do_ want to
know that before I die) that any niggly book-keeping about something so
subjective as time is farcical. cf. waking from dreams with a plot that
redefines 'juxtaposed' and 'tangential'; again this is just a paper thin
attempt by your newly waking mind to rationalise whatever thoughts are
hanging around like stragglers at a party. Dreams are not so mysterious.
The design of the consciousness-generating machine seems to be try to
force things into a linear pattern for the one-body host; in dreams
though we unleash the full power of our brains to explore the space
between the existing creatures. Sleep on it...
Epilogue: Story from a 'Brains Are Funny Aren't They' book I read (god
knows, don't ask). Guy (in a hypnotist's stage show iirc) is put in a
state and told to get a flower pot and wrap it in a blanket, near (I
think) some sort of fake hearth. He is then brought around and
challenged to explain his behaviour. His explanation is that 'the flower
pot was cold'. This is related to notions of relative fitness; when
everything else fails, whatever remains has to be the plan, cos you
_have_ to have a plan.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chris Taylor (christ@ebi.ac.uk)
HUPO PSI: GPS -- psidev.sf.net
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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