Okay, think about it.
There's an article in The Economist that counters intuitive notions about consciousness. We are quickly accumulating evidence that consciousness may be a product of our behavior, rather than the determinant of behavior that we always assume it to be. So now turns out that the brain activity that drives a behavior is often well underway before the person ever has the experience of having a conscious thought.
So, an example. When we are in class in school. We decide to raise our hand in response to a teacher's question. Before we are ever aware of making that decision, our brain has already begun the neural processes necessary to lift our arm. Our brain is raising our hand before we make the conscious decision to raise our hand.
Obviously not true on the occasion. Like when we are insecure about the subject that the teacher is discussing and we struggle to find a correct answer. Still. Once we do find the right answer, we aren't thinking of raising our hand at the time, are we? It just comes natural.
All of this begs the question of if consciousness exists. If it does exist.. what exactly is it? We intuitively feel as though consciousness guides and determines our behavior. We decide to raise our hand, and then we do it. But do we intuitively feel that way simply because we want to believe that we work this way? Is it really possible that we form our conscious thoughts and decisions around the things that our brain has already done? It is seeming more and more likely that "conscious decisions" are simply decisions that our brain made which we then assume responsibility for. Do we really want the donut off the shelf at the store, or do we just talk ourselves into wanting it after our brain decides to buy it? What does it even mean to want something in the first place?
Just felt this was worthy of discussion.
There's an article in The Economist that counters intuitive notions about consciousness. We are quickly accumulating evidence that consciousness may be a product of our behavior, rather than the determinant of behavior that we always assume it to be. So now turns out that the brain activity that drives a behavior is often well underway before the person ever has the experience of having a conscious thought.
So, an example. When we are in class in school. We decide to raise our hand in response to a teacher's question. Before we are ever aware of making that decision, our brain has already begun the neural processes necessary to lift our arm. Our brain is raising our hand before we make the conscious decision to raise our hand.
Obviously not true on the occasion. Like when we are insecure about the subject that the teacher is discussing and we struggle to find a correct answer. Still. Once we do find the right answer, we aren't thinking of raising our hand at the time, are we? It just comes natural.
All of this begs the question of if consciousness exists. If it does exist.. what exactly is it? We intuitively feel as though consciousness guides and determines our behavior. We decide to raise our hand, and then we do it. But do we intuitively feel that way simply because we want to believe that we work this way? Is it really possible that we form our conscious thoughts and decisions around the things that our brain has already done? It is seeming more and more likely that "conscious decisions" are simply decisions that our brain made which we then assume responsibility for. Do we really want the donut off the shelf at the store, or do we just talk ourselves into wanting it after our brain decides to buy it? What does it even mean to want something in the first place?
Just felt this was worthy of discussion.
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