I think (for what that’s worth) many people (including neuroscientists and philosophers) have a definition of consciousness that causes difficulty with understanding and experimentation. They define consciousness to be a human-only thing, something unique to us. They define it as the tool they are using to understand consciousness. I’m not denying that there seems to be something that is…
Emotions are the messaging system of consciousness. This sentence appeared on the screen as I was writing The Holographic Assistant. I was surprised when I saw it. Yes, that’s how writing works. In my case, in each chapter, I know what will happen in the journey towards the conclusion and I know how the characters will act but, I have…
The awareness of conscious experience is an after the fact phenomenon. Let me explain (caveat: I don’t know what I’m talking about. Bear that in mind, as you should for everything you hear and read) We think we have free will or control over our immediate conscious experience. It’s an extremely useful concept. It appears to work like this: I…
Consciousness is an open space where thoughts, sensations, emotions, sights, sounds, feelings appear, as well as awareness (mindfulness), which is also an appearance in the same space. We can’t, and don’t, pre-think each thought we’re going to have. Each thought appears like a quantum particle in the quantum vacuum. However, it’s not random. There is a “flavour” to conscious experience…
More on consciousness. I write about general AI so I do think about this stuff a lot. However, I’m not a neuroscientist, I haven’t spent decades in a cave in the Himalayas. I’m an ex-physicist, science fiction writer who knows nothing. Keep that in mind. Let’s take as given that consciousness is a construct and all sensations, sounds, sights, emotions,…
I’m fascinated by consciousness. My books include general AI so I need to think about what it is. Short answer: I have no idea. Just using the thing to investigate itself is odd enough, right? Consciousness is a construct that everything appears within. That is, sensations, feelings, sights, sounds, emotions, feelings (if they are different from emotions—I’m unsure) and thoughts.…