Blindsight: Some people who have lost their vision find a “second sight”
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Re: Blindsight: Some people who have lost their vision find a “second sight”
#2"Just how many of our decisions occur out of our awareness, even when we have the illusion of control? And if the conscious mind is not needed to direct our actions, then what is its purpose? Why did we evolve this vivid internal life, if we are almost “zombies” acting without awareness?"
Slow thinking vs fast thinking?
Re: Blindsight: Some people who have lost their vision find a “second sight”
#3"Just how many of our decisions occur out of our awareness, even when we have the illusion of control? And if the conscious mind is not needed to direct our actions, then what is its purpose? Why did we evolve this vivid internal life, if we are almost “zombies” acting without awareness?" Slow thinking vs fast thinking?
IMO, conscious thought is the result of being a social animal. Keeping up with social relations is simple but when it comes to one-on-one situations you have to drop everything and focus. Such focus has the side effect of allowing us to reflect on ourselves (how we function, why we exist, etc). So, instead of assuming why we're conscious at all, maybe it's better to ask why socializing requires so much focus? Just a wild idea, I know.
Re: Blindsight: Some people who have lost their vision find a “second sight”
#4[deleted]
Re: Blindsight: Some people who have lost their vision find a “second sight”
#5[deleted]
Re: Blindsight: Some people who have lost their vision find a “second sight”
#6Advertisers use what is known as the Low Attention Processing Model.[1] With this particular advertising strategy, brand information, and even an emotional attachment to a brand, can be 'acquired' at low and even zero attention levels using implicit learning.[2] Implicit learning cannot analyse or re-interpret anything. The information goes directly to the subconscious mind.
Depending on the message, this can be positive or detrimental to our well-being, and it puts into question how much free-agency we are really exercising in our lives. The fact we are silently influenced by ambient images and messages around us was the inspiration for these posters I designed: http://zenpusher.com
Basically, if anyone is going to advertise to my subconscious mind, it's going to be me. And I'd rather acquire positive habits and character traits than an emotional connection to a product.
[1] http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPag...
Re: Blindsight: Some people who have lost their vision find a “second sight”
#7"Just how many of our decisions occur out of our awareness, even when we have the illusion of control? And if the conscious mind is not needed to direct our actions, then what is its purpose? Why did we evolve this vivid internal life, if we are almost “zombies” acting without awareness?" Slow thinking vs fast thinking?
IMO, conscious thought is the result of being a social animal. Keeping up with social relations is simple but when it comes to one-on-one situations you have to drop everything and focus. Such focus has the side effect of allowing us to reflect on ourselves (how we function, why we exist, etc). So, instead of assuming why we're conscious at all, maybe it's better to ask why socializing requires so much focus? Just a…
I think you mixed up the complexity and cognitive demand of many to many and one on one relations, in the second sentence. You present an intriguing idea, anyway.
Re: Blindsight: Some people who have lost their vision find a “second sight”
#8I would not expect the part of a brain that deals with self-awareness is all-pervading and all-entwined. I would expect that you could disconnect cognition from self-awareness. Apparently we don't even need a self to synchronize emotions! That is a fantastic find!
I also think we can see a huge bias about some of our theories of what human beings are: Many emphasize the self; a self-aware brain can become self-obsessed. Many societies are obsessed with selves. Clearly human beings are more and less. Decentralized. A plurality of cognitions embodied in one brain.
What is the implication for sociology? Has the emphasis on individuals been too strong? The human fabric is ensembles interacting with each other, not atoms. Models of rationality talk about discrete agents. What if we can't be modeled as discrete agents? What is rationality now? Processes in my brain have competing interests, but also cooperate. Cognitive processes are probably not discrete. Can one come up with a model of rationality where the 'agents' form a continuum?
Re: Blindsight: Some people who have lost their vision find a “second sight”
#9I would not expect the part of a brain that deals with self-awareness is all-pervading and all-entwined. I would expect that you could disconnect cognition from self-awareness. Apparently we don't even need a self to synchronize emotions ! That is a fantastic find! I also think we can see a huge bias about some of our theories of what human beings are: Many emphasize the self; a self-aware brain can become self-obses…
> I also think we can see a huge bias about some of our theories of what human beings are: [...]
I agree. A common theme in articles like this is the suggestion that when our subconscious mind does something, it's "not us doing it", as if your conscious experience is all that counts as "you".
Re: Blindsight: Some people who have lost their vision find a “second sight”
#10The hard SF novel Blindsight, by Peter Watts, is an excellent and extremely interesting exploration of this idea and its ramifications.