Reminds me of Julian Jaynes' ideas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicameralism_(psychology) (And if I remember correctly, the original study is referenced in his book)
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”
#12The hard SF novel Blindsight , by Peter Watts, is an excellent and extremely interesting exploration of this idea and its ramifications.
Yup, was going to pimp this as well. Absolute banger, and terrifying on a level of the 1978 Alien.
Re: Blindsight: Some people who have lost their vision find a “second sight”
#13I 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…
There is a study that made the rounds back in 2008 where scientists claimed they could prove that people’s brains make decisions about 7-10 seconds before they consciously “decide,” suggesting that cognitive thought is really just rationalizing decisions that our brain already made for us. blah blah free will we’re all turing machines, no but it’s interesting stuff
http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080411/full/news.2008.751.ht...
Re: Blindsight: Some people who have lost their vision find a “second sight”
#14Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
No, think about it. Handling a group of people as a society is easier to handle in the background since it's more about who you know not what you know about them in precise form. In a one-on-one setting you're responding to continually changing behaviors of that person (day-to-day life changes like mood, health, and so forth). In that situation you have to put all your effort to focus on them. It's why some people are better at picking up those cues than others (personal example for me would be not picking up on when someone is feeling ill or down about something). The more you get personal with someone the more you have to get to know them, basically.
Re: Blindsight: Some people who have lost their vision find a “second sight”
#15The hard SF novel Blindsight , by Peter Watts, is an excellent and extremely interesting exploration of this idea and its ramifications.
Not just this idea, almost every question of consciousness/intelligence/self awareness is approached in some form or another, from different angles.
I could go on about it, but I'll just say it's the best SF I've read in a long while.
Re: Blindsight: Some people who have lost their vision find a “second sight”
#16Advertisers 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 posi…
Well done. This could be a sub-genre across all media formats: intentional supraliminal messages overlaid on carrier media.
Silly example: a paid subscription service to insert contextualiy appropriate supraliminal images into online articles, with revenue split between the article publisher and the image creator.
Re: Blindsight: Some people who have lost their vision find a “second sight”
#17The hard SF novel Blindsight , by Peter Watts, is an excellent and extremely interesting exploration of this idea and its ramifications.
Yup, was going to pimp this as well. Absolute banger, and terrifying on a level of the 1978 Alien.
Well then I absolutely must inform you that Peter Watts from a fan fiction version of The Thing from the viewpoint of the alien:
http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/watts_01_10/
Re: Blindsight: Some people who have lost their vision find a “second sight”
#18Advertisers 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 posi…
Well done. This could be a sub-genre across all media formats: intentional supraliminal messages overlaid on carrier media. Silly example: a paid subscription service to insert contextualiy appropriate supraliminal images into online articles, with revenue split between the article publisher and the image creator.
Thanks for the kind words. I'm definitely thinking along those lines. Your example is intriguing and certainly worth looking into btw.
Re: Blindsight: Some people who have lost their vision find a “second sight”
#19If you look at the visual system[1] the signal passes through many preliminary nodes before it reaches the back of the brain aka the visual cortex (which is responsible for the conscious visual field, i.e. "seeing").
For example, one of these preliminary nodes is the Superior colliculus, which is part of the 'midbrain'[2]:
> The general function of the tectal system is to direct behavioral responses toward specific points in egocentric ("body-centered") space. Each layer of the tectum contains a topographic map of the surrounding world in retinotopic coordinates, and activation of neurons at a particular point in the map evokes a response directed toward the corresponding point in space. [...]
> Even in primates, however, the tectum is also involved in generating spatially directed head turns, arm-reaching movements, shifts in attention that do not involve any overt movements. [...]
> Thus, cats with major damage to the visual cortex cannot recognize objects, but may still be able to follow and orient toward moving stimuli, although more slowly than usual.
That is just one of the preliminary areas. The SC is part of the brainstem. People think of the brainstem as just controlling essential functions like breathing, but it's also capable of more complex motor function.
[1]: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/Gray722-... [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superior_colliculus#Function
Re: Blindsight: Some people who have lost their vision find a “second sight”
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
No, think about it. Handling a group of people as a society is easier to handle in the background since it's more about who you know not what you know about them in precise form. In a one-on-one setting you're responding to continually changing behaviors of that person (day-to-day life changes like mood, health, and so forth). In that situation you have to put all your effort to focus on them. It's why some people ar…
Counterpoint: the more personally involved you become with someone, the more you are expected to devote your attention because it's getting easier as the number of participants in the social interaction decreases.