Your subconscious is smarter than you might think • Hacker News Board

Re: Your subconscious is smarter than you might think

#41

Post by harperlee » Thu, Feb 19, 2015, 6:43 PM UTC

threatofrain wrote: post #24

You guys may also be interested in reading Daniel Kahneman's Bounded Rationality, or Dual Process of Cognition. It talks about the relationship between two systems, one of which correlates to what we're talking about. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual_process_theory#System_1

I'm currently reading "Thinking, fast and slow" by Daniel Kahneman himself and I couldn't recommend it enough.

One point he makes early in his book, though, is that when he talks about "System 1" and "System 2", it is merely a figure of speech, that he talks about two systems, two minds, precisely because of how we tend to relate to each one of them as an agent. But he wants to be clear that reality, as far as his research goes, is not "two systems". Or at least that's what I got from it!

Re: Your subconscious is smarter than you might think

#42

Post by JoeAltmaier » Thu, Feb 19, 2015, 7:45 PM UTC

electromagnetic wrote: post #18

tannerc wrote: post #2

Researching creative thinking processes over the last decade, this is a no-brainer (pun not intended). There is so much complexity to the brain that it's hard to imagine a time when we, as human beings, will ever really understand how much of it works. It's no surprise there's a lot going on "behind the veil" of consciousness, and I'm glad researchers continue to show this is the case. Similar studies have shown that…

I'm a writer. As much as I work on my craft, when I sit down and put my fingers on the keys I'm not doing any of it. 95% of what I write I have no conscious decision in making. I remember completely scrapping a 1500 word piece, rewriting the whole piece and resubmitting it to my editor. He was amazed I did it so quickly, I was quite disturbed I'd written the whole thing with barely an iota of conscious thought going…

I'm glad to hear that. I write by reading a page or two where I left off, then starting to type. What comes out is often a surprise to me. Of course there's much editing afterward, but the story happens 'by itself'.

Re: Your subconscious is smarter than you might think

#43

Post by JoeAltmaier » Thu, Feb 19, 2015, 7:47 PM UTC

Another subconscious anecdote: I read new modules quickly, just paging through and letting my eyes view it, not thinking anything about it. Afterward I can navigate around the terrain much faster than if I haven't 'walked the property' first.

Re: Your subconscious is smarter than you might think

#44

Post by Eye_of_Mordor » Mon, Feb 23, 2015, 4:52 PM UTC

clavalle wrote: post #28

Eye_of_Mordor wrote: post #20

Is there such a thing as consciousness at all? Maybe we're just more or less conscious of different interactions and these tests are really only showing what we find the most difficult? Bruce Lee said, "You must be shapeless, formless, like water. When you pour water in a cup, it becomes the cup. When you pour water in a bottle, it becomes the bottle. When you pour water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can…

I think it is more important to use the consciously rational mind to filter the water before it fills the vessel. That way you know what you will be getting when you drink from it later.

Perhaps you don't need to be doing that if your subconcious mind is capable of doing the same?

Is your concious 'rational' mind at war with your 'irrational' subconcious - each reaching a different conclusion to the other? Or do they agree?