Rest Of You

A wonderful collection of interesting tidbits and really relevant to the kinds of stuff I’m interested in. The curious part is just how hard-wired is this in our brains–knowing these factoids like mimicking with a four second delay (was four seconds a sweet spot because that’s the usual threshold of someone who subconsciously mimics you and . . . → Read More: Bailenson

What is consciousness, and how does it play a role in the decisions we make? That was the topic of this week’s readings: Visual Illusions, Consciousness Illusions and Illusion of Rationality.

Julian Jaynes writes in “Consciousness Illusions” about the illusions we have about consciousness: We don’t need to be conscious to do everyday activities (speaking is one example of an activity . . . → Read More: Illusions

Kant called it a Critique of Pure Reason.  Julian Jaynes describes it as “What consciousness is not.”  Joseph Campbell says it’s a pedagogical stunt played by our ego.  Consider Campbell’s diagram.

Perceived vs Actual Center of Self

The sphere represents our complete self and the circle in the center represents our true center of consciousness.  The horizontal . . . → Read More: The Illusion of Pure Reason

The question of what is consciousness is or when does it appear and weather it exists or can be perceived in other living things is something that has been a curiosity and  a fascinating subject for me.

When thinking about AI, or religion or spirituality, watching  tv shows about quantum physics, I have found a kind of . . . → Read More: Illusions-perceptions-our body

“An illusion is a false idea or belief.”

When I think about it, the illusion is closely related to our lives especially our beliefs. One of thing is “I’m happier when I have all the money I want” but in statistically, wealth is not necessarily synonymous with happiness. For example, Brazil’s GNP is less than half of . . . → Read More: About illusion,

“what are you missing from what is really there?” is confusing. It seems that I must be missing a lot at any given moment. At the same time, what is being constructed instantaneously in my cortex, via a “visual intelligence” with its highly efficient and mysterious processes, seems to be complete and complex. Since I don’t . . . → Read More: Illusion

As a long aside, just to add to the categories of sensory illusions, as we’ve discussed and seen many optical and haptic ones, another wonderful category is auditory

Here is a never-ending Infinite descent, the Shepard scale, which plays with a base pitch moving upward (then an infinite ascent) or downward while playing octaves below and above it. . . . → Read More: Auditory Illusions, Performativity

can you quantify consciousness?

the intangible quality that separates human from ape — free will. as a species our ability to assess and change our environment has been remarkable. but does the human mind have that same control over itself?

taking a look at some visual illusions, such as the set of tables below, which one is longer? our mind . . . → Read More: [consciousness & personal sensing]