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I've always been under the impression that consciousness is actually a bunch of brain activity competing for attention and that one thing at a time is selected/

I've always been under the impression that consciousness is actually a bunch of brain activity competing for attention and that one thing at a time is selected/blessed to be the highlight of one's attention. The addition of drugs sort of pulls back the curtain on what other things may be just under the mark, lurking beneath your "default" consciousness.

chaoticmass 8y ago
I agree with this. It also seems that it allows different parts of your brain to talk to each other that normally don't, given how commonly people report effects similar to synesthesia.
justinpombrio 8y ago
> I've always been under the impression that consciousness is actually a bunch of brain activity competing for attention and that one thing at a time is selected/blessed to be the highlight of one's attention. I think this is also the scientific consensus. "Consciousness and the Brain" is a good overview of recent studies on consciousness, and piecing together the results. I've just started reading, but so far I'd highly recommend it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consciousness_and_the_Brain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consciousness_and_the_Brain
- hprotagonist 8y ago
  The scientific consensus on consciousness is that there's no consensus. See, e.g., https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5641373/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5641373/
  - justinpombrio 8y ago
    Right: certainly not for many of the hard or big-picture questions. The experiments described in "Consciousness and the Brain" that I've read so far have been very conservative in their conclusions, however, and I think they mostly avoid the sort of criticisms you linked to.
kadendogthing 8y ago
>I've always been under the impression that consciousness is actually a bunch of brain activity competing for attention This reminds me of one my favorite quotes from Westworld (HBO, 2017) "There is no threshold that makes us greater than the sum of our parts, no inflection point at which we become fully alive. We can't define consciousness because consciousness does not exist. Humans fancy that there's something special about the way we perceive the world and yet, we live in loops as tight and as closed as the [robots] do, seldom questioning our choices - content, for the most part, to be told what to do next." - Dr. Ford (character) One of the things I really love about marijuana is that while it mentally alters your state, it leaves you completely coherent, where you can still be perceptive and reflective. For me it's like a deep, consistent meditation if I relax and really focus on how I'm "thinking." Perceptually, at least personally, it really feels like there are mental facilities that suddenly become "communicative", a higher (no pun intended) mental state. If I dose right I often use marijuana to reflect about how I'm living my life, a social situation that needs attention, a hard problem at work, or sometimes I just really really love listening to music. And I have to say, if you've never listened to music while high, you truly are missing out on an experience. All this is basically to say I totally agree with your statement about "pulling back the curtain." I personally consider it useful, it's often nice to have a different perspective on a problem. It's helped me out a lot, I think.
- brianscottgzzle 8y ago
  I’m not sure that consciousness doesn’t exist, but I wholeheartedly concur and sympathize with your experience with marijuana. I’ve found the same results.
- saiya-jin 8y ago
  Can attest to those experiences too. Most of my biggest decisions in life were started as a seed thought in Inception style while high. For this to happen though, I had to be alone with my thoughts, otherwise others presence would take all the focus. And they were really good life changing decisions. What basically happens (among other things) the feed from my subconsciousness that sometimes suggest ideas out of blue or solves problems becomes much, much stronger. Sometimes I can't even manage to type all of those ideas/todos into phone, they come so fast. The only issue is, short term memory impairment also makes them fade away pretty quickly, so sometime it looks like a race to record it all.
bitexploder 8y ago
Marv Minsky wrote a book that explores this idea. "The Society of Mind". I don't think it is "correct" but it is a model and interesting. Recommend reading it.
- jplayer01 8y ago
  1986. It would be very interesting to read the same book with the benefit of the past 30 years of research. I'll take a look at it nonetheless.
qwerty456127 8y ago
> one thing at a time is selected/blessed to be the highlight of one's attention. Isn't it obvious?

chaoticmass 8y ago

I agree with this. It also seems that it allows different parts of your brain to talk to each other that normally don't, given how commonly people report effects similar to synesthesia.

justinpombrio 8y ago

> I've always been under the impression that consciousness is actually a bunch of brain activity competing for attention and that one thing at a time is selected/blessed to be the highlight of one's attention. I think this is also the scientific consensus. "Consciousness and the Brain" is a good overview of recent studies on consciousness, and piecing together the results. I've just started reading, but so far I'd highly recommend it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consciousness_and_the_Brain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consciousness_and_the_Brain

hprotagonist 8y ago
The scientific consensus on consciousness is that there's no consensus. See, e.g., https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5641373/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5641373/
- justinpombrio 8y ago
  Right: certainly not for many of the hard or big-picture questions. The experiments described in "Consciousness and the Brain" that I've read so far have been very conservative in their conclusions, however, and I think they mostly avoid the sort of criticisms you linked to.

kadendogthing 8y ago

>I've always been under the impression that consciousness is actually a bunch of brain activity competing for attention This reminds me of one my favorite quotes from Westworld (HBO, 2017) "There is no threshold that makes us greater than the sum of our parts, no inflection point at which we become fully alive. We can't define consciousness because consciousness does not exist. Humans fancy that there's something special about the way we perceive the world and yet, we live in loops as tight and as closed as the [robots] do, seldom questioning our choices - content, for the most part, to be told what to do next." - Dr. Ford (character) One of the things I really love about marijuana is that while it mentally alters your state, it leaves you completely coherent, where you can still be perceptive and reflective. For me it's like a deep, consistent meditation if I relax and really focus on how I'm "thinking." Perceptually, at least personally, it really feels like there are mental facilities that suddenly become "communicative", a higher (no pun intended) mental state. If I dose right I often use marijuana to reflect about how I'm living my life, a social situation that needs attention, a hard problem at work, or sometimes I just really really love listening to music. And I have to say, if you've never listened to music while high, you truly are missing out on an experience. All this is basically to say I totally agree with your statement about "pulling back the curtain." I personally consider it useful, it's often nice to have a different perspective on a problem. It's helped me out a lot, I think.

brianscottgzzle 8y ago
I’m not sure that consciousness doesn’t exist, but I wholeheartedly concur and sympathize with your experience with marijuana. I’ve found the same results.
saiya-jin 8y ago
Can attest to those experiences too. Most of my biggest decisions in life were started as a seed thought in Inception style while high. For this to happen though, I had to be alone with my thoughts, otherwise others presence would take all the focus. And they were really good life changing decisions. What basically happens (among other things) the feed from my subconsciousness that sometimes suggest ideas out of blue or solves problems becomes much, much stronger. Sometimes I can't even manage to type all of those ideas/todos into phone, they come so fast. The only issue is, short term memory impairment also makes them fade away pretty quickly, so sometime it looks like a race to record it all.

bitexploder 8y ago

Marv Minsky wrote a book that explores this idea. "The Society of Mind". I don't think it is "correct" but it is a model and interesting. Recommend reading it.

jplayer01 8y ago
1986. It would be very interesting to read the same book with the benefit of the past 30 years of research. I'll take a look at it nonetheless.

qwerty456127 8y ago

> one thing at a time is selected/blessed to be the highlight of one's attention. Isn't it obvious?