Re: q*****

Ken Clements (Ken@Innovation-On-Demand.com)
Tue, 14 Dec 1999 00:35:00 -0800

John Clark wrote:

>
> I can't tell you why intelligence generates consciousness,
Einstein couldn't
> tell you why mass warps space-time, he just showed that it did.
>

But John, he *did* show that it did, whereas you are just asking us to take your word for
it. I am willing to believe that you are honest about your internal impressions, but I can
show you a common optical chart on which you will see dots that do not exist. Your internal
impressions of the dots will be there, but the dots will not. A great deal of what we
all
experience internally is constructed by lower layers to seem real, but is just a fill-in
shortcut.

Sometimes, like when that car is about to run you over, the filters will drop out and you can
get the full bandwidth. It makes time seem to move very slowly, and you do not feel that you
are thinking, just watching. You can't think in this mode because too much data is flowing
through, so we have filters to chunk and simplify the input. With meditation it is possible
to turn these off at will, but usually for only a short time, and it is an effort. If you
take some LSD the world will change around you; direct electrical stimulation of the brain
will do the same. The point is, your internal observations are one of your least trustworthy
sources of information.

-Ken (that little old Zen Zombie, me)