[ExI] what's the use?

[BillK]

On Sat, 5 Oct 2024 at 18:52, Jason Resch via extropy-chat
<extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>
> It's an example of consciousness pursing it's own goals (e.g. seeking novel experiences), and suppressing purely evolutionary goals. You can't explain bungee jumping in evolutionary terms, but you can when you recognize that all value is rooted in states of conscious experience.
>
> I think it is useful to recognize as Sperry does here, that even within the same system of a human body, there any many distinct systems of causality at play, operating simultaneously:
>
> "I am going to align myself in a counterstand, along with that approximately 0.1 per cent mentalist minority, in support of a hypothetical brain model in which consciousness and mental forces generally are given their due representation as important features in the chain of control. These appear as active operational forces and dynamic properties that interact with and upon the physiological machinery. Any model or description that leaves out conscious forces, according to this view, is bound to be pretty sadly incomplete and unsatisfactory. The conscious mind in this scheme, far from being put aside and dispensed with as an "inconsequential byproduct," "epiphenomenon," or "inner aspect," as is the customary treatment these days, gets located, instead, front and center, directly in the midst of the causal interplay of cerebral mechanisms.
>
<snip>
>
> Jason
> _______________________________________________


Well, I don't want to get into a discussion on the alternative
theories of consciousness.  :)
More knowledgeable people than me are still arguing about that.

But bungee jumping seems to be readily explained by inherited
evolutionary traits.
Bungee jumping causes the release of adrenaline and other stress
hormones into our body, as for the "fight or flight" response.
The euphoria experienced after a jump is the reward for being brave
and relief at surviving a dangerous situation.

There is also social status benefit in demonstrating courage and
physical fitness to other members of the tribe.
(Though this may be reduced by having to be pushed off the platform
and screaming in terror all the way down).  :)

On consciousness, I tend to go along with the idea that consciousness
is mostly a story-generating system, rather than a causal system.
i.e. unconscious processes are doing most of the work and the
reasons we give for our decisions are often created after the fact,
rather than being the actual drivers of the decision.
But as I said, this is still an area of much dispute. :)

BillK