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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 16/04/2023 19:07,
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:extropy-chat-request@lists.extropy.org">extropy-chat-request@lists.extropy.org</a> wrote:<br>
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<div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sun, Apr 16, 2023 at 12:25 AM
Rafal Smigrodzki via extropy-chat <<a
href="mailto:extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org"
moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org</a>>
wrote:<br>
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<div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sun, Apr 9, 2023 at
12:16 PM Jason Resch via extropy-chat <<a
href="mailto:extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true"
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wrote:</div>
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<div dir="auto">Smart doorbell systems able to detect
the presence of a person in proximity to a door and
alter behavior accordingly have some primitive sensory
capacity. One cannot sense without consciousness.</div>
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<div>### I am not so sure about that. Are you familiar with
the phenomenon of blindsight? Patients with certain brain
lesions who claim to be unaware (not consciously aware of)
a visual target and yet physically react to the target
when present?</div>
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I'm sure that sensing without consciousness is not only possible but
common.<br>
<br>
Blindsight is just one of probably very many examples.<br>
<br>
And it's not difficult to explain.<br>
<br>
We can view the brain as having a large number of modules, each one
specialised for a particular task - sensory, cognitive, memory, and
probably more.<br>
<br>
These modules have a large degree of autonomy, but also communicate
with one another. None of them (probably) are conscious as such, but
can contribute to conscious awareness, under different circumstances
and at different times, possibly under the control of the various
attention-directing networks. Consciousness may be somethihg that
kind of floats above, or rides on, these interacting systems. So in
this view, sensing without consciousness happens all the time, and
some of the sensory information gets passed on to the higher-level
processes that feed into conscious perception.<br>
<br>
This would explain a lot of observations about the brain, such as
blindsight and the 'deciding to press a button' experiment, where we
seem to make the decision before becoming aware of it. The decision
is made in one or more of these lower-level modules, before being
passed up to the attentional networks. In the case of blindsight, it
would be explainable as a lesion somewhere between the modules that
process visual input and the attentional systems, while leaving
intact the links to the motor cortex modules and their control
systems. It also sheds light on the observation that we are full of
contradictions, and can hold opposing views without necessarily
suffering from cognitive dissonance.<br>
<br>
An interesting (and rather scary, imo) fictional exploration of
blindsight and it's implications is a primary theme of some of Peter
Watts' books (Echopraxia, Blindsight). They are kind of 'what if
philosophical zombies really were possible?' stories. (Sanity
warning: Read them at your peril. Should be avoided by
easily-disturbed people). <br>
<br>
Ben<br>
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