multiple consciousnesses

Multiple universes are created each time an electron has to choose the slit on the L or R to go through.

In the same way, multiple universes AND MULTIPLE CONSCIOUSNESSES are created each time our brains make a choice.

The illusion of free will comes from the fact that we are not aware of the splitting of consciousnesses and the creation of multiple universes.

What is in fact going on is that an endless number of universes is continuously being created and an endless number of consciousnesses are also being created at the same time.

This explains the illusion of free will.

We think we are choosing chocolate ice cream but another self is simultaneously choosing vanilla and creating a universe in which that choice took place. But we are unaware of the splitting that happens each time we make a choice.

winnowing

Consciousness is part of a winnowing mechanism. There is too much information and processing for an unconscious mind to deal with. Thought would become de-centered and our survival would become threatened (the Hamlet syndrome). Because we have a body, we need the brain to focus. Consciousness (with its limited capacity = attention span) automatically limits what we focus on. It's the limiting that is crucial, not so much the focus. Intentionality may boil down to a mere forced narrowing of focus (as in bandwidth). The brain focuses but also moves on. Threshholds are reached and decisions are made and new pressing issues rise to the surface. There is limited computing time and it needs to be managed.

interface

Consciousness is a synthesis of very complex calculations (most of them unconscious); it is like a Mac interface: a simple model of the world for the brain to use.

mind/brain

Mind = bunch of circuits that uses language to deliberate.

Brain creates a "synthetic" mind and gives it the complex problems to deliberate on and solve. Then brain takes output of "mind."

Our synthetic mind feels a "virtual" body created by nerve inputs.

All we are aware of are 1) the deliberation circuits using language "out loud" to make decisions 2) virtual body mapping.

Language area was not conscious at first. It was used to make decisions with other people. The brain ran decisions to this area to get output of other people. Then it started "talking to itself" = consciousness.

countermeasure?

Could consciousness have evolved as a countermeasure the phenotype could use against the tyranny of the genes?

Or is consciousness just another tool of the genes (intelligence / free will as just a puppet government ultimately controlled by the the genes following the agenda items the genes care about most: survival, reproduction)?

If consciousness allows us to override our genes then maybe we have free will. It would not be true freedom, but rather freedom to choose pleasure, happiness, virture, etc., and freedom to forego reproduction, survival...

model

Consciousness involves a special kind of reduction of the complexity of the outside world.

It's as if the brain creates a theater in order to see its options. This leads to both consciousness and the illusion of free will. The two are linked.

Cartesian theater revisited: the brain makes its own model of reality, a simplified one.

The sheer complexity of sensory input, memory, decisionmaking, etc., creates the need for a simplified "virtual reality" of manageable complexity. We can weigh 4 options, but not 40,000 options.

Consciousness emerges from one part of the brain contemplating another part of the brain that is its own creation, its own compilation. This creation is a simplified model of the world, the person's options, including relevant memories. This model is of manageable size and is useable to another part of the brain.

The remembered present. We don't see the chair. One part of our brain that needs to solve the seating problem sees a model created in another part of the brain of the chair.

Infinite regress?

Where does the experience come from? From the interaction of more than one area of the brain. Does that solve the mystery?

Mirror neurons: the muscles that move our arm are activated when we see someone else move their arm. This is how the model is created/works. A set of mirror neurons that mimic reality in the brain based on experience.

We move our arm. Arm moving neurons fire. We see someone move their arm. Same arm moving neurons fire. We feel thirsty. Brain needs to make body drink. Brain fires arm moving neurons to reach glass of water. But our brain does not find the glass of water in the world (too complex). It finds the glass of water in the mini-model of reality in our brain. The useable model that just contains what is relevant to us.

present tense

Consciousness is needed to create a constant "present tense" (virtual reality?) for the brain/body so we can contemplate the past and the future without getting lost in time. We do lose consciousness when remembering (vividly), planning (intensely) or dreaming. The "present tense" pulls us back to the body's reality. Can we really thing about the past and future while being in the present? or do we go back and forth quickly?

Art, movies, novels, music, work, travel, TV, divertissement generally: escape from the present.