Today’s video talks about how altering ones perception and the subsequent manifestations of potential realities may reflect nothing more than our minds ability to fully adapt to what the universe has to offer. It’s this idea that the profoundness we experience under different states of mind are not actual representations of actual realities, but rather the scale to which our minds can form abstract thoughts that in turn allow us to experience a wide range of actual reality. Without the ability to form bizarre realizations we might be ultimately limited in how much and to what degree we can actually take input data. If true, it reveals the importance of science as a true form of discovery and creates boundaries we can use to help define what is real and what is nothing more than conjecture.
Tag: consciousness
The universe is an illusion, but consciousness isn’t
In a video entitled “The Universe is an Illusion, But Consciousness Isn’t” they talk about how consciousness is designing the universe we’re living in. That we may never see the edge of the universe or the smallest particle because our conscious expectation for something to be there will literally change the universe. That reality is an illusion created by us as the observers. This made me wonder about God. Following this belief we could argue that God, Jesus and whoever else did in fact exist and that they did perform miracles. But through a changing society filled with skepticism and doubt, we altered reality to discard these illusions and create a more “realistic” world.
After watching this video again and exploring different possibilities, I am wondering what potential our brain holds if educated properly. It seems plausible that a computer program with images, sounds, and smells could teach us about the world in a “Chuck-Intersect” kind of way. By creating neural pathways and then strengthening them through repetition, maybe we could create a super efficient way to teach people. Basically I’m imagining that computer that teaches the primitive humans in Battlefield: Earth.
Athene’s Theory of Everything
I’m watching “God Is In the Neurons” and “Athene’s Theory of Everything”. The video begins with a great explanation of how memories are formed by our experiences and how, as a result, talent and skills are formed. This is a great explanation for why people become good at something and why they are the ones that pioneer their fields and discover new things. Something to ponder: our consciousness is the current unity of actively firing neurons (whereas our subconsciousness is the collective of inactive neurons?). Could it also be said that mirror neurons are what create distinction or difference between each other person? That by viewing the lives of others were are subconsciously comparing and placing ourselves in society against them? Does this explain why we have a class based system for society?
I’m thinking about people being nothing more than the state of currently active neurons. For example, who I am when I am sitting at my computer is different from the person outside playing tennis. Although there must be a set of neurons that are almost always active that define traits of my personality. I don’t become an entirely new person, I simply shift the focus of parts of my active neurons to the ones that relate to tennis. What this makes me consider is the opportunity to control these patterns in your brain and utilizing the most relevant, productive, inspiring, motivated, etc. in every situation. By realizing this and focusing mental energy on activating these neurons, I could effectively become exactly the person I want to be?
UPDATE 2014-03-16: It’s strange to think that I learned this back then and trust it as a source for understanding the world. While it’s an incredibly compelling piece of entertainment, what belief structures have I built around interpreting reality this way? What if some element of it is wrong and thus an entire branch of my reasoning is poisoned by it? What if we discover that the mind works in an entirely different way than we thought? How would that effect my worldview and would I be able to adapt?