- #51
FitzHenHugh
- 4
- 0
I'll start with some general ideas. It seems to me that consciousness is a fundamental aspect of reality that has yet to be explained by any basic theory. The mind obviously is closely engaged with our physical world, it is nested within a brain. We simply do not understand this relation and we may not understand the physical world in enough detail to even begin to see how it is possible. It seems likely to me that this will be a relation of 'fundamental kinds' or as philosopher's say, 'natural kinds' The problem is physical more-so than biological -- this may simply mean that (in my opinion) the consciousness problem will not be solved by biology per se (description of brain structure and dynamic) but will be solved by a fundamental theory that is 1) mathematical in nature and 2) weds the dynamics and structure (and substance of?) of consciousness to fundamental physical processes, or maybe just fundamental physical kinds and/or causal structures (time, casualty as interaction and light/causality cones)
Your idea about the mind operating on some kind of non-classical forward/backward time transaction, as in the fundamental description of interactions, may not be fundamental to sleep, but an aspect of the basic structure and dynamic of consciousness itself. While the mind is awake, alert, and operating upon highly filtered and pre-structured sensory information, this transaction may cover a narrower envelope, and in sleep the mind is severed from real time so the envelope expands because its is only constrained by the internal processes of the mind (thought) rather than the temporally independent physical continuum that it has access to when awake and alert (the world / sensory).
Also, It also seems a bit absurd to say the mind visits the future or past in any concrete sense. All that makes sense is that the internal processes (thinking about thinking, not being wed to sensory data) are free to temporally expand in some sense. As if temporal logic is out the window. This leads to many commonly reported phenomena associated with sleep or meditation. (That a dream seems to last and hour but the REM period was only a minute long, etc.)
"as every present state of a simple substance is naturally a consequence of its preceding state, so its present is pregnant with its future." -- Leibniz Maybe we should take this strangely and literally. weird stuff.
Your idea about the mind operating on some kind of non-classical forward/backward time transaction, as in the fundamental description of interactions, may not be fundamental to sleep, but an aspect of the basic structure and dynamic of consciousness itself. While the mind is awake, alert, and operating upon highly filtered and pre-structured sensory information, this transaction may cover a narrower envelope, and in sleep the mind is severed from real time so the envelope expands because its is only constrained by the internal processes of the mind (thought) rather than the temporally independent physical continuum that it has access to when awake and alert (the world / sensory).
Also, It also seems a bit absurd to say the mind visits the future or past in any concrete sense. All that makes sense is that the internal processes (thinking about thinking, not being wed to sensory data) are free to temporally expand in some sense. As if temporal logic is out the window. This leads to many commonly reported phenomena associated with sleep or meditation. (That a dream seems to last and hour but the REM period was only a minute long, etc.)
"as every present state of a simple substance is naturally a consequence of its preceding state, so its present is pregnant with its future." -- Leibniz Maybe we should take this strangely and literally. weird stuff.
