rbg@cbosgd.UUCP (Richard Goldschmidt) (07/17/84)
Date: Mon, 16 Jul 84 21:40:54 pdt
From: sdcsvax!sdccs6!ir44 (Theodore Schwartz)
To: cbosgd!rbg
Subject: Re: Brain clock rates?
References: <1221@ihuxl.UUCP> <976@dciem.UUCP>, <122@cbosgd.UUCP>
I found your article interesting-- saved in in my AI file.
My interest is in the way culture (any culture) programs the
brain. The result is an intellect-- a brain that can do
things, some things better than others. In this sense all
human intellectual functioning is AI, artificial in the
sense of "artifact," requiring cultural implementation
before it functions at a fully human level. But to the point
of your comment: You speak of "attention" as a source of
control. What controls attention? Attention can be captured,
obviously by external stimuli (initiating an interrupt, as
you put it) but more remarkably, it can be control over
attention can be self controlled or internally controlled
though this control is in contention with external demands
upon attention-- distractions. Discussing this with students,
it is easy to demonstrate that I can capture their attention
and direct it, one moment to the sensation from the sole of
their left foot and the next to the sound of a voice in the
hallway or to the main course of their dinner last night.
But we can do the same internally. This is the problem of
agency. Consciousness is an extremely large set of addresses
and registers that can be scanned by the relatively narrow
beam of awareness and the Ego (whatever that is, as a
subsystem of brain functions) can direct that beam, at least
some of the time. What I was doing for my class was acting
as an external Ego, directing their attention to various
things. Once I told them that I was going to do this, it is
doubtful that they could have resisted my manipulation of
their attention though they often manage to do it during my
lectures. I could elaborate and extend this discussion but
I am not sure it is of interest.
It seems to me that this discussion should be under net.ai.
If you would like to carry it further on the net, you might
post the above.
Ted Schwartz, anthro UCSD c-001,
La Jolla, CA 92093
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I can add two general comments. I have not been entirely consistant in my
use of the term consciousness in my recent posts in various groups. I like
Julian Jaynes definition (presented in "The Origin of Consciousness in the
Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind", and discussed in my Mind and Brain post to
net.ai and other groups), but that definition excludes many common uses of
the term. I have returned to the common use in later posts rather than set
off a large scale debate over definitions (which I still hope can be avoided).
Rather than repost related posts from other groups here, I would point you
to posts with the subject Consciousness in net.philosophy, and either Brain
clock rates or Dreams in net.sci. I will gladly send copies of my posts on
these subjects to any who request by e-mail. Do people in net.ai really
want to see these topics discussed here?
Rich Goldschmidt
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