Post by Crystal Taylor on Oct 2, 2016 16:50:40 GMT
1. Explain the virtual simulation theory of consciousness.
Consciousness is the ability to be aware of oneself and the world around them. The mystifying thing about consciousness is that only human beings appear to have developed this capability. As real as everything feels, people are simply interpreting what their senses are capable of understanding. As noted in Is the Universe an App, “our five senses don’t reveal the universe at large so much as provide us with a severely edited version of what our bodies necessitates.” For instance, if a person is given a drink and told that it contains alcohol but actually has none in it, the mind can be convinced into acting drunk because they believe it is alcoholic. The mind is a powerful device and our consciousness is the programming running the experience, whether it is real or virtual is all just our perception. Continuing in Is the Universes an App it is acknowledged how strong these experiences can be, “because consciousness is a virtual simulator there are times that…confuse us about what is internal and what is external. In certain brain states it is nearly impossible to even recognize our own projections as projections.” If a person has experienced a situation previously, the human consciousness is a capable of visualizing and projecting that experience in their mind. Though we can consciously comprehend our visualization of an experience as virtual, there are times, such as dreaming or extreme emotional states, where projections can escape into the genuine part of human consciousness.
2. How does the brain trick us and for what benefit is it for our genetic survival?
The brain and human consciousness work together to accomplish amazing feats. With these incredible tools, mankind has been able to evolve and thrive through existence. The brain is so powerful that its consciousness has the ability suppress traumatic events, manipulate experiences, or even project visions that do not exist. The book Is the Universe an App discusses near death experiences and how they are simply our minds ability to project immense reasoning for continued survival, “the luminous out of body experiences with their accompanying visions can be so intense that it is nearly impossible to question the veridicality.” Referencing back to the evolutionary imperative and its regard to whether we should live or die as it pertains to near death experiences, the brain utilizes our evolutionary survival mode and projects a vision so convincing and realistic that it revives the natural will to live. If there was any doubt in the validity of the experience it would not be effective so as the book puts it, “the brain tricks us into believing its own machinations as something that is not sui generis.” Without the brain’s ability to manipulate extreme circumstances human’s genetic survival would drastically decline because they would no longer be able consciously withstand various traumatic or emotional events.
Consciousness is the ability to be aware of oneself and the world around them. The mystifying thing about consciousness is that only human beings appear to have developed this capability. As real as everything feels, people are simply interpreting what their senses are capable of understanding. As noted in Is the Universe an App, “our five senses don’t reveal the universe at large so much as provide us with a severely edited version of what our bodies necessitates.” For instance, if a person is given a drink and told that it contains alcohol but actually has none in it, the mind can be convinced into acting drunk because they believe it is alcoholic. The mind is a powerful device and our consciousness is the programming running the experience, whether it is real or virtual is all just our perception. Continuing in Is the Universes an App it is acknowledged how strong these experiences can be, “because consciousness is a virtual simulator there are times that…confuse us about what is internal and what is external. In certain brain states it is nearly impossible to even recognize our own projections as projections.” If a person has experienced a situation previously, the human consciousness is a capable of visualizing and projecting that experience in their mind. Though we can consciously comprehend our visualization of an experience as virtual, there are times, such as dreaming or extreme emotional states, where projections can escape into the genuine part of human consciousness.
2. How does the brain trick us and for what benefit is it for our genetic survival?
The brain and human consciousness work together to accomplish amazing feats. With these incredible tools, mankind has been able to evolve and thrive through existence. The brain is so powerful that its consciousness has the ability suppress traumatic events, manipulate experiences, or even project visions that do not exist. The book Is the Universe an App discusses near death experiences and how they are simply our minds ability to project immense reasoning for continued survival, “the luminous out of body experiences with their accompanying visions can be so intense that it is nearly impossible to question the veridicality.” Referencing back to the evolutionary imperative and its regard to whether we should live or die as it pertains to near death experiences, the brain utilizes our evolutionary survival mode and projects a vision so convincing and realistic that it revives the natural will to live. If there was any doubt in the validity of the experience it would not be effective so as the book puts it, “the brain tricks us into believing its own machinations as something that is not sui generis.” Without the brain’s ability to manipulate extreme circumstances human’s genetic survival would drastically decline because they would no longer be able consciously withstand various traumatic or emotional events.