// Straw Dogs: the knowing I // 09.02.09
Living systems are cognitive systems and living is an ongoing process of cognition. This statement is valid for all organisms, with or without a nervous system. Even in living things in which awareness is highly developed, perception and thought normally go on without consciousness. Nowhere is this more true than in humans. Conscious perception counts for less in the scheme of things than we have been taught. It is only a fraction of what we know through our senses. By far the greater part we receive through subliminal perception.
Subliminal perception - perception that occurs without conscious awareness - is not an anomaly but the norm. So much of what we perceive of the world comes not from conscious observation, but from a continuous process of objective scanning. Anton Ehrenzweig tells us, "Unconscious vision has proven to be capable of gathering more information than a conscious scrutiny lasting a hundred times longer. The undifferentiated structure of unconscious vision displays scanning powers that are superior to conscious vision."
Science tells the same story. Otto Potzl proved that images shown to waking people too briefly to be noticed or consciously remembered, resurfaced in their dreams. Companies were formed to influence consumer behaviour by the use of messages too brief to be registered in our conscious awareness, and subliminal advertising, as it became know, works - which is why it was effectively banned in so many countries forty years ago. Subliminal perception is not something that occurs on the margins of our lives, it is continuous and all pervasive.
"It is true that in consequence to our relation to the external world, we are accustomed to regard the subject of knowing - the knowing I - as our real self. This however, is a mere function of the brain and is not our real self." - Schopenhauer
Nearly all our daily goings on occur without conscious awareness. Much of our mental life takes place unknown to us. The most creative acts in the life of the mind come to pass unawares and our deepest motivations are shut away from scrutiny. Very little that is of consequence in our lives requires consciousness. Much that is vitally important comes about only in its place.
It has been an axiom since Descartes ("Cogito, ergo sum") that knowledge presupposes conscious awareness, but sensation and perception do not depend on consciousness, still less on self-awareness. There is nothing uniquely human in conscious awareness. Where other animals differ for humans is in lacking the sensation of selfhood. In this they are not altogether unfortunate. Self-awareness is as much a disability as a power.
The most accomplished pianist is not the one most aware of her movements when she plays. The best craftsman may not know how he works. Very often we are at our most skilful when we are least self-aware. That may be why some cultures have sought to disrupt or diminish self-awareness. The meditative states that have long been practiced in Eastern traditions are described as techniques for heightening consciousness. In fact they are ways of bypassing it. Drugs, fasting, divination and dance are other familiar examples. In earlier times, architecture was used to produce a systematic derangement of the senses.
The world which we see through the filter of conscious awareness is a fragment of that given to us by our subliminal vision. Our senses have to be censored so that our lives can flow more easily, yet we rely on our preconscious view of the world in everything we do. To equate what we know with what we learn through conscious awareness only is a cardinal error. The life of the mind is the life of the body. If it depended solely on conscious awareness to control it, it would fail entirely.
More Straw Dogs
The lesson of evolutionary psychology and cognitive science is that we are descendents of a long lineage, only a fraction of which is human. We are far more than the traces that other humans have left in us. Our brains and spinal cords are encrypted with traces of far older worlds.
So long as our population grows, progress will consist in labouring to keep up with it. There is only one way that humanity can limit its labours and that is to limits its numbers. But limiting its numbers clashes with powerful human needs. Zero population growth could only be enforced by a global authority with draconian powers and unwavering determination. There has never been such a power, and there never will be.
"The certitude that there is no salvation is a form of salvation, in fact it is salvation" - E.M Cioran
Why (not) lie?
"Darwinian theory tells us that an interest in truth is not needed for survival or reproduction. More than that it is a disadvantage. Among humans, the best deceivers are those who deceive themselves: 'we deceive ourselves in order to better deceive others', says Robert Wright. A lover who promises eternal fieldielty is more likely to be believed if he believes himself, although he is no more likely to keep the promise. In competition for mates, a well-developed capacity for self-deception is an advantage. Evolutionary psychologists have shown that deceit is pervasive in animal communication."
Living systems are cognitive systems and living is an ongoing process of cognition. This statement is valid for all organisms, with or without a nervous system. Even in living things in which awareness is highly developed, perception and thought normally go on without consciousness. Nowhere is this more true than in humans. Conscious perception counts for less in the scheme of things than we have been taught. It is only a fraction of what we know through our senses. By far the greater part we receive through subliminal perception.
Subliminal perception - perception that occurs without conscious awareness - is not an anomaly but the norm. So much of what we perceive of the world comes not from conscious observation, but from a continuous process of objective scanning. Anton Ehrenzweig tells us, "Unconscious vision has proven to be capable of gathering more information than a conscious scrutiny lasting a hundred times longer. The undifferentiated structure of unconscious vision displays scanning powers that are superior to conscious vision."
Science tells the same story. Otto Potzl proved that images shown to waking people too briefly to be noticed or consciously remembered, resurfaced in their dreams. Companies were formed to influence consumer behaviour by the use of messages too brief to be registered in our conscious awareness, and subliminal advertising, as it became know, works - which is why it was effectively banned in so many countries forty years ago. Subliminal perception is not something that occurs on the margins of our lives, it is continuous and all pervasive.
"It is true that in consequence to our relation to the external world, we are accustomed to regard the subject of knowing - the knowing I - as our real self. This however, is a mere function of the brain and is not our real self." - Schopenhauer
Nearly all our daily goings on occur without conscious awareness. Much of our mental life takes place unknown to us. The most creative acts in the life of the mind come to pass unawares and our deepest motivations are shut away from scrutiny. Very little that is of consequence in our lives requires consciousness. Much that is vitally important comes about only in its place.
It has been an axiom since Descartes ("Cogito, ergo sum") that knowledge presupposes conscious awareness, but sensation and perception do not depend on consciousness, still less on self-awareness. There is nothing uniquely human in conscious awareness. Where other animals differ for humans is in lacking the sensation of selfhood. In this they are not altogether unfortunate. Self-awareness is as much a disability as a power.
The most accomplished pianist is not the one most aware of her movements when she plays. The best craftsman may not know how he works. Very often we are at our most skilful when we are least self-aware. That may be why some cultures have sought to disrupt or diminish self-awareness. The meditative states that have long been practiced in Eastern traditions are described as techniques for heightening consciousness. In fact they are ways of bypassing it. Drugs, fasting, divination and dance are other familiar examples. In earlier times, architecture was used to produce a systematic derangement of the senses.
The world which we see through the filter of conscious awareness is a fragment of that given to us by our subliminal vision. Our senses have to be censored so that our lives can flow more easily, yet we rely on our preconscious view of the world in everything we do. To equate what we know with what we learn through conscious awareness only is a cardinal error. The life of the mind is the life of the body. If it depended solely on conscious awareness to control it, it would fail entirely.
More Straw Dogs
The lesson of evolutionary psychology and cognitive science is that we are descendents of a long lineage, only a fraction of which is human. We are far more than the traces that other humans have left in us. Our brains and spinal cords are encrypted with traces of far older worlds.
So long as our population grows, progress will consist in labouring to keep up with it. There is only one way that humanity can limit its labours and that is to limits its numbers. But limiting its numbers clashes with powerful human needs. Zero population growth could only be enforced by a global authority with draconian powers and unwavering determination. There has never been such a power, and there never will be.
"The certitude that there is no salvation is a form of salvation, in fact it is salvation" - E.M Cioran
Why (not) lie?
"Darwinian theory tells us that an interest in truth is not needed for survival or reproduction. More than that it is a disadvantage. Among humans, the best deceivers are those who deceive themselves: 'we deceive ourselves in order to better deceive others', says Robert Wright. A lover who promises eternal fieldielty is more likely to be believed if he believes himself, although he is no more likely to keep the promise. In competition for mates, a well-developed capacity for self-deception is an advantage. Evolutionary psychologists have shown that deceit is pervasive in animal communication."
