How Your Senses 'Matrix' You

Some people who come along to my talks are what I term 'literalists'. The believe that what they perceive through their senses is exactly what is happening 'out there'. In other words they consider that the senses present to consciousness an exact replica of what is real. As such the find elements of ITLAD totally counter-intuitive. I suggest that what we perceive has been amended and adapted by the mind before it is presented to consciousness and as such we have no real objective way of confirming the true existence of external objects. The technical term for this is Naïve Realism and is considered by most people to be absolute common sense. However as soon as somebody starts to read philosophy they find themselves discovering the painful truth that this is simply not correct. The image above is a classical example of how the mind adds detail where it is not present. If you look at closely at the image you will soon notice that the blue petals are moving in a circular motion. This is a total illusion. There is no movement - it is the 'creation' of the brain. That 'reality' is processed in this way is called Representative Realism and this is the what that most cognitive scientists believe is the real nature of cognition. If my theory is correct then 'reality' - or more accurately 'The Bohmian IMAX' is the real nature of reality - a fizzing and buzzing mass of electromagnetic energy attenuated and processed by the brain so that we can make sense of it all. For certain individuals the attenuator malfunctions and they perceive the Bohmian in all its glory. These people are diagnosed as schizophrenics. I am also of the opinion that severe autism is also involved - particularly asperger's syndrome. In my next book - publication date now confirmed for the 1st September 2008 - I will expand on this theory.