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.

Talking of Autism....

...as I was recently in another post, I think they go into screaming fits because they lack the internal censor mechanism of ordinary people. Sensory input, unfiltered, then becomes unbearable to them, much like my migraines/TLE does. Like Huxleys Renee, it has all become horribly overwhelming. Like a glass shattering, the outside (atmosphere) pours in as though I was a colonist living in an Earth type environment bubble on another planet. I'm killed (overwhelmed) by its foreigness (The light is too bright. the sound is too loud - touch makes me cringe, smell makes me want to vomit and if I could eat, I'm sure taste would do the same.

I remember reading somewhere that the brain isn't there so much to process information as to censor it. This would explain Aspergers Syndrome sufferers difficulty with incoming sensory data and ordinary peopes ability to handle it.

I think Kim Peak (The character 'The Rain Man' was based on) is unique in this respect, in that having a bridge between both sides of the brain, means he doesn't have overwhelm problems.

Still pictures

In a recent program on BBC4, The Genius of Photography, Jon Snow said he thought memory had to be in the form of still photos rather than moving film and I'd agree. The reason for this is simple - movement blurs vision. You cannot see what is truly in front of you unless you stop yourself and look (confront it). People who are frightened are continually on the run - that is, life is just a continuous blur to them, so they never see it for what it is. It takes courage to make a stand and discover the truth, rather than join the panic that parts us from our 'senses'.

A picture is worth a thousand words. Autistic people have a problem with sequencing, which is why data processing eludes them (I could never see the sense of gears for instance - why not just an accelerator?). This is why words confuse them as they have to work out the order and meaning from that, to make sense of the message. This is also why vision is more important to them i.e. instant, whole communication - not charades (guessing games).

VS Ramachandran and 'Ingrid', sounds like someone watching a film and catching each frame individually, rather than as a smooth flow of seeming continuity (Hand cranked projectors of old and the strobe effect of silent movies - new films don't have this problem as they are faster, so you can censor out gaps). It's similar to when you're ill or suffering from the effects of alcohol - you can't scan across a vista but get image drag instead. By the way because this is the way we see, doesn't mean that, that is the way the world is in fact: Things move or stay still but it is us that creates stills of life, not life that necessarily creates still pictures of itself, from moving or seemingly still objects.