A Journey Into Mind, Seeing, And Light

Discussion in 'Alternative Theories' started by Steve Klinko, Sep 9, 2021.

  1. Steve Klinko Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    435
    This is a script for a possible Audio or Video presentation. The lettered titles indicate the main thought in the corresponding group of script lines. I think that on further consideration this double-spaced text version might actually convey the message better than an Audio or a Video.


    A) Science Has No explanation

    It all started one day when I thought it might be fun to figure out how we See.

    I read what the Scientists and the Philosophers had to say.

    I studied Eye Physiology and Brain Physiology.

    I learned exactly how the Eye, Optic Nerve, and Visual Cortex work.

    But I was disappointed, because all this understanding did not explain how we See.

    After 25 years of study, I had to face the fact that Science had no Explanation for how we See.


    B) Think In New Ways

    I discovered that the only thing Science knew for sure was that if certain Neurons fire we can have an Experience of Seeing.

    It was reasonable to speculate that there must be something about the Neurons that produced this Experience of Seeing.

    To test this, Science has Probed, Measured, Scanned, and Mapped the Brain in every conceivable way.

    And after a hundred years, HUGE progress was made with understanding the Neural Activity that happens while Seeing.

    But after all this time, Science has made exactly ZERO progress with understanding the Conscious Experience of Seeing.

    Ironically, the Seeing part of how we See was still a total mystery.

    It became clear to me that it was time to start thinking in New Ways.

    But it is difficult to teach people to think in New Ways.

    And I found that I can only Nudge people in the right direction, with the hope that they will eventually understand the New Ways.


    C) Insight From Floating Lights

    So here is a Nudge toward New Ways of thinking, in the form of a little story about Floating Lights.

    A lot of times I fall asleep on the couch in my Stereo room at night.

    I have multiple Preamps, Power Amps, Processors, and Converters with different Colored LED panel Lights.

    It relaxes me to think about these Lights when I’m going to sleep.

    The LEDs seem to float “Out There” in space as Colored points of Light punching through the darkness.

    It’s just Me … the LEDs … and the Darkness.

    At first, because I knew the LEDs were across the room, my Experience was that they really were across the room.

    Eventually, I realized that I could Experience the Lights as being close to me.

    I could even make them seem like they were located directly in front of my face.

    I assumed this was just my Imagination.


    D) Conscious Space

    But after a while, I realized that this might not be my Imagination.

    It was, in fact, the first evidence that I might not be Seeing the Physical LEDs, but rather I was Seeing some kind of Conscious Experience in my Mind.

    The Illusion has always been that the Lights were “Out There”.

    But the reality is that the Lights were never “Out There” in the first place.

    I was Seeing what I call Conscious Lights.

    These Conscious Lights were created by my Mind and projected in front of my face.

    It seemed Logical to speculate that the Conscious Lights existed in some new conceptual place, which I call Conscious Space.

    Next, it became Logical to speculate that each individual Conscious Mind might consist of a little chunk of this Conscious Space.

    So we each have our own chunk of Conscious Space, and this is where our separate Conscious Experiences happen.


    E) Conscious Experience

    Let’s think about Seeing Color and especially let’s think about Seeing Red.

    Instead of Seeing Red I like to say we Experience Redness.

    This helps point attention to the Redness Experience in the Mind, and not to the Red Electromagnetic Wave phenomenon.

    The Redness Experience is in Conscious Space and the Red Electromagnetic Wave is in Physical Space.

    The argument is similar for any other Color or combination of Colors, including shades of gray from Black to White.

    The Visually impaired can consider the Conscious Experience of other things, like the Sound of the Standard A Tone, the Taste of Salt, the Smell of Bleach, or the Touch of a Rough Surface.


    F) The Inter Mind

    Science has mapped the various Sensory inputs from the Eyes, Ears, Tongue, Nose, and Skin to specific areas of the Cortex.

    So, for example we can say:

    1 Neural Activity for Red happens in the Cortex.

    2 A Redness Experience happens in the Conscious Mind.

    But we have a dilemma because this question screams out at us:

    How does the Neural Activity produce the Redness Experience?

    From a Systems Engineering point of view there is a missing processing stage between the Neural Activity and the Conscious Experience.

    I call the missing processing stage, the Inter Mind, because it is an Interconnecting stage between the Physical Mind, and the Conscious Mind, where Physical Mind means the Brain.

    We can now imagine a three stage diagram of Mind that shows the Physical Mind connected to the Inter Mind and the Inter Mind connected to the Conscious Mind.

    I call this diagram the Inter Mind Model of Consciousness.

    The Inter Mind does the Processing to Translate Neural Activity in the Physical Mind into the Conscious Experience in the Conscious Mind.

    The Inter Mind functionality might exist partly in the Physical Mind and partly in the Conscious Mind.

    But it might exist only in the Physical Mind or only in the Conscious Mind.

    Physicalists will insist it is completely in the Physical Mind.

    One thing for sure is that the functionality of an Inter Mind must exist somewhere.


    G) Physiology of Seeing

    Let’s talk about the Physiology of Seeing.

    Physical Light from the External Scene enters the Eye and is focused onto the Retina.

    The Energy from the Physical Light activates millions of Light Receptors that send signals to the Visual Cortex.

    The Visual Cortex performs processing using a cascading, feedback, network of millions of Activated Neurons.

    Since all this Neural Activity is Correlated with the Physical Light, I like to call it, the Neural Light.

    But we don’t See this Neural Light.

    We See a Conscious Light Scene in the Mind that is Correlated with the Neural Light.

    The Conscious Light Scene cannot be found in the Physical Mind.

    I like to speculate that the whole Conscious Light Scene is in Conscious Space.


    H) Reconstruction and Overlay Processing

    But let’s talk about what the Physical Mind is actually doing.

    The Physical Mind seems to deconstruct the Scene we are looking at with the goal of detecting features of the Scene like lines, edges, motion, and color.

    The highest stages seem to be for image recognition.

    The lower stages seem to be for control of eye focus, convergence, and target tracking.

    There are some edge enhancement and shading effects that are generated in the lower stages that can be Experienced in the Conscious Light Scene.

    If there is a damaged area in the lower stages, then an equivalent blacked out area will appear in the Conscious Light Scene.

    If there is damage to the Color areas, then the Color Experience will be impaired.

    It seems that the Conscious Light Scene that we See, must consist of an Overlay of all the Visual Cortex processing stages.

    The deconstructed Cortex information must be Reconstructed into a Coherent Conscious Light Scene.

    Unfortunately, there is no known mechanism in the Physical Mind that does this Overlay and Reconstruction Processing.

    This missing Processing is sometimes called the Binding Problem.

    Since the purpose of the Inter Mind is to Translate the Neural Activity into the Conscious Light Scene, it is Logical to propose that the Inter Mind must perform the Overlay and Reconstruction processing.


    I) Three Types of Light

    Let’s think about the three types of Light.

    First, there are the Electromagnetic Waves, in Physical Space, which I call Physical Light.

    Second, there is the Neural Activity, also in Physical Space, which I call Neural Light.

    Third, there is the Conscious Experience, in Conscious Space, which I call Conscious Light.

    These different Types of Light exist at different stages in the Seeing process.

    We have never Seen the Physical Light or the Neural Light.

    We have always only Seen the Conscious Light that is in our Conscious Minds.


    J) An Important Realization

    Since the Conscious Light is in our Conscious Minds we can say the Light is our own internal personal Light.

    Even if you are a Physicalist and believe the Conscious Light is in the Neurons, it is still your own internal personal Light.

    Since the Conscious Light is internal to us, we can say the Conscious Light is partly what we are.

    We can say: We are that Light.

    For me, this was the most important Realization I have ever had about my own Mind and Being.
     
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  3. origin Heading towards oblivion Valued Senior Member

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    For me it is just about worthless, I didn't really read what you wrote in this particular thread, but you basically repeat the same thing over and over so it didn't matter
     
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  5. DaveC426913 Valued Senior Member

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    Why do you call it 'light' when it isn't?
    Its electrical potential - electricity.
    If you redirected it to the auditory cortex, you would hear it as sound. To the olfactory cortex, aroma.

    Is it a useful idea if it prioritizes poetic symmetry at the expense of explanatory fact?
     
    Last edited: Sep 9, 2021
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  7. Michael 345 New year. PRESENT is 72 years oldl Valued Senior Member

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    I really don't understand how Steve can claim whatever it is he is claiming

    I hear sound all the time, even if there is no sound waves out there impacting my tympanic membrane

    It's called tinnitus

    Tinnitus is the name for hearing noises that are not caused by sounds coming from the outside world

    https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/tinni... is the name for,are treatments that can help.

    Various coloured lights can be seen without light entering your eye. Close your eyes and gently rub eyelids

    Steve does have a, to me, a odd perception? of the brain / mind connection always seemingly thinking there is something else "out there" to account for our perception

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