Choosing an operating system. The process of consciousness and its manifestations
Just 5 years ago, you could start another holivar by comparing Android and iOS. About 15 years ago, the debate began around subcultural preferences. 50 years ago you could get killed for your political views. And 500 years ago, if you crossed yourself with the wrong hand, you were definitely doomed to death. How mental firmware we weave into the process of consciousness, why it is convenient and why tell the hell off to coaches of creativity and going “beyond the comfort zone”… Yes, all this is here, and a little more.
Disclaimer: all the material is nothing more than speculation on the topic. You can and will definitely have your own opinion on this view, and I will be very grateful if you write it in the comments.
Continuity on which the process of consciousness rests
A person is born with already established patterns of behavior. The process of consciousness taking place in the brain is activated even when a person is a fetus, and, according to the theories of Stanislav Grof, remains with us for life. Examples of this: flying in a dream, which refers to swimming in amniotic fluid. Squeezing by walls when we squeeze through during childbirth. A feeling of fear and uncertainty when the waters broke and we found ourselves in emptiness. We are born with already incredible experiences. And we are developing it every second. Proclaiming analogue, digital and bionic dataism.
Neural networks that are already inside us
It so happens that all life on the planet is a carbon form of life. But humans are the only species that came to the creation of silicon computing systems and was able to build silicon neural networks based on them. The process of world consciousness they acquire is controlled by us. We feed neural networks data and implement algorithms for their analysis. Clean dataismwhich repeats our growing up.
Initially, the baby gains new knowledge about life precisely through observations and attempts to repeat. It is useless to teach a child something “good” by verbally passing on memorized treatises. Psychology clearly demonstrates that a child learns from the personal example of his parents or reference persons.
Our brain, our memory, our consciousness – all this is built around neural connections. Just as the computing devices of users around the world are connected into a single neural network, the neurons of the brain are connected by neural networks. And each individual chain denotes a specific pattern of consciousness. They are built according to the types of management areas of neurohacking.
Ready-made patterns. Why you shouldn’t rush to get rid of them
How is our memory formed? A signal comes from the receptors. It could be an emotionally strong, one-time signal. Or a regular, repeatable, cyclic signal. This could even be mental bug.
An example of the first is an offensive nickname at school. You probably remember the approximate day and conditions in which it appeared. The second example is your own name. You don’t remember the exact day when they started calling you exactly what they call you now. Only over time, hearing the same pattern, did you realize that your name is you.
The example with the name is a drop in the sea of all the information, patterns of behavior and ready-made templates that the process of consciousness is absorbed in. As children, we greedily absorbed ready-made attitudes. In adolescence, we confidently divided the world into “right” and “wrong.” We built an attitude towards work, money, the opposite sex, the concepts of religion, politics… All patterns and templates of our behavior are ready-made solutions that support our existence. Signs of postmodernism already here.
Can we regulate the process of consciousness?
If neural connections are formed, experiences and habits are acquired, then we are in no way able to change our lives? We live in a circle of self-sustaining cycles, and disruption of one of them can lead to us, as an individual, becoming a completely different person. On the other hand, we constantly change ourselves as individuals and people, making changes part of the routine.
Legal drugs and what does colonization have to do with it?
What do cancer, periods, blood sugar and anabolic steroids have in common? Each of these elements was used as an argument in reaching an acquittal for murder. That is, a person as a subject may not be responsible for his behavior if the behavior is determined by these factors. A pure consciousness is nothing more than a spherical horse in a vacuum. To understand this, let’s look at the story, supported by Terence McKenna:
Primitive era. Tribal society, human development. Shamanism is developing in different regions of the world, people believe in partnership and matriarchy. Constantly consumed substances around which cults are built are psilocybin mushrooms, iboga root, fly agarics.
Advanced tribes. Humanity is developing, the number of groups is growing. The first primitive religions emerge. Psychoactive elements combine, soma and ayahuasca come into the world.
Age of agriculture, sedentary lifestyle. We did not domesticate wheat, but wheat domesticated us. The first alcoholic drinks. Fermented grape juice and honey. The crisis of matriarchy, the emergence of patriarchy and the first hierarchical structures.
Antiquity, Middle Ages, early Renaissance. The period when the European world froze in the sweet slumber of alcohol. The process of consciousness gave rise to systems of hierarchies and self-determination. Empires formed and gradually spread their borders, reaching the far corners of the world, forming cologies.
From the Renaissance to the 2000s. Coffee, cocoa, tea, tobacco, opium. A little later LSD, DMT, MDMA. The latter did not shine in the rays of glory for long, but coffee and sugar became faithful companions of developing civilizations. Progress began when Europe set aside beer soup and wine for children, and the first coffee shops appeared near universities.
The computer is the LSD of the 21st century. From the lips of Timothy Leary, LSD evangelist and founder of cyberpsychology, this phrase sounds prophetic. The dopamine boost in the body today is stronger than ever. We start the morning with a smartphone in hand. We scroll through the reels until we pass out at 12 am from powerlessness. Killed melatonin in the evening, shot dopamine in the morning, norepinephrine at the maximum when you scroll through page 327 of pornhub in search of suitable content…
State of objective consciousness – it is rather an understanding and acceptance of the fact that consciousness is influenced every second by a powerful biochemical cocktail. Throughout the entire era of its existence, humanity has used tools for the work of consciousness, strengthening them with social constructs. And it doesn’t matter who supports it.
A shaman holding out a dish of ayahuasca. Priest giving communion with wine and bread. Barista holding out coffee with sugar. Psychiatrist filling a prescription for an SSRI. Or a blogger/musician/CEO uploading content whose quality correlates with dopamine in the synaptic cleft. Features of postmodernism the fact that it is all the same person changing the state of your consciousness.
It can be resisted, it can be denied. You can run from this. But each of these elements is equally dangerous and useful. These facets are determined only by the culture of consumption.
Faith, economics, patriotism. And why is there no difference between them?
What if we dig a little deeper? State boundaries on maps exist only in the minds of those who look at these maps. The value of any currency is determined only by the faith of enough people who believe in the value of that currency. Supporters of political parties, activists of political movements, supporters of a particular social system… They all hold on to sets of attitudes that exist exclusively… in their minds. AND systems approach hammers these guidelines in over and over again, every day. No breaks or days off.
It turns out that all political views, religions, economic theories – all this has no basis? It has. But all these facts exist exclusively in people’s heads, in the form of collected, debugged, formed neural connections. And their development is encouraged development of postmodernism.
The process of consciousness goes on continuously from birth. The brain doesn’t care what problems to solve, what information to consume, what beliefs to use to explain what is happening in the world. If this can be explained by God’s Will, Quantum Entanglement, the Book of Fates, the Masonic Conspiracy, this explanation suits consciousness.
The process of consciousness begins here
Once upon a time, humanity believed that if we gave every person access to information, humanity would become smarter. In fact, the Internet has turned into a tool for searching for confirmation of one’s own rightness. Do you want to find arguments in support of country A? Easily. Do you need confirmation of the correctness of country B’s actions? Ready. Do you need to justify “our own people”? Here is a set of arguments.
Postmodern theory alive, and she’s right in front of us. Every person who is reading these lines now can choose any worldview and will find thousands, tens of thousands of arguments to support it. Or he will create his own, new, better.
Author: Philip Donchev
