[Madness]

One of my favorite brain factoids I've used to jam up people's self-understanding for years explained in a helpful TED Talk: Your Brain Hallucinates Your Conscious Reality

[TaoHorror]

When the end of consciousness comes, are we not to be afraid because nothing comes thereafter?

[Wilshire]

Awesome.

Lots to be discussed here, especially  for the uninitiated like myself , though I don't think I can be in the driver seat of that discussion. So many ways to take it.

I love the ending. So often, people hear this kind of information and fall into a state of despair. "If I'm not special, what's the point of living?" , or they deny it with a kind of visceral hatred. I don't understand that reaction, not on a personal level at least. I feel exactly as he describes - by not being special, by not being unique, by not being the literal center of the universe, suddenly everything is interconnected.

By being part of the larger whole, all actions become relevant and important in a way that so vastly supersedes the selfish needs of a single individual, and for some reason this brings me great joy.

It also reminds me of Stranger in a Strange Land "Thou art God". You, me, we are responsible directly for the suffering and happiness of ourselves and all those around us. That has a far more powerful impact on me and how I act/think than any ethereal deity and ruleset handed down to me by my ancient ancestors, and far more than some existential fear of post-life eternity. 

When the end of consciousness comes, are we not to be afraid because nothing comes thereafter?

Consciousness is not ending, it is expanded exponentially and infinitely. And there is much to fear. How do you justify actions without the certainty that any one 'self' is no longer superior to others? If there is no 'me' there is only 'we'. What you do effects, in a very real way, everything else. Everything is a choice, and those choices matter. Collectively we choose what shape reality takes.

[Madness]

Awesome.

Lots to be discussed here, especially  for the uninitiated like myself , though I don't think I can be in the driver seat of that discussion. So many ways to take it.

I love the ending. So often, people hear this kind of information and fall into a state of despair. "If I'm not special, what's the point of living?" , or they deny it with a kind of visceral hatred. I don't understand that reaction, not on a personal level at least. I feel exactly as he describes - by not being special, by not being unique, by not being the literal center of the universe, suddenly everything is interconnected.

By being part of the larger whole, all actions become relevant and important in a way that so vastly supersedes the selfish needs of a single individual, and for some reason this brings me great joy.

It also reminds me of Stranger in a Strange Land "Thou art God". You, me, we are responsible directly for the suffering and happiness of ourselves and all those around us. That has a far more powerful impact on me and how I act/think than any ethereal deity and ruleset handed down to me by my ancient ancestors, and far more than some existential fear of post-life eternity. 

What a great post .

+1 all around.

When the end of consciousness comes, are we not to be afraid because nothing comes thereafter?

Consciousness is not ending, it is expanded exponentially and infinitely. And there is much to fear. How do you justify actions without the certainty that any one 'self' is no longer superior to others? If there is no 'me' there is only 'we'. What you do effects, in a very real way, everything else. Everything is a choice, and those choices matter. Collectively we choose what shape reality takes.

I think Seth is speaking a la Bakker at the end there - though their individual suggested implications are fairly at odds. Our current conception of what we define as consciousness in the commons - in what Bakker might call folk-understandings - is going to drastically change. Seth doesn't see that as a cause for concern. Bakker's view has evolved to perceive most, if not all roads, as leading to crash space: when we hack our evolutionary perceptions so far that they no longer provide us with "best-guesses" (in the video's words) regarding the biological/survival cognitive ecology (or our contextual ecological environment in which we evolved).

Lol - full disclosure, I just watched the video today but it's as good as I expected, if the explanatory metaphors he chose differ from than those I'd reference. I've always particularly liked the rubber hand illusion and Seth does stray quite close to Bakker's BBT brainbound metaphor - Seth even references The Only Game In Town Effect (Bakker), albeit elliptically.

[Wilshire]

Yeah the final effect of this change various to the point of complete opposites from Bakker compared to Seth.

What can/could happen and what is likely to happen are, unfortunately, not the same, and I already touched briefly on this. The number of people that fall into despair rather than hope will likely shape dramatically the outcome. If the collective conclusion is 'fuck it, burn it all down' - guess what, it'll look like hell on earth. But maybe the opposite could happen?

The danger, to me, seems to be how unprepared we are to deal with it. Preparing beforehand might dampen some of the negative consequences, but if everyone ends up in a room with a bunch of people who can suddenly control all the sliders ... "It is what it is" a la Crash Space and/or Neuropath . (by which, I mean that everyone ends up dead, for those not following).

Reaching the limits, and then well beyond, of our un-evolved neanderthal brains is a problem now, and will only get worse.

[Madness]

The Case Against Reality - A professor of cognitive science argues that the world is nothing like the one we experience through our senses.

More fuel for the pyre.