A idea of mind...

This is raw, and hard to read. sorry. Some day I will clean it up. Or not.

v Animal level function (subconscious)

Ø Instinctive behaviors

Ø Learned behaviors

§ Scripts

· Written by action, and in the case of humans (other high mammals?), imagination

· Automatically queued for execution based on simple sensory and situational cues

¨ At least in suitably equipped creatures, these cues can come from the imagination

¨ Automatic selection of a specific script is reinforced or suppressed based on conditioned response and reinforcement

Ø Positive reinforcement

§ Reinforces application of an instinctive or learned script in response to specific stimulus

Ø Negative reinforcement

§ Causes a desire for avoidance of (flight from) the stimulus set , in lieu of running the script that caused the negative

· Flight often leads to the formation of a new script, and a decrease in the “suitability for circumstance” rating of the script that created the flight situation

¨ New scripts created this way are essentially collections of microscripts executed in response to stimulus received during a flight response, in the absence of an appropriate preexisting macroscript.

¨ This sequence then may become 1^st generation macroscript that will subsequently be pruned or reinforced based on its effectiveness at producing goal achievement or negative consequences.

· The subconscious does not record the -lack of- negative stimulus

¨ To modify behavior scripts or action tables, a positive or negative stimulus is required

Ø Intensely goal focused

§ Has difficulty with or is incapable of using the logical symbolic operator “NOT”

v Higher Consciousness

Ø An artifact of a highly evolved imagination

Ø Distinctly Separate

§ In an observational, predictive, and supervisory role

· See experiments in conscious self determination, free will (references)

§ Observably separate

· Simple experiment

¨ Next time you are eating, watch closely. How often did you consciously choose to make an action, versus the times that you observed it happening autonomously and approved or cancelled it?

Ø Imagination

§ an evolved tool that gives us decision making advantages and extreme adaptability

§ Benefits from a narrator, a constructor, a second voice

· We are the narrator

§ Allows true symbolic re-presentation, as opposed to cause and effect, which is not abstract

· Enables language

§ The act of narration

· Requires a highly evolved imagination, capable of manipulating very complex symbolic constructs

· Developed and was extended by culture

· Useful for defining new scripts through methodical imagination of circumstances, scripts, and outcomes

Ø Language

§ Facilitates narration

§ Forms the optional facile boundaries of imaginary constructs, which can be transcended with effort

§ Enables the codification of culture, a sort of genome so that flexibility is limited and replication is more exact and modular

Ø Viral in nature

§ Enculturated higher consciousness is the result of infection by a viral information set that propagates in the imagination space of higher animals.

· Evidence can be found for this in the relative failure of unenculturated feral children to adjust to enculturated consensual reality and behaviors, as well as the moderate success of forced enculturation in great apes. (Coco) (references)

Ø Culture

§ a viral set of symbolic constructs that at once defines and explains our social and physical circumstances

§ defines and is defined by our experience of existence

· In the case of enculturated individuals, is framed within a viral information set that has been provided to us in some form by other infected individuals

§ Not universal

· Just as words sometimes cannot be translated, culture can contain frames of reference unique to that culture (or even individual).

¨ There is no universal –consensual- reality, though there may (or may not) be a universal physical reality

§ Arguably not a requirement of high consciousness, but a capability enhancing toolset that enables the processing of increasingly complex data structures

· Note – just as a computer is fully functional with just the basic operating system, and can be tasked with basic tasks as such, its functionality is greatly enhanced by additional software. For us this software is culture, and this forms the framework for complex abstract data sets, or knowledge

v Useful Abstractions

Ø The Sentient

§ The conscious mind is “the Sentient”

· Observes the objects of conscious observation only

· Frequently has minimal interaction with the Companion

¨ Frequent descriptions of this isolation

Ø on “autopilot”

Ø in “a different world”

Ø “distracted”

· Can be tasked with a much higher degree of activity than is frequently employed

¨ Living in the moment

¨ Intentional observation

· Is normally present when learning new tasks (writing new scripts) before they become “automatic”

· Has veto power over scripts chosen by the companion

· Can Create new scripts (NLP focuses on this idea)

· Can be suspended under extreme stress

· Without training, has very little direct control of the body

¨ (try flexing just one muscle)

Ø The Companion

§ The subconscious mind is “the Companion”

· Manages everyday body functions

· Alerts the Sentient of dangers, and opportunities

· Quickly chooses and executes scripts based on limited information

· Goal oriented

· Can take over completely under extreme stress if the Sentient is not well disciplined

· Is the subject of hypnosis

· Is expert in the control of the body

¨ Is distributed beyond the brain and into the spinal column (“muscle memory”)

· Well suited for navigating simple 1 layer cause and effect situations and survival tasks

¨ Does not “make decisions”

¨ Acts on a cause-effect conditioning model

Ø Behavior scripts and Action Tables

§ Scripts are a model for a sequential set of actions in response to stimulus or initiated in the context of a higher level script or supervisory command

· Scripts are nested, and at the lowest level are very basic (taking a step, raising an arm)

§ Action Tables are a model for the selection criteria used to select scripts based on stimulus

v Classifying the Whole: Sentient – Companion symbiosis

Ø The relationship between the Sentient and the Companion can be classed as symbiotic

§ Like having a really reliable idiot savant chauffer, a close friend who is not that clever but is really, really effective.

§ The sentient is in a observation / idle role by default

· When a script is terminated and a high level decision is required, the Sentient may experience an “Interrupt” (ok, why did I come over here?)

§ Left to its own devices, the Companion will automatically seek resolution for first tier biological drives (freedom from immediate bodily harm, food, social status, comfort, sex, roughly in that order) within the scope of existing scripts, and will modify behavior based on the success or failure of this seeking process.

· The companion can be directed by the Sentient to apply this seeking process to other goals as well, by intentional or unintentional invocation of the constructed goal as a required step to a first tier goal.

¨ This is the purpose of most sales advertising, to displace or influence the Sentient in such a way that the purchase of a specific product is given to the Companion as an intermediary goal for the fulfillment of first tier goals.

Reflections on an engineered tragedy – 9-11

As we approach the ten year anniversary of the human created disaster that is now known as 9/11 (that only leaves 364 good days left) it is, perhaps time to reflect.

The fall of the twin towers (and more specifically, the aftermath of the event) arguably made Osama Bin Laden the most successful asymmetrical war fighter in the history of mankind. It is time that we acknowledge this unpleasant fact, so that we can stop adding to his success.

While the 9/11 events were certainly spectacular, they were in and of themselves utterly insignificant on a strategic scale. The tragic loss of life and small loss of property (in proportion to the US GDP) in no way directly hindered the ability of the USA to continue to thrive, to grow, and to be the beacon of liberty and hope and freedom that so infuriates zealots and enemies of personal liberty.

The measured initial US response was effective and prompt, and sufficient to display that we would respond in kind to attacks on our soil.

Have we gone beyond that initial sensible response, playing into the hands of those who would deprive us of our liberties?

The goal of asymmetrical warfare (AKA terrorism) is to leverage the resources of the enemy against itself. This is done by utilizing the publicity and outrage that inevitably follows attacks on the typical target of terrorism – civilian infrastructure.

When a car suicide bomber “earns his 72” Instant global publicity is the most important secondary effect of the blast. For $500 of explosives, the well chosen attack may harvest $50,000,000 in publicity. The fact that the attack is denounced by the media is irrelevant –potential supporters will only see this as a sign of the strength of the group responsible.

As nice as a 50,000,000% return on investment might be, if the perpetrators of an attack are sufficiently brilliant in the choice of their target and managing the resulting media, that is just the beginning.

If they are especially clever, or their adversary not so, the attack might manage to lure the victimized organization into a disproportionate response. This will multiply the dividends reaped from the attack in the form of high economic losses , skyrocketing military expenditures, and reduced efficiency of the victim organization due to increased security overhead.

I think it can be safely said that the 9/11 attacks have succeeded in meeting these goals and more.

Through our reaction to the attacks, we find ourselves a changed nation. We have incrementally reduced our quality of life and our expectations of personal liberty. We have spent trillions of dollars. We have cast ourselves in the passive role of the victim, who must act, not by calculated measures, but rather in gross dramatic gesture.

I do not think that the perpetrators of 9/11 could have hoped for a better result.

Perhaps it is time to put this behind us and move towards a progressive, non reactionary policy. We must recognize that our enemy is not a government, not a religion, not a band of renegades, and not a well organized terrorist organization – it is an ideology of hatred and violence.

An ideology cannot be destroyed by violence, unless we are willing to engage in genocide against the entire culture that harbors it. This tactic has been effectively employed historically by almost every major military power in history up until recently, but we seem to have come to a consensus that we are more enlightened now, and that this type of thing is no longer acceptable.

We must continue to vigorously protect our nation and proportionally respond to attackers. We must make it exquisitely uncomfortable to be associated with an attack on the USA, with minimal visibility and effect on uninvolved people, and while not putting excessive resources or manpower in harms’ way. We must make no concession in our way of life, and give no quarter to the enemy through sacrificing excessive time, energy, liberty, or mindshare.

Security cannot be assured. We all accept that risks are unavoidable when we drive, and that the costs to eliminate these risks are too high to accept (a 15mph universal speed limit?). The same goes for security within our borders.

We must learn to combat virulent, destructive ideologies with a proportionate response both militarily and ideologicaly, reducing the asymmetry of asymmetrical warfare so that our greater resources become our strength and not our vulnerability.

Fellow Americans, let us move on, and stop paying dividends to Al Qaeda. There are only 365 days in a year – if we marked each of our tragedies as a day on the calendar of our culture, we would live a life of perpetual grief.

Each time we remember that fateful day with anything more than sadness, we make a small deposit in the mindshare bank of Osama mutual… a deposit that given the opportunity, the purveyors of hate and fear will be more than happy to cash in.