Consciousness

[Alan V]

Speaking of conscious access - memory is nuts.  It's actively constructed on recall.  Not just memories of things that happen - but the memory of who you are the moment you consider it.  Big ways, sure...but think of the little ways, that, all added together, comprise the vast majority of our day to day life and behaviors.   A swift crack to the skull can determine whether a person is likely to leave the toilet seat up or down.  If said crackee ever has occasion to wonder why they're one way or the other, it's likely they'll construct an answer that very instant, and that answer is unlikely to be "because I got cracked in the skull".  Similarly, some non-crackee who leaves it down and pondering the same concludes "because I'm a good guy who's always done that" is also making shit up.

Rationalizing is rampant in dreaming, when our access to our short-term memories is impaired.  We make up impromptu stories all the time to "explain" what is happening to us.

The fact is that we can't learn about dreaming while we are dreaming because the neurochemical we need to learn anything is turned off.