RE: An apology in advance
February 5, 2014 at 11:02 pm
(This post was last modified: February 5, 2014 at 11:03 pm by Whateverist.)
(February 5, 2014 at 2:35 pm)rasetsu Wrote:(February 5, 2014 at 12:47 am)Cato Wrote: I recently read an article that posits that its difficult to temper current behavior based on long term effects, whether health realted or saving for retirement, because we consider our future self as someone else.
Found it...
http://nautil.us/issue/9/time/why-we-procrastinate
Thank you. That gives me a lot to think about. Theory of consciousness is probably my main object, but theory of self is an interesting sidelight. I recently, a few months back, came to the conclusion that we have multiple "selves," each being called upon when we think in different domains. Thus the self we think about when thinking sexually is different than the one we think about when we consider our history, and so on. Your article adds some depth to that in terms of possible explanations for the results concerning future selves. Off the top of my head, this resonates with the work on "theory of mind" such as the work done by Jesse Bering, that perhaps when we think of our future selves, we are actually using the beliefs about other minds circuitry, unlike thinking about ourselves otherwise. That would explain why the pattern of brain activity is what it is. If I remember correctly, the medial PFC is known to have specific roles, but I forget what they are.
Anyway, thanks for a fascinating article.
Ah here it is. Was wanting to get back here and read that article. I suspect that consciousness is entirely fragmentary. I think it is entirely likely that whatever consciousness we enjoy is built up upon a much more primitive model in which an organism is drawn to what feeds it or keeps it safe and repulsed by that which threatens or fails to nurture it. By far most of our consciousness is independent of our conscious minds. And for much the same reason that the autonomic system is dedicated to maintaining essential physiological systems. We didn't evolve to entertain existential questions. We evolved to survive.
Living in societies of creatures as complex as ourselves probably led to our developing a conscious mind capable of considering hypotheticals. But I think they exist as a survival mechanism for our greater organism rather than the other way around. I lean toward thinking the whole is greater than any of its parts so I'm as interested in knowing the dispositions of my greater organism as I am in satisfying the druthers of my conscious mind.
Anyhow, it is a huge topic and I also find it the most fascinating of questions. Now to read that article.
