"Congratulations. You have swamped the probabilities of chance with your mind." - Ghost, by Alan Lightman (2008). (Yes, that Alan Lightman. A most enjoyable read!)
This is going to have to be quick, as yours truly is currently swamped with more mundane things to do.
There seems to be something in the air that makes people want to discuss patterns. I concede that our ultimate understanding of the universe may always include an element that is not understood. Call it 'noise', 'randomness', or whatever else you like.
I just think that it's possible to understand a whole lot more of that 'noise' in terms of a pattern or set of underlying causes. I don't hold this opinion because I can't stand the idea that some things are simply unexplainable; in fact, I tolerate that idea quite well. But, having seen the potential to crack one previously untouchable 'code' (that of the origins of dreams), I can't help but think that it might be possible to crack more of the 'code' of consciousness.
Cracking the code of conscious experience will involve a grand synthesis of many lines of research, including those on rarer types of conscious experience. I also see the multiple-observer question as a necessary line of inquiry for understanding the interplay of consciousness with the observable world. The code of a self-contained consciousness that is isolated from outside influences is (hypothetically) much easier to crack. But the code of a consciousness that is dependent in some way on other observers will likely be much more complicated.
This challenge merits only the following response - Bring it on! ;)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment