Re: virus: kurzweil cuts the mustard

Tim Rhodes (proftim@speakeasy.org)
Tue, 5 Jan 1999 01:08:28 -0800

Joe E. Dees wrote:

>Objects are that which consciousness is conscious OF; even self-
>consciousness is consciousness of a self-construction (a kind of
>bootstrapped "straw self"), rather than of the self itself (for, to do
>that, it would have to include the intending as well as the intended
>self, and the flashlight of consciousness cannot illuminate itself (or,
>rather,the recursive and self-referential snake must eat its tail, but
>cannot consume its own mouth).

To my mind, consciousness is the forte and delicate construct of, what I like to call, the Self-that-does-the-Talking. This little guy gets a lot of P.R. and one might even be led to believe that he runs the whole show. (If you were to take _his_ word for it, that is.) So much so that many people quite often seem amazed to learn that he is not only (A) only one of many Selves inhabiting our wondrous little brains, but (B) is actually not really even the one whose always in charge, and rather, simply that annoying guy with the megaphone who keeps taking the credit for everything about 1/30 second after anyone else does it.

The Self-that-does-the-Talking would, of course, have you believe that he is the most important Self in any brain, and that his presence is a necessary element of any enlightened and highly evolved mind. Consciousness (or at least the ablilty to _claim_ that one is conscious ;-) is his hallmark and thus he will tell you it is the Holy Grail of all Knowledge and the most important aspect of any being.

But since he is, after all, the one whose been telling you all this in the first place, what else could one expect him to say was important?

-Prof. Tim,
amused that birds have also been found to dream, when not trading memes with their peers.