It\u2019s been a rough year weather-wise for the USA as a whole, but my corner of suburban New Jersey has missed the worst of it thus far. Thank goodness, no tornadoes, no floods, more snow than I would have liked, but even that gave way by late February. However, the nasty heat wave that has been parching the heartland has finally invaded the east coast, and we\u2019re getting fried with the best of them. The ocean breezes cool things off near the shore, but crap out just a few miles inland. Thus, I am enjoying that unique combination of 100+ heat and Jersey-style humidity. The air outside is something like a chocolate fudge volcano cake just out of the oven — but without any of the sweetness.<\/p>\n
In this weather, I still think about big questions; but I don\u2019t get too far in pursuing the answers. For tonight then, I\u2019m just going to ask the questions and leave them unanswered. For now, and probably for a long, long time, as these questions are about the human mind. Ah yes, the mind and consciousness, that mysterious middle-ground between the physical brain, and what we would imagine as \u201cthe soul\u201d (perhaps rightly so, despite all the disdain by the scientists and Buddhists). Philosophers, psychologists, doctors, biologists and computer specialists have been arguing for decades and centuries about this topic. So, I guess that I\u2019m not going to solve it all on a hot summer night in Jersey.<\/p>\n
Nonetheless, here are my questions about mind and consciousness. <\/p>\n
1.) Does consciousness evolve and emerge from the workings of a human mind when and because such a mind can attain a certain level of information integration, as per neuroscientist-psychologist Giulio Tontoni? <\/p>\n
2.) Does the mind sometimes operate in complicated ways that yet do not integrate enough information as to \u201clight up\u201d the light bulb of consciousness? (E.g. when driving a car to work along a familiar route — you are conscious of other things, and drive as if \u201con autopilot\u201d, not noticing the normal scenery; or when you \u201csub-consciously\u201d form impressions and feelings regarding your relationships).<\/p>\n
3.) If so, then can the mind occasionally go \u201ccompletely on autopilot\u201d? I.e., the mind has no consciousness at all. Information is not integrating sufficiently into a \u201cunification of conscious awareness\u201d; and yet the lungs keep breathing, the heart keeps beating, perhaps the body will even move arms and legs as in Phase 4 deep sleep or coma states? Perhaps an all-autopilot state can extend to moving around and doing things, such as in \u201csleepwalking\u201d? And what about Kenneth Parks<\/a> in Toronto, Canada, a kind and responsible young man who woke up to find that he had murdered his mother-in-law during a sleepwalking incident? The jury found him not guilty, deciding that he did not act from conscious free will.<\/p>\n 4.) Is there something essential that must be included within the \u201cinformation integration\u201d before consciousness lights up? Perhaps that something is emotional awareness. I.e. the information circuits must include the limbic system, where emotions are largely driven from. (And perhaps that is why a gentle family-oriented person like Mr. Parks can commit a murder while in a sleepwalking state — as he was not tied to his emotional facilities and could not \u201cfeel\u201d what he was seeing and doing.) <\/p>\n Oops, that’s supposed to be a question, not a suggestion. <\/p>\n