If you turn on two separate faucets in your home, water will stream from both simultaneously although there's only one ultimate water pipe coming into the home. Neuronal firing can occur in many places at the same time although the sensory input is single. And awareness is constructed from the neuronal activity. WC
--- On Thu, 12/25/08, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote: > From: [email protected] <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: sense of pulchritude and intellectual engagement > To: [email protected] > Date: Thursday, December 25, 2008, 3:30 PM > In a message dated 12/24/08 12:08:52 PM, > [email protected] writes: > > > > I don't think we can talk anymore of sequential > process in consciousness, > > cognition, etc. We may invent a sequence to sort out > something complex but > > our brains are operating on multiple neuron-firing > sequences simultaneously. > So > > in the end to say we respond emotionally first or last > is meaningless > > (except maybe in subconscious brain stem activity. > > > This is interesting. Say I turn my head just to check the > traffic at the very > moment a car is rushing toward me. I would have thought > that what would > follow would be, first, realization of what was happening, > and only then > fright. > The "realization" need not be > "conscious". > > (I'm open to the idea that the subconscious does lots > of processing and > "thought" before the thought becomes conscious. > It seems obvious to me that > that's > what's happening when I try to remember, say, a movie > actor's name: I'm > sitting there mumbling, what the hell's his name, and > suddenly -- pop! there > it is > in my larynx, or in a visualization of the letters of his > name.) > > What isn't clear to me how/why my subconscious > could/would be frightened > until after it had processed the threat. Have you read of > convincing > neurological > research that the realization and the fright are > unquestionably simultaneous > -- as distinguished from simply being separated by such a > tiny time-interval > that current machinery can't discern it? When I put > some requests to Google > the response seems "instantaneous", but we know > an immense amount of > "searching" > must have taken place. > > > ************** > One site keeps you connected to all > your email: AOL Mail, Gmail, and Yahoo Mail. Try it now. > (http://www.aol.com/?optin=new-dp&icid=aolcom40vanity&ncid=emlcntaolc > om00000025)
