【what is consciousness】
You are reading this article now.
So you can say that you are 'conscious'.
In general, "consciousness" is said to be "being in a state of being awake" or "a state of being aware of one's current state and surrounding circumstances".
Structural theory of "mind" including "consciousness" became a major theme of medieval philosophers, and eventually shifted to psychology.
However, "consciousness" seems to be the field where scientific elucidation lags behind.
For some reason, scientists approach "consciousness" with caution, as if they were dealing with some kind of occult topic.
There are attempts to reproduce "consciousness" such as "AI technology", but it is simply aiming for a function that "can respond like a human being", and it is an exploration of "human consciousness" itself. is different.
What is "consciousness" that even scientists shy away from?
Suddenly, in this blog, I will define "consciousness" as follows.
"Consciousness" is a "qualia" that has "temporal unidirectional progression and spatio-temporal localization" created by your "brain world model".
What say.
Now let's look at them one by one.
A "brain world model" is a model of your own "world" constructed in your brain using internal and external information captured by your body.
"Time unidirectional progression" is the property of automatically advancing the time axis in the "future" direction.
"Spatio-temporal localization" was the property that matter "exists at one time and place in one pattern of the universe."
And "qualia" are the unique and vivid textures that accompany the sensory experience.
【Consciousness and decoherence】
"Decoherence" is a phenomenon in which the world, which is originally in a "superimposed state", shrinks into "only one universe" through "observation".
The cause was in your "consciousness", the subject of "observation".
This is because your "consciousness" always has the "space-time locality" of "here and now".
In other words, you are made so that you can only see one of them, even though there are actually many.
In other words, the world consisting of ∞ universe is always coherent and nothing changes.
However, when you look through the lens of your "consciousness", it is reflected in the decoherent world for you.
If so, "consciousness", "observing the object", and "decoherence" are inseparable.
Yes, your "consciousness" and "decoherence" are two sides of the same coin.
By the way, "life" is nothing more than a "phenomenon" caused by physical action.
Naturally, "consciousness" derived from "life" is also a "phenomenon" and not a physical entity.
For example, you can see "waves" traveling on the surface of water, which are the result of energy, such as wind force, acting on water molecules.
At this time, only "water" exists as a substance, and the substance "wave" is not newly created.
A "phenomenon" is generally defined as "a certain thing appearing in a different form".
In other words, the concept of "phenomenon" has a "unidirectional time axis".
This is because at first there is "a certain thing", and in the next stage it "appears in a different form", which is "progress of time from the past to the future".
Therefore, ``consciousness'', which is a ``phenomenon'', also incorporates ``unidirectional progress of time'', which means ``progress of time from the past to the future''.
【place of consciousness】
The part surrounding the outer periphery of your "brain" is called the cerebral neocortex (frontal lobe, parietal lobe, temporal lobe, occipital lobe, etc., and laterally, right brain and left brain), and it is responsible for your thinking center. increase.
This part is evolutionarily the newest "brain".
Let's call it the "third brain" in this blog.
The internal and external information captured by your body's sensory organs is processed autonomously in the "unconscious area" of the "first brain" and the "second brain". is sent to the brain of
In the process of processing that information, the pattern of electrical signals emitted by nerve cells is the qualia that you perceive as "consciousness."
Then, where is "you" who senses that "consciousness"?
In the realm of the "unconscious" you could not find yourself.
Because there is no "consciousness".
Then, in the realm of Consciousness, you may think that you can find yourself because there is Consciousness, but unfortunately you cannot find You yet.
This is because "consciousness" does not have a subject of "I".
For example, let's say that while you are "thinking" about something, when you drive a car and arrive home, you are surprised that you have already arrived home!
During this time, it was your "unconsciousness" that drove the car.
As evidence of that, you must have experienced the scene of waiting for a traffic light at an intersection, the color of the leaves of the trees on the roadside, the loud sound of the engine, and the faint scent of perfume in the car on your way home. I don't remember the scent clearly.
It is also true that he was driving a car.
All I remember is the content of my thoughts.
On the other hand, let's say you're a car enthusiast and love to drive.
You are crazy about driving your car while heading home.
Lose yourself and enjoy the handling.
And when you get home, you clearly remember driving.
But were you aware of your existence while you were immersed in driving?
That's right, when you're engrossed in driving, your head is full of "a world where driving is fun" and you don't even notice "your existence".
At this time, it was "consciousness" that was driving.
In other words, "consciousness" does not recognize "you", but the entire "brain world model" as the subject.
Your "unconscious" resides in the coherent state of the whole real world,
Consciousness, on the other hand, resides in the decoherent state of the entire brain world model.