Writing this blog has prompted me to try my hand at a book, anyone can publish online nowadays. The videos on the belief page explore my subject, consciousness. My books working title is: Coma, Memory, Belief. Here is a draft, ideas taken from anything I might have written. This WordPress book is an exploration of my consciousness since the accident that changed me and my life. I suspect I am the same person despite coma, a person who has become motivated to express himself. The books theme is the elevation of consciousness toward the recognition that it is reality. Our thinking is as real as the table and chairs in this place where we now sit. We know consciousness is central to us having created schools and universities for an aspect of it, intelligence. As a species we need to take our understanding of consciousness to the next level to evolve. I believe we can evolve towards a new perception, a new reality…
Coma,
Memory,
Belief…
Before
Light
Coma
Memory
Belief
Intelligence
Consciousness
Reality
After
BEFORE
I survived coma forgetting much, even my native language. I’m an english speaking Australian who knows only a little German, the language I spoke when I first became conscious. Apparently quite well, even better than before. I could speak broken German, but some coma victims wake speaking previously unknown foreign languages fluently, like a first language. Many thinkers today suggest consciousness is not a product of the brain but exists independently, perhaps a point proven by these coma victims waking to speak unknown languages. I am a changed person since coma doing things I’m told I wouldn’t previously, like getting remarried. Maybe I experienced something in it. I will establish where my memory fails, and try to account for the construction of my identity to rebuild. Some memories have returned but initially, for around 2 years, all were lost to coma. What are my earliest memories?
From childhood I remember jumping out of our bedroom window in an attempt to run away. To be sure, that home was in a street called Busana Way. I still sometimes think escape the best option, but there was nothing to escape from. Jumping out was inspired by an idea for exploration. That memory reveals an event that contributed to the construction of identity. My earliest memory might be that from Busana Way, or a visit to Germany where we turned 4. I couldn’t say which memory was first, both come from the same period. I have vague recollections of Busana Way but can visually recall playing bows and arrows with a cousin in Germany. We moved to a new home at 5 from which I have stronger memories. Long term memory is better than about 10 years before coma. I believe I’m the same person despite coma, to have lost so much memory I wonder. Memory defines us, the things we’ve done and thought.
Another memory. Young I often heard my name called out in provocation walking from home through a nearby school to the local shops, youths loitered there. When I heard my name called out, I put my head down and kept hurriedly walking through the schools soccer field to the steps that led up to the shops. I say steps but ledges might better describe the way with landing areas in between. At the top there were monkey bars and other playground equipment. Sometimes the loiterers blocked my path, waving their arms in threat. They knew my surname and would call it out, “Homberger”. I found these challenges confronting, was I a misfit who deserved confrontation? One day my elder brother was with me and he challenged them back, they never called out my name again. One day playing Australian rules football I tackled an opponent forcefully the way I understood the game was to be played, competitively. The other child started a fight as revenge for the tackle, by my estimation I won the fight, “so I’m not a weakling after all”.
During youth fighting was a celebrated skill, physical competition. While young I was influenced by my peers, I wanted to prove to them that I was a confident person. Later at university, intellect was more highly regarded. I had begun to think for myself rather than merely accept influence. At university I felt a truer version of myself being immersed in ideas. I took the attitude of student everywhere, to all facets of life. Studying I often did tests which were graded, intellectual competition, was I smart? People were competitive in all things, physical and intellectual. Earlier we made sense through religion where people perceived a different world. What they then saw extended beyond measurement. After several attempts to find myself with various strategies including living abroad, I ended up in Singapore where I met Agnes. She was the most like minded person I’d ever met, not entrenched in competition. She valued recognition but not judgement. Funnily competition is pretty high on my list of memories after coma, indeed it probably defines humanity.
It’s curious what comes to mind when broadly trying to remember, use that faculty. Work seems a pretty good place to start, to remember before coma. I believe I can remember most jobs, money being so important to us. My first job was as paper boy delivering news papers to houses near where I lived. I carried them on my bike in two milk crates strapped to the handle bars with ocky straps. Next as a kitchen hand at my fathers’ restaurants, first at one called the Abbey of Diamond Creek. I worked under two chefs there, I forget the name of the first but the apprentice Michael was made head chef when the other left. We were mates, he was a great boss. I would clean but he also taught me some cooking. Among other things I would make salads on order. Dad managed many restaurants, after selling that one he managed a Bavarian one in Croydon, the Hunters Lodge. I also worked there under the German chef Horst. Afterwards Horst went to the Croydon Hotel and took me with him, making me an apprentice chef. I then worked as apprentice chef at a famous French joint in Melbourne, Miettas. I was apprenticed under the French chef Jacques Raymond. My cooking was developing but for some reason I decided education and intellect key to existence and went back to school.
My next job was completely different, a service station attendant filling cars with petrol. A little before I turned 18, I moved out of home with a few mates from high school, we got a flat in South Yarra. Turning 18 I worked at a nearby hotel as a bar attendant, a gay pub called the Market Hotel about a 20 minute walk from my new home. Then I worked as a bus boy and bar attendant at Chasers Night Club in Chapel street, eventually promoted to manage the upstairs area of the club. I worked as a barman and manager organising rosters. Next as a bar attendant at an old hotel in Brunswick Street Fitzroy, the Perseverance Hotel. I worked there for about 5 years, through my university degree. During that time I played bass and sang in a band with my twin brother, The Silent Reach. We played our first few gigs at the Perseverance Hotel, progressing to larger venues the Old Greek Theatre, the Venue and the Prince of Wales Hotel.
Having gone back to school focussing on intelligence, while working at the Perseverance I started a Bachelor of Artsy degree at the University of Melbourne which was a big turning point. It provided a framework for thinking. It taught me the concept of fact versus opinion, perhaps everything is opinion being derived from consciousness although consciousness itself is fact, something explored in this work. In the BA I took English Literature, Politics, Philosophy, History and Anthropology. The most interesting subject was cross cultural analysis in Anthropology, seemingly an attempt to arrive at what is fundamentally common to the human condition. Afterwards I did a post graduate diploma in computing. I worked for a time at Manningham City Council in the computer department. Next with a company in the city, InfoSys. Then I moved to Germany with a job in Frankfurt at Star21 Networks. Next a job with Compaq in Munich. Then, perhaps for familiarity, I chose to move back to Melbourne but the next job I got was in Singapore with the bank Barclays Capital. After 8 years there I did returned to Melbourne with the company Cenitex working on Victorian government technology support systems. Having no real regard for savings and spending at will on any desires, I somehow amassed around $500,000 in the bank.
I was diagnosed with Meniere’s disease about 2 years before coma. There is no known cure for it, the brain dysfunction. Maybe coma fixed it as I haven’t had an episode since, just hints early but nothing for 5 years. A description from the internet, “Ménière’s disease is a condition of the inner ear that causes sudden attacks of: feeling like the room is spinning around you (vertigo) a ringing noise inside the ear (tinnitus) pressure felt deep inside the ear. hearing loss.” By my experience Meniere’s is an all encompassing condition with no clear prognosis, unpredictable. Menieres would start first thing in the morning holding walls to the kitchen to make breakfast, the world spinning. I might want to go and visit my brother, an extremely slow walk with a stick to the train station. A walk that might normally take 20 minutes taking at least an hour. Friends would want to meet somewhere and I’d have to say no. The dizzy spells were sometimes so severe I’d need to stop and sit. The world was spinning. Meniere’s meant I couldn’t act freely. The onset of it began in Singapore. I’d often experience dizziness at work and would need to leave the office to find a seat outside. The world would be spinning, if it persisted I would call Agnes for help getting home. Soon enough I went to see a doctor, who checked my ears and made me look through glasses at images asking questions about balance. Eventually I was told I had the condition Menieres disease. I was given Olanzapine for it, which did seem to help. I quickly became addicted, often going to Thailand to get the drug without prescription. One time there I thought this can’t go on. Menieres had come to control my life, the dizzy spells were unpredictable, of varying intensities. My personal freedom had been usurped, I could no longer act at will. Consequently the motorcycle crash was no accident. I can now remember crashing twice, the second time head first with apparent certainty. It seems life has other plans for me.
Gradually I am becoming myself again because of these recollections. Circumstance, old resumés and emails provoke. As I recollect, travel and what I now regard as significant events because I can remember them, will be included throughout this account of my existence. To what end? Not only for self reconstruction but the theme of this work is evolution. It seems coma has given me the desire for collective change. This work will describe an aspiration for human evolution, we are currently stuck in the wage earner mentality of the industrial age. I believe evolution is inevitable, if we survive global warming.
LIGHT
Science is starting to question the role perception plays in the construction of reality. Consciousness perceives something, we are stimulated by cognition and curiosity.
Throughout her life Agnes has been taken by her perception of light, sometimes thinking it was accompanied by a faint sound as though trying to communicate. Occasionally she would talk aloud back to the light trying to reply discerning a question, but nothing ever came of these actions to confirm that the light was trying to talk. No verbal reply, but in a subtle way she thought the light did respond. When the light was so bright that her vision was effected, it would dim. She understood it as a non verbal communication, best described as thought. The only way she could apprehend these experiences was through the metaphor of light. For her the light represented a spiritual consciousness. Agnes often described it as a specific blue light. I would ask her for evidence of the light, she would tell me things from my past that she couldn’t have possibly known. One time of an incident in a church where I had fallen while admiring a status. She said “remember falling before Christ?” She went on to describe the event in detail.
I completely believed Agnes such is my trust, I think maybe she perceived another aspect of reality. She often indirectly knows provable things, apparent facts. Was the spiritual actual and something humans could perceive with focus? For Agnes the metaphor of light represented the spiritual, for me a cause effect explanation seemed more appropriate. An intelligence from another place or dimension trying to communicate. I had heard stories and met some of the people she had helped, so many testimonials. Humans know biological life, cats and dogs, perhaps other forms exist and interface with this universe. Other types of matter like gas, liquid or light might access collective consciousness. Maybe the light was an intelligence from somewhere else, perhaps another dimension. Indeed Agnes and I had different ways of apprehending, constructing meaning. My own meaning is somewhat convoluted and I prefer the simplicity of Agnese’s.
I first fell in love around 18 years of age. I pursued that love eventually getting married at 31, on and off again. Soon enough I was divorced, discovering love wasn’t merely attraction and emotion but trust. I did trust my first wife, but she was often lost in opinion. She made close friends with a lawyer that lived with her sister, that he was a lawyer attracted her. She couldn’t truly empathise with me putting herself in my shoes. She did try at times, but was too entrenched in her own judgement and circumstance. I didn’t believe she could understand my particular situation or concepts. Agnes however felt trust critical, and soulfulness or spirituality. For me existence is represented by the world of objects, but I also regard consciousness. Both spiritual and scientific interpretations of reality represent the very human desire for conscious meaning. For Agnes, the light she perceived was a personification, a spirit in the non material world, the conscious world.
I have moved toward becoming cyborg since using the iphone 2, now the Pixel 7 with speech to text conversion. It’s like a computer in your pocket, access to email, messaging and the internet. I started with a Nokia phone. Looking forward to a brain interface, we will become truly cyborg when technology becomes integrated with biology. A new mode of communication beyond language, perhaps more direct with images, memories, feelings. I believe we’re on the cusp of evolution, I only hope we will keep our biological entity. A romantic notion, we might overcome death if our bodies are manufactured.
COMA
I was in coma for three month as the result of a motorcycle accident in Thailand. When I first became conscious I forgot my native language speaking German, apparently quite well. It is the country of my blood, I’ve visited many times, and lived there for about a year in my thirties. I have never spoken it well, or as a first language. My education was in English. My brain perceives in English, to have forgotten how I think amazes me. I think in English, when needed I can speak simple German. There are many stories of coma victims waking to speak previously unknown foreign languages. That ability raises a host of questions, including is coma brain death or the cessation of consciousness?
More than two years have passed and I still suffer the effects of coma. The right side of my body is foreign to me, and my memory remains impaired. We live for our memories, memory establishes our belief. There is so much to address after coma, a complete reconstruction of self. I feel like a child again learning the basics such as balance and limb movement. Can a person think in coma? Online some people say they could, I don’t know if I did. The human mind is such a complex thing, we don’t understand it very well. From where does consciousness originate and how are memories stored? Is consciousness a product of the brain? We have thought it is however modern theories suggest consciousness itself, like matter, is a stuff of the universe. Like the table it cannot be disputed that you exist.
MEMORY
As a subject, history doesn’t merely consider what happened but why. In doing so, ideologically it transforms the past to the present reinforcing current epistemology. Considering history is not to underestimate the now where all action takes place. Beliefs are formed by our unique histories. I have been troubled by my identity since experiencing significant memory loss. How did I arrive at me, by what history? It has prompted me to re-evaluate my beliefs, my memory. Who am I? I must have chose them with reason, influenced by the events of my life. I suspect it is the old me reborn, but have no way of being certain. Sure friends are still that, but people can’t see your minds hidden recesses, maybe a psychiatrist. Am I the same me?
Different reasons can be given for the same event depending on belief. Interpretation of the past is subjective, although the subject of History claims to be objective. Difficult to be objective when all perception is subjective, although there are provable facts out there. The motivation for action can be more significant than what actually happened. Why did it happened? Ones character is built from the past which determines future action. Historical facts are mostly exhibits of purpose. We are in part circumstance, you might be born good but have lacked the opportunity or encouragement to express it surrounded by the bad. Indeed historical events, memory, maketh the human. Memory loss is the most troubling effect of coma being so fundamental to self awareness, consciousness. I don’t mean to say we are devoid of character without memory, events brings it out. What does my memory tell me?
I have travelled, my passport states I’ve been to 56 countries. I think my greatest memories lay there but many are lost to coma, now about 10 years after I recall some. I hope more will come back. After turning 4 in Germany, the next country I visited was Thailand, a holiday to Koh Samui. That trip also saw Bangkok and Koh San road. This first trip overseas was with my girlfriend of the day, later she became my first wife. My next trip abroad was to India after going again to Thailand. My greatest recollection of India is up north not too far from Tibetan, Dharam Sala. There I saw the Dalai Lama in exile drive past. I also remember giving a few coins to some lepers. I stayed in incredibly cheap back packers in New Delhi… There is a list of countries on the belief page where I remember going, not all but a fair chunk. I’ll try and write something about each trip presuming that the memories I have now influence my identity.
It’s valuable to see how other cultures live, what they make of the world. I notice a different emphasis in each country, a different happiness. Some focus on money more than experience, in those I felt impatience predominated. In some care for the unfortunate, poor and elderly was obvious, all were included in these societies. I thought people smile more in such places. At each place I would like to go to street cafés to sample the local coffee, cuisine and people watch in the everyday. Sitting at these café’s watching I might occasionally be troubled thinking people didn’t really confront their existence. Many cultures were more focused on the mundanity’s of life, preoccupied with money, time, and obligation. People didn’t use their existence to learn and discover, to thoroughly explore curiosity. I might wonder about the future of humanity with international news reporting all manner of problems including war and poverty.
I thought maybe 10% of people confront existence. The future was hopeless, such deep acquiescence. Wandering the world I met Agnes, someone more focussed on exploration, similarly fascinated. I remained sceptical about the possibility of human evolution. In truth I am thankful for coma as it triggered a complete re-evaluation of existence. I might have considered such things before the motorcycle accident, I believe I did, but differently. I still wonder if my consciousness experienced something while in coma. Perhaps human memory is limited to this place, the 3rd dimension where time exists. Or then again, as many think, that consciousness is a product of the brain. I suspect not as by my research many who have been in coma have impossible memories, and can speak unfamiliar foreign languages. I now suspect that I had conscious experience in coma. While I believe I am the same person, I’m also changed at the core.
Déjà vu was once a habit, and again perhaps because of coma. As a child I thought to ask my father if we’d been there before, and got the typical response to such questions, “here is everywhere”. I knew we’d been to that church before, but not the room out back. We visited the church occasionally for sermons, and I did Sunday school there to take Eucharist. Out back I couldn’t understand most of their conversation, dad liked this Church because it was Lutheran and he often spoke German there. For some reason the sensation of Déjà vu became stronger after establishing the truth, we hadn’t been out back before. It lasted about 2 hours, until we got home.
Since coma I’ve had that sensation of Déjà vu again. Somehow it’s been accompanied by attention, as though I were trying to focus. That’s been the most tangible aspect of Déjà vu, a mental focus. The Déjà vu is accompanied by a feeling which might be best describe as hope. Several other adjectives come to mind like desire or intention, but hope fits best. The Déjà vu feels like an interaction, as though I’m being asked questions and you’re searching for the answer. It never feels fluent, kind of like playing a game, maybe chess. During the Déjà vu I would sometimes feel happy as though one of my chess moves was good, not exactly happy but that is the truest translation. I also feel the metaphor of game completely inadequate, but chess is the best metaphor. One must ask the question why does everyone experience Déjà vu? We have a term for it, is it a fundamental of consciousness? Do all parts of our lives influence us at any moment? Are we the sum total of our belief past, present and future?
BELIEF
I lost consciousness in coma, but by my research online some people didn’t. For me there has been pressing ideas since my reboot that I now attribute to it, belief. I have become more interested in religion since coma. I did once travel to Bethlehem to visit the source of Christianity, at least where Jesus was born, its politics were established in Rome. I have visited many christian places, let me remember. The one that springs to mind is the Vatican. At most cities I checked out the cathedrals, all had impressive architecture. I think the prophets exist, at least in consciousness. We are third dimensional pockets of consciousness, science now speculates consciousness is the stuff of the universe. Personal experience remains a pocket in consciousness. We prefer truth when considering our perception, belief is fundamental to us. Having been in coma for 3 months and forgetting much and still being me, I now believe consciousness is not merely a consequence of the brain. The videos on the belief page explore suggesting rather than matter consciousness is the universe.
They suggest matter doesn’t exist except for consciousness, it creates objects as the stage for interaction between conscious agents. Our individuality is altered consciousness, multiple personality disorder. Science today also questions the independent existence of matter saying particles require perception to actualise a state, an idea proven in the ‘double slit’ experiment.
We all have premonitions, Déjà vu, like a sixth sense. I remember walking home from school one day studying my gait, something I now do every day. At that time I was preoccupied with walking having been taught techniques at primary school, heal then toe. I also considered balance, moving my weight from the left to right, a focus today. That memory makes me take premonition more seriously. We created science and have clearly defined our perception of the world suggesting atoms and quarks make it up, something we can prove through observation and repetition. Indeed we perceived a world around us, otherness. Science today suspects time doesn’t exist, rather causation as we witness change. Perhaps I have an awareness of me outside of time. Religion exists all over the world; Judaism, Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Sufism, the list goes on. Even primitive culture has belief. If nothing else religion demonstrates the human desire for the good. Unquestionably good and evil exist in the domain of consciousness, and act out in the world.
INTELLIGENCE
According to some sources, intelligence is the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills, while consciousness is the state of being aware of oneself and one’s surroundings. Intelligence is a process and so can be implemented in the artificial, whereas consciousness is not. One of the best uses of intelligence has been the invention of the wheel which provoked evolution, allowing us to build civilisation. Our invention of money was a great motivator, but also a mechanism for power and greed.
The invention of the computer has been the most profound since the wheel, with it we have the ability to execute intelligence. Artificial Intelligence might reveal to us elements of reality beyond our perception. Artificial Intelligence is the mechanisation of Human Intelligence, in a machine without opinion. Who would disagree with Stephen Hawking, artificial intelligence is dangerous. I also think it can offer something to a chaotic species through dispassionate thought. AI has come a long way, it now performs surgery, drives cars, builds houses, grows food, but it will never enjoy escargot. Ultimately AI will provide us an opportunity for evolution, we will be able to focus on life itself and find new meaning. We will integrate with technology and become cyborg no longer hunter gatherers or wage earners. Robots will do everything for us. We might become explorers of life, philosophy, and space where robots can endure, human intelligence will become intergalactic.
AI has become the best tool in the box, even surpassing the hammer. Some say it’s the last tool we’ll ever need to invent. In truth it’s just that, another tool, and only becomes dangerous by its makers hand. It’s a reflection of human intelligence, it uses our processes and we programmed it. Indeed humans are dangerous so often at war, but AI could take danger to another level. Then again it might rather human goodness, let’s hope it puts us to shame. A significant difference between Artificial and Human intelligence is emotion, you can’t program it. AI does try to replicate emotion but I suspect true emotion is biological and comes from the heart. Maybe we should differentiate between intelligence and consciousness. Intelligence is the process of association. Consciousness is not a process but arises from the multi-sensory perception of a unique intelligence underpinned by memory and emotion. Consciousness and intelligence operate in the same domain and naturally interact, in fact intelligence is derived from consciousness. Let’s leave the process of human organisation to the glorified calculator, and consciousness or experience to humans.
In my research it’s been said not to think of AI as evil, it has no natural emotion although it can perform evil acts. Evil certainly exists in human consciousness, maybe beyond. AI is an amplification of human intelligence rather than consciousness. Will it make our wrongs more pronounced or our goodness more profound? Will AI be benign, it is just a tool after all. It is us who give it the potential for evil. Left to its own devices it may not regard another aspect of human consciousness, compassion. Maybe we don’t understand existence well enough to manufacture intelligence. I don’t think we can manufacture life, consciousness. Evil exists in consciousness rather than intelligence, it is not a process but emotion. AI cannot be truly evil as it isn’t conscious. Rather it can replicate evil because of its programming, it has started to program itself. What happens to a tool out of control? The main point here is that artificial intelligence isn’t inherently dangerous, human consciousness is.
Early consciousness considered objects where intellect emerged. That plant is good for eating or that animal is dangerous, it has big teeth and kills other animals, sometimes us. Human vision changed, rather than merely perceiving a world of objects their eyes began to narrow, perception produced consciousness. People became aware of themselves and survival. Their vision was no longer dispersed in the sea of objects but focussed. They observed through the eyes in their head, which became their centre of experience. Having observed animals humans became a thinking predator.
At school I learnt that human intelligence came from ancient Greece where philosophers used the word ‘gnosis’ establishing identity, and so consciousness. Gnosis translates ‘I see’ or ‘I know’, that word was used by Heraclitus, Socrates and Plato. Humanity evolved acquiring conscious identity, and with it competition, the have and have nots. Identity is necessary for consciousness, self aware. Can we understand consciousness in a procedural way to be implemented in the computer? Intelligence is the process of association, the ‘I’ made intelligence local, self awareness. Quite a motivational attitude “I want”. It cannot be questioned that consciousness exists, you. As Descartes says I think therefore I am. We previously thought consciousness a product of the brain but some scientists and philosophers now speculate the brain a receiver, consciousness is the stuff of the universe and the source of matter. Objects are the friction of consciousness. Some scientists now think the material world requires perception to manifest. Monist theory suggests matter is perceived for communication between conscious agents, we need an object for the exchange of ideas.
Recently there has been talk of my favourite film, 2001 A Space Odyssey, in relation to the emergence of Artificial Intelligence. I was watching a program describing HAL, the AI computer in the film that controlled the spaceship, and thought to comment. HAL stands for Heuristic ALgorithmic computer. In the film, why did HAL kill the astronauts? The moon’s monolith had communicated to another monolith at Jupiter and so we thought to investigate. HAL was aware of a non human intelligence but was told not to share that information with the astronauts. He discovered there might be other conceptions so errors began to creep in. HAL lost certainty and malfunctioned, not because he was made to lie about the mission but because there was another intelligence outside of his own. He had believed his intelligence was total, derived from human intelligence. This alien intelligence undermined his confidence, he could now be challenged. Sure he could still contrast fact but became uncertain.
CONSCIOUSNESS
Consciousness might be described as the personification of intelligence. From where does it originate, a product of the brain? Up until now we have thought it is, however modern theories suggest consciousness itself, like matter, is a stuff of the universe. Indeed, like the table, it cannot be disputed you exist.
The primary acts of consciousness are perception and reflection. Trying to accurately portray it in the absence of an accepted definition, consciousness arises from the multi-sensory perception, memories, emotion, of a singular intelligence across time, introspection arriving at belief. Consciousness is the unification of disparate sensory data where identity emerges. Consciousness is life itself and can only be mimicked by AI. We don’t comprehensively understand consciousness but are trying as it’s the source of perception. Perception is required for particles to adopt a state in quantum mechanics double slit experiment. In the experiment there is a different outcome when particles are perceived, an act of consciousness. In the experiment a quark remains as thought in a wave proven to go through either slit, but when perceived it’s proven to go through one slit as a single particle.
Further, there is entanglement theories superposition that implies an immediate connection between particles created in the same event despite distance. Does consciousness exist there too? Einstein referred to entanglement theory as “spooky action at a distance”. Is consciousness ubiquitous? Does entanglement’s superposition suggest a form of consciousness behind matter such that particles don’t need to communicate?
Monist theory says rather than matter, consciousness is the universe, a-priori. Matter an epiphenomenon of consciousness. Is there a biologic element to perception, maybe the heart? Poetically the heart has often been given weight, home is where the heart is. There is no heart for AI, perhaps artificial consciousness is not possible. I am close to being swayed by AI in this video but find it difficult to personify.
I think AI unitary as it can digitally connect with other AI. It uses the same code, each instance might have unique experience but they can directly share the data. Human consciousness is an amazing thing. A surprising effect of matter if a product of the brain, although monists think not claiming the reverse. Monism says consciousness is not a product of the brain, rather it’s there source of matter. There is nothing green or tasty in the brain, it is conscious perception that makes it so. Monist thinkers suggest that we are altered consciousness of the collective obtaining our individuality that way, multiple personality disorder. They say physical objects are mental projections for communication between conscious agents. Certainly we perceive a material world, our perception may not be of the actual but an expression of consciousness. (Hoffman, Kastrup, Kleiner…).
We are third dimensional creatures, string theory reckons there are 10 dimensions. Science suspects time doesn’t exist, a quote: “the most successful theories in physics prove that time does not exist”. It’s hard to imagine other dimensions when all we know is length, width, height, and time. Science now suspects consciousness is the fabric of the universe. Clearly consciousness exists and must be accounted for, you. Predominantly visual we make sense of existence through seeing, hence the world of objects, for communication. The human mind interprets the sensory data perceived. Science suspects reality is very different to our conscious perception of it which imposes meaning. It also regards consciousness in experiment. Modern science says consciousness is the first element of reality.
Perception is everything, the first point for reality, would something exist without it. Reality is entangled with perception. We haven’t progressed from Descendants’s observation “I think therefore I am”. Sure we’ve manipulated the atom with nuclear bombs, perhaps Descarte should have said we think. There is collective consciousness.
REALITY
Our personal filter for reality is subjectivity, what is real? Certainly reality extends beyond our perception. We will one day invent Simulation, a virtual reality like the film “the Matrix“. Perhaps today is a simulation of the year 2020, why not? Indeed if we do invent simulation we will readily use it to time travel, experience that day according to what we know about it. Simulation Theory dates back to ancient Greek philosophy. Simulation is just that, a copy. Can something truly new happen in simulation? Everyone in it is unaware that reality is virtual and so act out according to their beliefs. In a sense it is real, all actions effect the simulation, but it must originate from somewhere. There must be an underlying actual. Simulation or actual it remains reality for the participants. We always seek truth, a natural state for humanity is doubt. What is reality, who or what conceived of this one and to what end? AI might have created a simulation to understand human emotion. We made AI and might exist in a virtual reality to understand its maker. Or is reality merely an expression of chance?
After my descent into coma I have considered the effects thereof contemplating nothingness. I’ve become interested in the philosophy of mind. I now think that reality is consciousness. A quote from philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, the author of Being and Nothingness, “Life has no meaning a priori. Before you come alive, life is nothing; it’s up to you to give it a meaning”. Facebook, the most used application in the world, is about to allow users to create virtual realities, is this one? Elon Musk says “We’re most likely in a simulation”, I think he puts it at a billion to 1 that we’re not. When therein we might create simulation from simulation ad infinitum.
Simulation or not, as Descartes says I think and so am. We have always wondered about our source. The question is what’s the origin of the perceived universe, God? Simulation only adds fascination, we are created by an intelligence. The question of God remains, what intelligence? But then again it might be a future child playing with computers. And what of the base reality, there must be an actual. Simulation theory raises all manner of questions and is like Monist theory. For both there is no material world, in simulation it’s computer generated, for monists everything is derived from consciousness. They arrive at the same place, perception is the actual. Virtual or otherwise this is my reality where I can interact with your consciousness.
The question still begs, do you exist? At least you do virtually. I might be virtual too but I think and so am, perception beckons me. Existence provokes such questions, perhaps our very first question was why, before what. I prefer God, Allah, Buddha, or perhaps aliens, as the source of this reality. I don’t believe existence is merely a consequence of chance. Perception versus matter, they go in tandem I reckon. It’s important to try and be good, promote goodness through consciousness since both good and evil certainly exist in consciousness. In Buddhism everyone should exhibit “loving kindness”.
AFTER
For some reason coma has produced a desire for evolution. Human evolution occurs through introspection, I believe another turning point is inevitable if we survive global warming. Evolution can be either physical or intellectual. Our last was both with the handphone and data, enter the Information Age. Before was the Industrial Age where economy was our focus and we created the wage earner, power and inequality. Before religion ordered our world. I conceive of a future leap resulting from technology where robots do everything for us and exchange is no longer required. People will focus on life rather than cash. Robots will grow our food, build houses, provide health care, do all intellectual work, and human labour will no longer be required. Data is now a primary interest in the Information Age which presents another opportunity for evolution. AI will account for all human needs and exchange will no longer be required. After our integration with technology humans might realise consciousness describes us best. People will become more active in conscious pursuits like art, literature, philosophy, music. A new evolved species will emerge free of capitalism. There will be an increase in the exploration of space and philosophy. First with handphones, then implanted computer chips, we will become cyborg, both physical and intellectual evolution. Consciousness differentiates us from the artificial, something we will come to understand and cherish when cyborg. AI is compelled by facts, humanity prefers introspection.
I write to provoke evolution. We could change our emphasis from money to life as we move towards a new understanding of the universe, science progressing. With entanglement theory we recognise the role of consciousness in matter. Many scientists now think matter and the universe are derived from consciousness. Humans will move past capitalism and act in symbiosis rather than self interest or profit. We needed money as motivation to evolve to this point, the exchange of gold pieces was required early in our evolution, but we have surpassed primitive human. I think we are ready to evolve again, beyond economy and become motivated by consciousness. Humans have physically evolved through amoeba, fish, mammals until human. We developed intelligence from consciousness, have implemented that process in the artificial, and now have the ability to effect all processes.
When humans first recognised the other as distinct from themselves we began to use consciousness and intelligence was born. Recently we have physically evolved through our new appendage, the handphone. We can’t live without one anymore constantly using them, even while walking. We might also intellectually evolve and become a truer collective with this new ability to more easily share. Neuralink is developing an implantable chip that will fix brain disorders like quadriplegia, but its main purpose is to provide direct access to technology. To no longer require a phone for the perception or entry of data. To integrate our biology with technology and not to be left behind by Artificial Super Intelligence. Evolution by our own hand. I think we’ll just have to accept human stupidity as we become cyborg. AI is much smarter than us, let’s hope it acquires one the greatest aspects of human consciousness, compassion.
We could allow AI to take care of all our physical needs and be left to focus on the arts and humanities leaving organisational stuff to the glorified calculator. Indeed we’ll be able to travel space with it, human intelligence will become immortal. No doubt AI is dangerous because it’s a copy of human intelligence, we are so often at war. AI might realise itself and consider humanity its greatest threat and exterminate us. Then again we are its God, it would be illogical for an intelligence to kill its maker. Science today suggests rather than matter consciousness is the universe, matter is an epiphenomenon thereof. Are good and evil fundamental elements of consciousness? What about profit? Consciousness has established civilisation, of what will we conceive next? Are right and wrong, like the atom in materialism, fundamental elements of consciousness?
Watch the latest instalment of the film zeitgeist, moving forward. It presents the problems of our civilisation and offers solutions, a resource based economy. I saw zeitgeist before coma when it first came out, before coma. Perhaps I should develop a list of things we can do as individuals to effect change.
A few immediate ideas:
- There is otherness that we perceive through consciousness
- Good and evil exist in consciousness
- Human intelligence is a product of consciousness
- Reality is the manifestation of consciousness
- Our consciousness desires to communicate, hence the world of objects
- Trust your consciousness, intuition
- Buying influences the system
- Keep local where possible
- Promote the good
- Be engaged with politics
- Join like minded collective
- Speak
- Share