Brainaction

The vagaries of demand, particularly the amount of effort needed for self-initiated thought, explain the human weaknesses that Hitler mocked and exploited (see Self-awareness). Daniel Kahnemann (2011) in his book “Thinking, Fast and Slow” analyses the dualistic processing he terms...

By declaring that I think, therefore I am, Descartes recognised a key element of human brain action, its remarkable capacity for self-awareness, a subtle component of human consciousness that received little attention until recently. Zoltan Torey (2009) argues that it accompanied...

René Descartes captured the essence of human life with cogito, ergo sum (I think, therefore I am). Still 400 years later it remains a gritty summary of the mental action that distinguishes the human. It epitomises the level of self-awareness...

We feel the masters of our thoughts. We have no awareness of the automatic processing that makes perception meaningful and thought possible. Nor does self-awareness bring home how much our ideas come from others. We use the knowledge and skills...

All animal life achieves centrally organised awareness. Each species specialises during evolution in some way to perceive better its environment. Birds excel at  vision and dogs at smell. The vulture manages both. Humans turned inwards to achieve self-awareness. Zoltan Torey (link...

We are the creatures of our times, and they are a’changing. The first turning of the saeculum (see the group mind) following World War II generated a wave of drug addiction. In those halcyon days throughout the western world a...

Our minds pose a mystery. We perceive what goes on around us very well. In striking contrast to that magnificent awareness we perceive nothing of how our brains manage it. Electrical recording demonstrates that we have no awareness of the...