Consciousness is learning
My cousin was solving a Rubik's cube the other day. I was amazed how fast one can learn it.
But what most struck me is the difference between the processes that he was doing consciously and subconsciously.
In this article I will argue that consciousness is learning.
After just one week of messing around with the cube, he already learned a bunch of moves that became automatic.
He make one side be filled with the same color pretty fast without paying much attention. It seemed as if it were automatic, learned, he could talk while doing it.
By repeating a certain move enough times, he learned it, which means that he can now do it without consciously thinking of it. He can now think about higher order moves consciously. With time, those moves will be learned too and he will no longer need to consciously think through the sequence of moves.
You don't walk consciously.
There was a time, though, when you did think of every move, about when you were 1 year old.
If you play basketball, you don't think consciously about dribbling. You just dribble.
You don't think consciously about shooting and which muscles to use. You just shoot.
You do think about the higher order strategy though, the way people move about on the field. You think about the trick your trainer asked you to do specifically. You think about which teammate of yours you should prioritize.
The simple stuff is unconscious.
The complex, high-order stuff is conscious.
Consciousness is what you do consciously?
Or is consciousness something else?
Today, on 24/08/2019, I think that consciousness is the stream of attention you are giving to various complex tasks that you are learning.
Consciousness is just the process through which you learn.
Consciousness is working memory that YOU steer.
Consciousness is the power to create new connections between different complex thoughts in your head so that they become hard-wired.
Consciousness is the update-mechnism of your self.
But what most struck me is the difference between the processes that he was doing consciously and subconsciously.
In this article I will argue that consciousness is learning.
After just one week of messing around with the cube, he already learned a bunch of moves that became automatic.
He make one side be filled with the same color pretty fast without paying much attention. It seemed as if it were automatic, learned, he could talk while doing it.
By repeating a certain move enough times, he learned it, which means that he can now do it without consciously thinking of it. He can now think about higher order moves consciously. With time, those moves will be learned too and he will no longer need to consciously think through the sequence of moves.
You don't walk consciously.
There was a time, though, when you did think of every move, about when you were 1 year old.
If you play basketball, you don't think consciously about dribbling. You just dribble.
You don't think consciously about shooting and which muscles to use. You just shoot.
You do think about the higher order strategy though, the way people move about on the field. You think about the trick your trainer asked you to do specifically. You think about which teammate of yours you should prioritize.
The simple stuff is unconscious.
The complex, high-order stuff is conscious.
Consciousness is what you do consciously?
Or is consciousness something else?
Today, on 24/08/2019, I think that consciousness is the stream of attention you are giving to various complex tasks that you are learning.
Consciousness is just the process through which you learn.
Consciousness is working memory that YOU steer.
Consciousness is the power to create new connections between different complex thoughts in your head so that they become hard-wired.
Consciousness is the update-mechnism of your self.
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