excruciatingly good material in this review of Solms' book... and by extension the book itself.
I also very much appreciate Glen's offering of the phrase "multivalent compression of interoceptive composites", as dense and indirect as this read on first blush, a careful unpacking of that phrase was quite fruitful... thanks Russ & Glen (and Burkeman and Solms) On 2/9/21 12:13 PM, uǝlƃ ↙↙↙ wrote: > Thanks so much for posting this, Russ! I finally got around to the Guardian > article. I'm at risk for confirmation bias because I tend to think > consciousness is a lossy, multivalent compression of interoceptive > composites. And the extent to which one can [⛧] feel what it's like to be > some (other) thing depends fundamentally on whether or not you a) have > similar elemental interoceptive pathways, b) whether they compose in a > similar way, and c) compress to a similar result. That allows for a spectrum > of similarity from extremes of, say, a rock to a bat to another human. > > In any case, it's on the wishlist: > https://bookshop.org/books/the-hidden-spring-a-journey-to-the-source-of-consciousness/9780393542011 > > > [⛧] Feeling like something else is subtly different from *inferring* how > something else feels (or from being manipulated into similar feelings). > > On 2/6/21 5:15 PM, Russ Abbott wrote: >> About to be published. >> >> From a review >> <https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/feb/05/the-hidden-spring-by-mark-solms-review-the-riddle-of-consciousness-solved> >> by Oliver Burkeman: >> >> Burkeman: Using poignant case studies of neurology patients – including >> children born with brain damage, yet plainly still capable of sadness and >> joy – [Solms] argues persuasively that consciousness ultimately arises not >> in the cortex, the seat of advanced intelligence, but in the more primitive >> brainstem, where basic emotions begin. >> >> Russ: In other words, consciousness exists far down the tree of life. >> >> Burkeman: To the best of my understanding, the gist [of the book] is that >> feelings are a uniquely effective and efficient way for humans to monitor >> their countless changing biological needs, in extremely unpredictable >> environments, to set priorities for action and make the best choices so as >> to remain within various bounds – of hunger, cold and heat, physical danger, >> social isolation, etc – outside of which we can’t survive for long. Doing >> all that without feelings, and doing it as rapidly as survival requires, >> would take so many computational resources that it would lead to a >> “combinatorial explosion”, demanding levels of energy a human could never >> muster. >> >> Here's Nick Lane's blurb on Amazon >> <https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Spring-Journey-Source-Consciousness/dp/0393542017/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8>: >> (If you know Nick Lane, you know he is worth listening to.) >> >> "At last the emperor has found some clothes! For decades, consciousness has >> been perceived as an epiphenomenon, little more than an illusion that can't >> really make things happen. Solms takes a thrilling new approach to the >> problem, grounded in modern neurobiology but finding meaning in older ideas >> going back to Freud. This is an exciting book." >> ― Nick Lane, author of /The Vital Question/ - .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. . FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/
