We assume that we’re always conscious, at least when we’re not asleep that is. Obviously we go on autopilot sometimes and have involuntary actions that we don’t control but other than that we think we know what’s going on. Think that we’re always in control. Aware of our surroundings. Living in the moment. But that may not be entirely true. In fact, we may only be truly conscious some of the time.
Futurism explains:
“A team of scientists thinks they’ve finally arrived at a model of how consciousness works in the human mind — and in doing so, may have settled a 1,500-year-old debate.
The big issue is whether consciousness is continuous or discrete: Basically, scientists and philosophers have long argued over whether we’re conscious all the time or only during concise moments. In an opinion piece published Thursday in the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences, the scientists say it’s a little bit of both — and their verdict could free scientists of various disciplines up to do their work without butting heads.
The scientists, all psychophysicists at Switzerland’s Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), said that there’s a two-step process going on. While our brains are continuously processing information behind the scenes in more of an ‘unconscious’ manner, we’re only actively conscious of that information during discrete moments.
‘Conscious processing is overestimated,’ lead author Michael Herzog said in a press release. ‘You should give more weight to the dark, unconscious processing period. You just believe that you are conscious at each moment of time.’
Obviously we have a long way to go before we fully understand the true nature of consciousness. In fact, there may even be different levels of consciousness across the animal kingdom with some species experiencing consciousness at a higher level than others. Trees may even experience consciousness in their own way and perhaps even the Universe itself is conscious. All we know for sure is that we don’t know everything.
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