Quotes About Perception

Concepts need their physical sounds, their scripted marks, etc. Even if we can imagine words "inside our head", we are conjuring their signifiers, their sensory aspects.

I can feel you, without even seeing you.

we learn by moving. In order to learn a model of a building, we must walk through it, going from room to room. To learn a new tool, we must hold it in our hand, turning it this way and that, looking and attending to different parts with our fingers and eyes. At a basic level, to learn a model of the world requires moving one or more sensors relative to the things in the world.

Discovery Number One: The Neocortex Learns a Predictive Model of the World

This discovery led to an important question. How does the brain make predictions? One potential answer is that the brain has two types of neurons: neurons that fire when the brain is actually seeing something, and neurons that fire when the brain is predicting it will see something. To avoid hallucinating, the brain needs to keep its predictions separate from reality. Using two sets of neurons does this nicely. However, there are two problems with this idea.

Your brain has made a model of the world and is constantly checking that model against reality.

Our reality is similar to the brain-in-a-vat hypothesis; we live in a simulated world, but it is not in a computer—it is in our head.

If the universe came into and out of existence and there were no brains to know it, did the universe really exist? Who would know?

Cartesian theatre (Dan Dennett's term)

For me, the sense of awareness—the sense of presence, the feeling that I am an acting agent in the world—is the core of what it means to be conscious. It is easily explained by the activity of neurons, and I see no mystery in it.

Truly random thoughts don't exist.

through the sensory nerves. The nerves only send spikes. And since we do not perceive spikes, everything we do perceive must be fabricated in the brain. Even the most basic feelings of light, sound, and touch are creations of the brain; they only exist in its model of the world.

Chinese Room

we needed to understand what "understanding

understanding cannot be measured by external behavior

Discovering a useful reference frame is the most difficult part of learning, even though most of the time we are not consciously aware of it.

Me, feeling. What a concept.

Rectory always sounded to me like a place you would find a proctologist.

Hope is for people who can't see the Truth.

I don't know if you have noticed this, but it is quite possible for two human beings to have a conversation in which one or both parties involved has absolutely no idea what they're talking about.

Was insanity really easier to accept than unconsciousness?

As I've said, freedom is really an illusion. Anytime we think we have a real choice, it just means we haven't seen the shotgun aimed at our navel.

Of course, having information to use is one thing. Knowing what it means and how to use it is a different story.

There is a simple, logical explanation,' I said to myself. And because you never know who else is listening, I added, 'And there is nothing under the bed.' --Dexter