I see the human organism as a layering of different levels of consciousness. Each layer supports mostly automated processes that sustain the layers beneath it.
For example, we have cells that only know what it’s like to be a cell and to perform their cellular processes without any awareness of the more complex layers above them. Organs are much more complex than cells and they perform their duties without any awareness of anything above them either. And the complexity keeps increasing with various systems like endocrine, cardiovascular, etc. Then we have our subconscious and finally our conscious.
At our level, we do not consciously control any of the layers beneath us. Our primary task is to keep our bodies alive.
This got me thinking… isn’t it a little too self aggrandizing to think that we have a near infinite layering of consciousness beneath us and then it just stops at our level of awareness? What if there is some other conscious process that exists above us within our own bodies?
When people take psychedelic drugs they often describe achieving a higher level of awareness akin to ecstasy. Well what if this layer is always there actively ”living” within us but we are just the chumps that go to work, do our taxes, and exercise, while it doles out just enough feel good chemicals to keep us going (sometimes not even that)?
Socrates bemoaned those young'ns who had the audacity to read their Homer, instead of memorizing it.
About 3 years ago I dreamt that I was in a downtown Chicago office interviewing for a fancy new job. For whatever reason my mom came along for the interview and was patiently waiting for me in the office lobby. About half way through the interview it began to dawn on me that my mom passed away over a decade ago. This realization effectively transformed my dream into a lucid one. I quickly ditched the interview, grabbed my mom, and we spent the rest of the day enjoying downtown Chicago. I took her out for tea, caught her up on my life, and we made the absolute most of the little time we had together.
The memories from this dream are as vivid as the memories from my real life and I treasure them dearly.
https://www.pushsquare.com/features/tren-sends-media-molecules-dreams-out-in-style
The little game that could
The more I think about it, it seems that long-term happiness is something many people spend their lives seeking OR they believe it’s something they used to have and lost.
That makes me wonder if we are truly ever happy? Or if it’s something that is always just out of reach (in the future or in the past).
It really grinds my gears when there’s an c/asklemmy question and the top most responses are single word answers.
For example, a question asking for the most mind-bending movie will often have the same few movies upvoted to the top (“The Matrix”, “Inception”, “Finding Nemo 2”, etc).
Those truly might be the most popular mind-bending movies, but what I really want to know is why the person answering the question feels the way that they do. Otherwise these types of questions can become stale very quickly, as can be seen on other platforms.
Thoughts?
Given that language is an important lens through which we see the world, AI could subtly alter our perceptions and beliefs over the coming years, decades, and centuries.
I just watched the first episode of the new Futurama season and the running gag was their attempt to make fun of the Hulu streaming network (Fulu)… in the year 3023. Not only that, but they also parody Black Mirror which itself parodies Netfix (Streamberry) in their latest season.
What is up with all of this meta stuff? Does anyone actually enjoy it? Is this really the quality of TV prior to AI taking over the writing?
I feel like an old man yelling at the clouds right now ☁️, but look at how they massacred my boy, Futurama!
I like the haptic feedback when collapsing comments, upvoting, etc.
Is this type of feature possible with the current PWA implementation?
@aCosmicWave
@lemm.ee