The Answer part 4: Brain Pyramid.

As I said in part three, the brain of the lower animals are simple computers running simple programs. Of course the brains of the higher animals including ourselves are more complex. Meaning, they run more complex programs. We can also see that the brains of the higher animals have a more complex structure compared to those in the lower animals.

We can reasonably conclude that the complexity of the structure of the brain corresponds with the complexity of the programs running on it. We also know that Evolution involve the later generation building up on the previous generation. Sure enough, we can see that in the structure of the brain, I don't need to describe it.

So we çan say that  in the "older" part of the brain,   the program running on it must also be "older". I think we can safely conclude that  the "older" here means more basic. The "newer" part of the brain must therefore run more "sophisticated" program. We can picture the programs in the brain just like a pyramid. At the lower levels, we have more basic programs, becoming more sophisticated as we go up the levels.  
 
 
This is exactly how the computer you're using right now is structured. Not that I know much about computing. Bit I do know that the programs on a regular computer are stacked in a pyramid too.

Since the lower animals have simple brain running simple program, we can say that their brain only have the base level of the pyramid. As we go up the evolutionary scale, more levelss are added to the pyramid. The pyramid will eventually reach a peak in the brain of the higher animals.

Before I continue, let me just say that I'm not concerned with how the brain actually acts like a computer at this point. That's for later.

Considering that all nerve cells are basically the same, we have to extend the brain all the way to the nerve endings. So the most basic programs must operate at these nerve endings. Obviously, at this level, the program must be very simple. At the nerve endings, the programs detect pain, pleasure, heat, cold etc without any context.

As the information moves up the levels, more complex programs are triggered  that add contexts to the information. So pain becomes agony, pleasure becomes satisfaction and so on. Simultaneously, as this information moves up the levels, it will also trigger other programs that initiate actions and reactions at different complexities depending on the level.

The actions and reactions will move back down the levels of the brain becoming less and less complex until at the nerve endings, the most basic actions will be initiated. Here, the simple muscle contractions is the result for example.

But the brain doesn't only generate actions and reactions. It also generate Thoughts. Thoughts are not sent back down the levels as commands destined for the nerve endings. Instead, they stay in the higher levels only  being sent down to the lower level at  the right moment such as to the vocal chord as speech let's say.

So my conclusion is that in the higher animals,  their brain pyramid is more complete topped by a peak. But what is there, in the Peak. It seems to me that there can only be one answer, Consciousness. So am I saying that consciousness is just a program?

Well yes! What else can it possibly be? I have already concluded that the Brain is a computer running programs like any computer. So everything in the brain must be a program too. However, it is surely much more than that. That's why I'm not making such a big deal of it here. What consciousness really is will hopefully become clearer as I continue in this investigation.

It is very tempting to say that only the Human brain has the Peak. Meaning, only Humans have consciousness. But I don't think we can say that. Evolution is a Continuum. So in my opinion, the other higher animals do have consciousness too. However, it is also very clear that the different animals don't  have the same level of consciousness, whatever that means. In other words, we can say  the peak in the Human brain pyramid is in fact the highest.

The Answer part 3: programmable instincts.

I asserted in part 2 that the brain is a computer. Where did that come from?

We must accept that we are descended from "animals". So whatever "Nature" we do have, can be seen in its "lesser" form in the animals. It is obvious that every animal follows a set of instincts. I'm saying that an  instinct is simply a program running on the computer that is the brain.

The "lower" animals will do the same thing over and over again  until something occurs preventing them from continuing the same action. We all know that is exactly how a computer works. The program goes into a loop until the countereaches zero or whenever the "If" condition is met. We can therefore safely conclude that the brains of the lower animals are actual conputers.

At this point,  I'm not dealing with how programs work on the brain computer, that's for later posts.

In the lower animals, it is obvious that their instincts are set in stone. They seem to be unchangeable. But it is not so in the higher animals.

We are all familiar with the famous Pavlov experiment. The dog is conditioned to react to the sound of the bell by associating it with food. Surely, the dog is simply following its instinct to eat when it's hungry. Yet this instinct can be "modified".     

It is my conclusion therefore that in the higher anumals ourselves included, instincts are programmable. This is not a giant insight really. Since I have already concluded that an instinct is simply a program, it follows that it must be programmable. All computer programs are 

This conclusion will be  at the heart of the first milestone of this investigation.  That milestone is coming soon. It's getting exciting!

#TheBrain #TheMind #Instincts #Consciousness

The Answer part 2: neurocomputer

So information from our senses do not reach our consciousness right away. It is clear to me that this applies to our actions too. We do not consciously take any action until the action is already done. We simply become aware of our action later.

What does this all mean? This shows that our brain is just a machine, a computer. Like any computer, it runs programs. These programs process information and calculate the best actions to take.

So does this mean that we have any free will? It makes it seem like we don't. I will talk about free will in a later post.

When I  said that we simply become aware of any action we take later, I'm including thinking towards reaching the decision on what action to take. I'm convinced that the thinking process itself is just the programs calculating the best course of action.

I'm not saying that a computer is an analog of the brain, I am saying that the brain really is a computer. In fact, this is a big hint into  my "Theory of everything".

#Consciousness

The Answer part 1: Precognition.

I'm sure many of you have experienced something similar  to this:

I was walking along a road not long ago when suddenly I got the "feelling" that something big was about to happen.

I felt that a motorcycle was going to fall down onto the road, slide, making that familiar noise and crash into a ditch beside the road to my left.

Then, after what seemed like 2 or 3 seconds later, I heard a noise to my left, I turned my  head, and I saw that very motorcycle crashing exactly as I "felt" earlier.

The rider was fine.

So am I psychic? Do I have the power of precognitionz? Of course not.

There's only one explanation for this. You see, everything that you are aware of, has already  happened! In fact, everything happened 2 to 3 seconds ago.

Under normal circumstances information picked up by a senses do not go straight to our consciousness. Instead information from our senses is diverted to what I called the "filter". In the filter, the information is processed before   finally sent to the consciousness.

However, if the information is so "dramatic", it bypasses the filter and goes straight to the consciousness.   This creates that "feeling" I mentioned, but the same information still goes through the filter the normal way. Hence the delay.

So as you're reading this, your eyes picked up the words from the screen 2 to 3 seconds ago, they were then processed by the filter , and only now do they reach your consciousness.
I am convinced that this "delayed consciousness" has a major implications on the working of the mind and beyond.

So this is my starting point. But we are still a long way from the hard of my "Theory of everything". It will get crazy! I promise..

#Consciousness #TheMind #Precognition

The Answer part 0: I want answers.

It's time to try to answer the biggest questions before us. Do we have freewill? What is consciousness? What are the Laws of Nature? What about Mathematics? Why is there something rather than nothing?

Yes these are some of the biggest questions that the most brilliant thinkers have tried to answer. So any ideas I might have may well be nothing other than just my rambling. But so what?

Before I die I must put these ideas down in writing. At the very least, for my own self satisfaction. Who knows, maybe this will spark something interesting.