Unconscious And The Dreaming Brain

[HydrogenBond]

Another way to view this is with a computer analogy. There are both hardware and software people when it comes to computers. The brain should be no different. From the outside, are the brain hardware people and from the inside are the brain software people. Both help with understanding with a two prone attack a better way to approach the problem.

 

For example, consciousness can't be defined by hardware, alone, without postulating unknown physics. However, consciousness is a given with respect to the software side, where anyone can experience this to know that it exists. At the same time, drugs might increase dreams, so there is also a hardware connection beyond software. 

 

Sometimes the two are ambiguous. For example, there are audio cards for computer hardware that allow better music quality from a PC. Better music quality can also be done with software. Some things are not clear cut, which is why a two pronged attack is best. 

 

I did not have access to physical resources, so this limited a hardware side approach by me. What I did have was a brain and mind, which is free, so the software side was possible without any extra resources. This is why this could be done with little expense. 

[HydrogenBond]

If you look at ancient beliefs, such as spirit and soul, these were attempts to add an extra physical feature to the hardware side, since the biological hardware, alone, did not easily explain consciousness. Software is newer in terms of human awareness. This concept only entered the mind with the invention and wide spread use of computers. Things like soul and spirit can be explained as referring to software. Software is not exactly physical other than as binary switches, but it is intertwined with the hardware and can run it. 

 

Free will and choice is better explained with software. One can buy a dozen standard PC's, and turn each into a different tool via software. One can even use software to enhance the standard hardware sound of the stock PC. One can also use software to compress files, for what appears to be a larger hard drive, that never changed size. One can also use software to interface the operating system with alternate external devices; second monitor. 

 

There is also brain firmware, which is a combination of hardware and software. For example, instincts are connected to the DNA and are therefore connected to hardware. This along does not do full justice, since instances are very flexible in the field; flexibility of software. The animal may learn to use a tool, allowing a software aspect to extend the hardware. 

 

Approaching the brain from the inside or software side allowed me to draw conclusions at least in terms of the hierarchy of the software side. 

[pgrmdave]

Software and hardware are simply different levels of abstraction of the same exact thing.  There is no real difference, at the core it's all just transistors and different levels of voltage going through various materials.  We call things software when we look at it from one angle and hardware when we look at it from another angle.

[DrmDoc]

Another way to view this is with a computer analogy. There are both hardware and software people when it comes to computers. The brain should be no different. From the outside, are the brain hardware people and from the inside are the brain software people. Both help with understanding with a two prone attack a better way to approach the problem. For example, consciousness can't be defined by hardware, alone, without postulating unknown physics. However, consciousness is a given with respect to the software side, where anyone can experience this to know that it exists. At the same time, drugs might increase dreams, so there is also a hardware connection beyond software. Sometimes the two are ambiguous. For example, there are audio cards for computer hardware that allow better music quality from a PC. Better music quality can also be done with software. Some things are not clear cut, which is why a two pronged attack is best. I did not have access to physical resources, so this limited a hardware side approach by me. What I did have was a brain and mind, which is free, so the software side was possible without any extra resources. This is why this could be done with little expense.

 

Your computer analogy is one I’ve encountered before through various prior discussions of the brain.  This analogy models our brain and brain function on the idea that they are, respectively, comparable to a machine’s hardware and software.  This facile approach to understanding the complexity of our consciousness producing construct is indeed appealing.  However, in my view, the likely path of our dreaming brain’s evolution provides a better narrative.  Essentially, our brain follows a path led by its metabolic needs and processes.  From spinal cord to cortex, every major afferent development in brain structure appears to have led to more efficient and refined sustenance pursuit and metabolic mediation.  This informs us that our brain's activation in sleep (dreaming) is likely a product of the same metabolic pursuits and mediation.  Dreams are how we consciously interpret something we believe we experienced while sleeping and what we experienced is a product of our brain’s unconscious metabolic mediation activity.  The activity in itself is energy consuming rather than restful so it is likely that our dream imagery reflect the active brain areas consuming that energy (e.g., visual and physical exertion imagery equal active visual and motor cortexes.).  This is the Corollary Discharge Theorem of our inner voice without the actualized or motor response component.  I welcome your continued interest.

Edited September 17, 2015 by DrmDoc

[KuKu]

So hard to read and follow this topic. I gave up in the half way.

 

DrmDoc wrote “Our brain generates only two distinct states of activity wherein active mentation is suggested: Conscious (waking-state) and unconscious (dreaming-state). “, but he also wrote “Dreams are how we consciously interpret something we believe we experienced while sleeping and what we experienced is a product of our brain’s unconscious metabolic mediation activity.” Is the dreaming state an unconscious state or a conscious state?