Rebus and the Anarchic Brain

https://www.enthea.net/carhart-harris-and-friston-2019.html

by rrrrobi • 7 years ago

28 5 7 years ago

enthea.net

dang• 7 years ago

Url changed from https://qualiacomputing.com/2019/08/27/carhart-harris-fristo..., which points to this.

0x8BADF00D• 7 years ago

What happens when the bottom up sensory information consistently dominates any and all previously held prior beliefs?

I don’t want to think of what kind of mental state that would be like. It approaches a mental illness like schizophrenia.

sniglom• 7 years ago

Think of it more like becoming a child for a while, rather than having schizophrenia.

Or something related to meditation/mindfulness, focusing on sensory input.

pharke• 7 years ago

To gaze in timeless wonderment at the ineffable beauty of creation.

fallingfrog• 7 years ago

It would probably benefit everyone to take some psychedelics a couple times a year if this is true. Reboot some of your assumptions.

I’ll bet there is also some natural variation in how strong the two networks are too- I have always felt that I’m rather more open to new ideas than most people. That’s just an impression though. I feel as though people are frustratingly reluctant to see the world clearly instead of imposing their worldview on it, which was probably acquired before they turned ten years old. So when you talk to people about their religion or their ideological beliefs, you often get the impression that you are suddenly talking to a child.

Anyway, there are probably advantages and disadvantages to both having weak priors and strong priors- weak priors make your thinking very flexible and clever, but slow you down a lot since you are constantly thinking about the new information available. You can’t make quick judgments because you’re always questioning things. Strong priors make you able to make very fast decisions, but over time your beliefs get more and more out of sync with reality.

If I had to guess that also potentially maps onto left wing/right wing. But I would say that in absolute terms even the most open minded of us are probably very biased in the direction of strong priors.

Rebus and the Anarchic Brain

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