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In my Introductory Biology class, I read a section about the brain controlling which muscle fibers are stimulated in a muscle. One motor unit connects to the brain and to several muscle fibers within a muscle. When sitting upright, back muscles are partially contracted, meaning that some muscle fibers with in the muscle are not contracted while others are. The brain alternates activation among the many motor units that contract these certain muscle fibers. In doing so, the brain prevents muscle fatigue so that the organism can remain upright for a longer period of time before feeling fatigue. The organism, however, is unaware of the brain’s “decision” to alternate motor unit activation. In this case, output seems to be generated with no input. However, I propose that the brain creates an input for reasons unknown to the organism’s conscious mind, but known to the brain. This kind of internal reasoning or unconscious reasoning is the input that creates the output.

In the back muscle example, the brain is acting on reasons unknown to the conscious person. The person can’t feel the fatigue in their muscle fibers, yet the brain notices it and switches to different muscle fibers in the back.

In our class example of the cricket sometimes chirping when no female is presents, perhaps there is some other input in his mind that he associates with the female, hence the chirping. This input could be a product of conditioning, of anticipation, or of the unconscious. If the cricket chirps for reason’s that he’s unconscious of, it could be something his body is telling him or a prediction about what is to come. He’s consciously unaware of it, despite his brain's awareness. Could his mind and body be sensing something that he isn’t aware of? Is the unconscious a type of input that conveys an output?