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bluebox's picture

What are we going to do tonight, Brain?

 The biggest thing I learned this week was the idea of the unconscious as separate from the conscious. I mean, now that it's been presented to me it makes sense, but i never thought of it that way before. Denial is a good example of this, where the unconscious knows one thing but the conscious can't seem to grasp the idea. (At least, that's the way I see it.) I really liked the explanation of the starburst behind the grid as the unconscious predicting the future because i always thought of the unconscious as not really doing anything actively, just harboring complexes and letting them fester for psychiatrists to figure out during your mid-life crisis.  It's just so cool to me, to think that the unconscious is functioning...well, without the knowledge of the conscious. (hurray tautology.) Like playing catch, your brain predicts where the ball is going to go and you know your limbs will get you to where the ball will be. If you keep your eye on the ball, which tends to be my problem.

Another thought i had--if we make conscious decisions based on the information our unconscious gathers, if the unconscious collects information wrong (like mistaking a windmill for a giant) and the conscious makes a logical decision based on it (like tilting at said giant) it would be the definition of crazy, yes?

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