Seeing Reviews

[bluegargantua]

Hi,

The other day I finished off Seeing Red: A Study in Consciousness by Nicholas Humphrey. It's a slim volume in which the author (a psychologist and philosopher) attempts to explain what consciousness is and how it may have evolved in humans and what it's good for.

Y'know, nothing major.

His basic thrust is that when you see a red screen, two things happen:

1.) You perceive the existence of the red screen.
2.) You experience the red screen (you are "redding" as he puts it).

These two things happen instantaneously and independently of each other. And it's in the experiencing of the red that consciousness arises.

Like any good scientist, he's happy to point out where his model has been attacked (and his counter-arguments). He doesn't fully present a range of competing viewpoints, but I think he can be forgiven that. Certainly he builds a compelling case.

This has been a nice non-fiction supplement to Blindsight and Permanence and despite being a quick read, there's a lot to think about. I don't know if this resolves or exacerbates my existential crisis, but it was a good read nonetheless.

later
Tom

Comments

[jeffwik.livejournal.com]

I want to make a joke along the lines of "does it also happen when you aren't looking at a red screen," or "does it work for other color screens besides red ones," but it's not happening.

[bluegargantua]

the problem with those jokes are:

a.) Sometimes, yes.
b.) Yes, but your probably don't "red" if you look at (for example) a blue screen.

later
Tom

[methanopyrus.livejournal.com]

it happens when you remember a red screen because you experience it and percieve it all from the top down. fun!