Putting Ourselves Back in the Equation

According to Friston's way of thinking, which he calls active inference, the brain is not the body's helmsman or puppeteer, but its dreamer. Brain and body are bound up in a mutual project to predict the world successfully. Sometimes the brain does the work, sometimes the body.

We form new concepts without limit by stringing together what we already know or nesting one concept within another. In fact, some suggest that consciousness evolved precisely to allow for open-ended learning.

The specious present is where subconsciousness shades into consciousness. Our subconscious handles basic perception and quick, direct responses. Anything longer engages the conscious mind.

In 1998 Tani argued that embodiment is what drives subjective experience. When our brain makes a prediction and it proves right, sensory inputs do not rise to the level of conscious awareness; we are on autopilot. But when the prediction is wrong and not easily fixed, the discrepancy summons our attention so that the brain can bring everything it h

Because time and space are so central to consciousness, explaining how we experience them may also help to crack the broader puzzle of why we experience anything at all. Unlike most other experiences we have, our sensations of time and space can be analyzed.

The various illusions and distortions of perception help with that analysis—they are not fai

For Grush, the specious present not only lets the brain get a jump on events, but also gives it time to sync up nerve signals arriving on different schedules from all parts of the body.

Our minds evolved to understand the world, which requires that the world be understandable. And we are of this world.

Whenever you blank out and forget where you are, you are reproducing the experience of those identical yous in a multiverse, unsure who is who.