Conscious vs. Sub-Conscious

Yesterday, Lyric and I were discussing a topic that I find very interesting; the difference between conscious thought and sub-conscious action.

There is much that we don't know about this subject and probably even more that we think we do know about this subject but don't really know.  In my experience, I have found that humans generally lack the humility to honestly admit that we don't know how things work, especially in our own minds.  With exponentially less humility than the general public, the so-called scientific community is far less likely to utter the phrase: "I don't know" with regards to the functions of the brain.  And, why should they?  They're professionals (meaning that they get paid to make statements with absolute certainty), and, the general public wants to believe them.

But, I like to marvel at the unknown mysteries of it all.  The concept of sleep, for one, is a subject for which I have spent hours contemplating in complete fascination.  Think about it.  We lay down at night and relax, and before we know it, we lose consciousness.  Does that not bewilder you?  It should.

Consciousness appears to even have stages.  There is "being half asleep", which is a state of semi-unconsciousness, where you are still partially aware of your surroundings and perhaps even privy to conversations happening around you, and yet still somewhat in a state of mental rest.  Even though you can rouse from this state on demand, you also feel an unknown force that's wishing to keep you physically in suspension.  Unlike sleep, your brain seems to still be keeping track of time.  When you do "wake" from this, you may have a fairly accurate sense of what time it is and how much time has passed since you entered this "half-sleep".

Then there is sleep, which is a state of unconsciousness from which you can be relatively easily roused if needed, but will also fade back into consciousness on its own when your brain sub-consciously decides that it's fully rested.  During this state, your sub-conscious is free to do what it wants without the direction of the conscious mind.  We call this dreaming.  Meanwhile, your consciousness is on vacation and cannot be reached by phone or email.  Otherwise, the factory is still in complete operation.  Blood is flowing, digestion is still doing its thing, etc. All systems are a go.  Only the CEO is out, but what does he do anyway, right?

Then, there is what I call being: "knocked out".  This is usually caused by a physical trauma to the brain or is drug-induced (which is probably also a trauma to the brain).  In this state, you may not be able to be roused at all for a time.  Or, you may be able to be roused with some extra effort from others.  In this state, your sub-conscious may have also gone on vacation along with your conscious mind.  They're off drinking martinis on some beach while your body is left with its most basic auto-pilot functions still working, like breathing and a beating heart.  You may also be spared the embarrassment resulting from a loss of muscle control of holding in your bodily waste in this state, or you may not.

Then, there are various degrees of a coma where you may have some auto-pilot functions working and some not.  This state differs from the aforementioned ones in that you cannot be roused by others.  You may come out of it, but it's anyone's guess when or if that may happen.  There are drugs that can induce a coma and we understand that the majority of people come out of said coma when the drugs are ceased to be administered.  But, like all good medical disclaimers, there is the slight chance that you will not come out of this state if put into it, and therefore will be plenty of legal documents that you (or your power of attorney) will have to sign acknowledging that you understand this risk and others prior to a doctor agreeing to put you in this state.

Then, there is what most of us refer to as being a "vegetable" or "brain-dead".  This is when your brain might be performing some auto-pilot tasks but otherwise there is no real activity.  Doctors generally won't give the family of anyone in this state any hope of coming out of it.  They'll point to some statistics that equally provide no hope and usually recommend to the family that they no longer make any effort to keep the body alive citing that the 'person' who inhabited that body is already elsewhere.

Lastly, there is death.  The body has no pilot nor auto-pilot anything.  It's simply what was a biological vehicle that is no longer manned.  Depending on a lot of circumstances, it may be good for a few parts, otherwise it should be buried deep enough where none of us can smell it.

To be clear, this wasn't the conversation I had with my son.  I've gone off-subject, which I do a lot when I write.  He and I discussed how most of what we do is run by our sub-conscious.  For example, we don't think 'left, right, left, right' when we walk; we just do it.  We don't will our heart to beat, it just does it.  Our muscles are constantly making tiny adjustments to keep us upright when we are standing, despite no conscious thought being applied to the effort.  When driving, the vehicle becomes an extension of our bodies and we make adjustments to all the controls without conscious thought.  It's our sub-conscious, mostly, at the wheel.

We also discussed Rubix cubes since he's a cuber.  The conscious mind is deciding which algorithms to apply based off of the cases that it sees, but the algorithms are being executed by the sub-conscious.  Cubers call this "muscle memory" but the ability has little to do with the muscles, but more the sub-conscious.

I had the funny thought yesterday: since so much of our lives is governed by the sub-conscious, which do we think is more popular with others?  My sub-conscious or my consciousness?  Perhaps people like my sub-consciousness more, and my consciousness is just the nerd that comes along in the package deal.

Chew on that about yourself for a while.

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