| >This to me indicates that DNA has hardcoded "instructions" on how to configure a mind to be able to process tokenized information from the start. >It is entirely possible that every section of the mind is just a huge freeform fpga that is initialized by DNA, but I think it is more hardwired than that. I agree that it is more hardwired than that. We have too much wetware devoted to various tasks, the most notable of which is visual processing, for it to just be completely freeform. Although it's pretty interesting just how close the wetware comes to resembling an FPGA. People who are blind from birth don't just let all that processing power to go waste [1]. > My thought on it is that there are many subconscious thought streams that we are normally unaware of. People who become aware of them are thought to be crazy, but really I think the normal blocks from their conscious reasoning are just weak. I think your view is supported by our current understanding of the evidence [2]. It's interesting to think what other processes might be running silently in our subconscious. > I agree also that some people don't have the same "internal dialogue" and the stream of tokens are not equal to words like we communicate with others. I don't think that invalidates that there is some sort of token stream though. I didn't mean to imply the token stream idea itself was bad, just that it being in the form of language doesn't hold up. I agree with you that there is some sort of token stream going on. > The question I've always had is "how much of consciousness shuts down when you sleep" and/or "does staying awake longer mean your conscious thought process gains more access to the rest of your mind". My speculation is that the latter is true, because if you stay awake too long you will appear to be "crazy". I'm not sure this is a question of gaining access to more of one's mind rather than it is an abstraction beginning to leak. When functioning properly all this information should returned in process when the brain scans its state. But when we lack sleep the summarization process might brake down. If the brain operates in a sleep deprived state for long enough connections may begin to form where they shouldn't introducing bugs in the brain's ability to perform state summary. There is some interesting research into how chronic lack of sleep may contribute to alzheimer's [3]. This research is by no means conclusive and I am not anywhere close to being a neuroscientist, but its interesting nonetheless. [1] https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/how-does-human-ech...
[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4059570/
[3] https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/sleep-d... |