[aikendrum]

Two possibilities - 1 - we take actions that are preconscious and reactive, and add consistency in later post hoc explanations.

Or 2 - the conscious reflective self is more like a saccade of attention moving between various systems operating according to its overall supervision.

I think two makes much more sense, since we don't observe the actions of others to be random or inconsistent (in ordinary circumstances), no matter how quickly they're responding. If George is on edge, and we throw a ball at George, George will do what he generally does - flinch, react with anger etc. George won't catch the ball perfectly in contrast with his emotional state. If Sue sees a famous criminal on the street, Sue will generally react as Sue would be expected to based on her priors - scream, run, freeze etc. Sue is unlikely to smile and raise her hand for a shake. Circumstances where we and others deviate from the 'reasonable' instantaneous response are rare, comical and associated with inattention, distraction or visceral symptoms (like illness). Therefore either we presuppose another personality operating at a preconscious level - or we are queuing classes of responses that make sense on some general level, even if they occur too fast for linguistic reflection or 'conscious' perception.

The language example in the comment above is a great reflection of this. We are able to carry out coherent, situationally appropriate conversation including symbolic reasoning. So I'm not sure what kind of conditioned mechanism or second personality is supposed to be responsible if consciousness is eliminated.

[tshaddox]

Sure, it could be one of those possibilities, or maybe other options neither of us have thought of. But still, the point is that the feeling of identity is apparently mistaken. Many people apparently have the strong conviction that the conscious agent they identify as their self is identical to the agent that controls many or all physical actions their body takes (or certainly at least deliberate actions like pressing a button). The point is that conviction appears to be mistaken.