I’ll pardon it but I won’t engage with it. I think saying it’s the seat of consciousness makes you sound like you don’t know what’s going on, when actually you do. I could be right or wrong.
Okay fine, I’ll engage a little. I do love this shit, even though I try not to spend time on it because it’s a mess with little payoff (unless the aforementioned debate over AI consciousness starts to seem relevant to our odds of survival—which it well might).
I don’t think your DC as the seat of government metaphor goes through. DC is indeed the seat of government. The thalamus isn’t in charge of consciousness, it’s just a valve (but far more sophisticated; an arena of competition) that someone else turns: the cortex and basal ganglia, in elaborate collaboration. The thalamus is the mechanism by which their decisions are enforced; it doesn’t seem to play a large role in deciding what’s attended.
I’ll pardon it but I won’t engage with it. I think saying it’s the seat of consciousness makes you sound like you don’t know what’s going on, when actually you do. I could be right or wrong.
Okay fine, I’ll engage a little. I do love this shit, even though I try not to spend time on it because it’s a mess with little payoff (unless the aforementioned debate over AI consciousness starts to seem relevant to our odds of survival—which it well might).
I don’t think your DC as the seat of government metaphor goes through. DC is indeed the seat of government. The thalamus isn’t in charge of consciousness, it’s just a valve (but far more sophisticated; an arena of competition) that someone else turns: the cortex and basal ganglia, in elaborate collaboration. The thalamus is the mechanism by which their decisions are enforced; it doesn’t seem to play a large role in deciding what’s attended.