I wish I could figure out how to share screenshots here (first time commenting), but I had a similar procedure, and here’s what I found in my conversation history on my phone later that day (no recollection of any of it):
Me: “Was anesthetized this morning for procedure” Me: “Probably still not all the way conscious” Me: “Woke up maybe 30 minutes ago?” Me: “I vaguely remember explaining to the doctor, ‘I’m not fully conscious right now. I have no conscious idea of what I’m saying. But I’m having a coherent conversation. It turns out the Wernicke’s area of the brain (language center) can engage in cogent conversation entirely on autopilot, just as I’m having now. This is fascinating given the findings with AI, which aren’t conscious and yet can string together coherent sentences.’” Me: “The entire conversation is now remembered vaguely as a dream”
Friend: “so you had a conversation while unconscious about being able to have conversations while unconscious”
Me: “Yes, it seems?” Me: “Shelby has filled in the details” Me: “She says I was really nerdy and enthusiastic about the implications of my experiences for cognitive psych” Me: “She wasn’t supposed to give me my phone yet” Me: “So I’m probably not even supposed to be talking right now”
I wish I could figure out how to share screenshots here (first time commenting), but I had a similar procedure, and here’s what I found in my conversation history on my phone later that day (no recollection of any of it):
Me: “Was anesthetized this morning for procedure”
Me: “Probably still not all the way conscious”
Me: “Woke up maybe 30 minutes ago?”
Me: “I vaguely remember explaining to the doctor, ‘I’m not fully conscious right now. I have no conscious idea of what I’m saying. But I’m having a coherent conversation. It turns out the Wernicke’s area of the brain (language center) can engage in cogent conversation entirely on autopilot, just as I’m having now. This is fascinating given the findings with AI, which aren’t conscious and yet can string together coherent sentences.’”
Me: “The entire conversation is now remembered vaguely as a dream”
Friend: “so you had a conversation while unconscious about being able to have conversations while unconscious”
Me: “Yes, it seems?”
Me: “Shelby has filled in the details”
Me: “She says I was really nerdy and enthusiastic about the implications of my experiences for cognitive psych”
Me: “She wasn’t supposed to give me my phone yet”
Me: “So I’m probably not even supposed to be talking right now”
Friend: “well you’re at least coherent”
Me: “I guess that’s the point”
Me: “Coherence doesn’t require awareness”