Charged by this interaction, Life texted Cell to see if she could come over and share her personal triumph. After exchanging greetings, Life reflected joyously about her most recent encounter with the Science Guys: “Wow! Intense. That felt good. It shows how far I have come – and all because of you, the magnificent Living Algorithm. Before I met you I was incredibly insecure in front of the Science Guys. It seemed that they deliberately attempted to confuse me with their mathe-magic and confusing terminology. It was almost as if they employed the technical jargon as a smokescreen to hide their ignorance from themselves. I can just imagine their subconscious dialogue.
Science: “If I employ enough mathematical subtleties, I can pretend that Life doesn’t really exist, despite an abundance of evidence to the contrary. In this manner I can fool myself into thinking that I understand her Mystery. Then I can gather like-minded souls together. We can all ignore the Uncertainty together and imagine that we have it all figured out – except for the details of course. Figuring out the details keeps us employed. Then we write books on the topic to gather more minds onto our side. With the collective attention of so many souls, we can feel a smug satisfaction that we possess the Truth and have banished Uncertainty from our midst.
“But no matter how many mathematical scientific boxes we construct, the Uncertainty keeps squeezing out of the cracks. No matter what we do, we cannot contain her. Terrified before the open mouth of the Void, we run and hide into prestigious organizations of like-minded Believers. We all worship at the fount of Reason. We have Faith that our personal Logic can banish the Ambiguity from our midst.” At their scientific altar they chant their mantra, “We believe that there is a material explanation for everything.”
Life: “This collective affirmation engenders a sense of superiority that intimidated me. But now due to your support, I realize that their bold proclamations just mask a basic insecurity. Further because of the faith-based nature of their beliefs, there is no need to get into circular discussions with them that always return to the same place. I must continually remind myself not to engage in these fruitless debates. Although they profess a belief in reason, they choose to ignore any evidence that confutes their collective belief in materialism. Or else they come up with fantastic explanations for common phenomenon that they can’t figure out. I mean really: ‘random clustering’ and ‘biochemical thoughts’. What will they think up next with their superior reasoning abilities? Their desperate attempt to obscure the Mystery conjures up images of religious fanatics who try to prop up the literal translation of religious texts.
“But enough bashing of the faith-based philosophy of Scientism. I guess I needed to get this out of my system because they lorded it over me for so many centuries."
Cell: "Yes. Their sense of certainty is somewhat understandable. Science has provided material explanations for enormous amounts of evidence. Yet, in the in-between world that you inhabit, there are still significant aspects of human behavior that their deterministic systems have not been able to address."
Life: "Thanks for your support, as always. There is yet one more topic that I want to explore. One of the Science Guys pointed out that the Posner Attention Model was an automatic biological mechanism, not subject to control. What is your take on this?"
Cell: “It is true that many of the processes that sustain you have been put on automatic at this point. Thresholds have been set and biological mechanisms are in place to maximize efficiency. In fact, because so many biological processes are automatic, some scientists assume that they are all automatic.”
Life: "It does sometimes seem that the accumulated momentum of habit dominates my behavior. But then as I'm writing, I pause and attempt to choose the correct word or phrase to express some disembodied abstraction and I realize that I seem to be exerting some conscious control over my behavior, at least at this level."
Cell: "The evidence supports this interpretation of events. It's definitely a leap of faith - a logical fallacy, to jump from the many to the all. Just because some men are bald, one can't conclude that all men are bald. Just because many biological processes are automatic, one can't deduce that all biological processes are automatic. Just because the Posner Attention Model is mechanistic most of the time, doesn't mean that it always behaves mechanistically.
Cell: "In fact, most operations that guide human behavior are on automatic most of the time. This is for reasons of efficiency. As a common example, let's look at the process of learning a piece of music. Initially, the pianist must learn where the notes are located on the instrument. Then he must connect the piano keys with the written notes on the page of music. After these initial steps, he must train his fingers to hit the correct keys with the proper timing and duration to correspond with the written music. Mastering these techniques allows the pianist to impart meaning to the composition. This is the music behind the notes.
"To express the music behind the notes, the bulk of the complex correspondences between fingers, notes and composition must be placed on automatic. Fingerings and notes are sublimated to the music. If these technical aspects are not on automatic, the musical expression suffers. Stuck in technique, the pianist is not able to focus his full attention upon expression. Musicians practice incessantly so that technique becomes automatic. In fact, it is impossible neurologically for a pianist to focus upon each finger and each note when playing a fast passage. There is not enough time for the neural interactions. By placing the interactions between individual notes and particular fingers on automatic, the pianist is able to focus his full attention upon clumps of notes – the phrasing that is the essence of musical expression.
"To play any instrument beautifully, the musician must place the bulk of the operations on automatic. This relinquishment of responsibility enables the musician to exert conscious control over the subtle aspects of the composition to turn notes into music. In contrast, the musical technician places all operations on automatic. He plays all the notes perfectly, but without expression. In this sense, the technician behaves as if he is an automaton.
"In similar fashion, our cultural training instills many automatic mechanisms via schools, parenting and social environment. This is our cultural conditioning. These automatic mechanisms streamline operations and allow society to operate efficiently by minimizing potential disruptions. Humans who exert subtle control over these automatic mechanisms are able to make music with their lives. In contrast, humans who allow cultural conditioning to dominate their behavior often become victims of circumstance.
"Although some humans exert control over their lives some of the time, it doesn't follow that all humans exert control over their lives all of the time. In fact, it could be argued that most humans are not in control of their lives most of the time. But this does not imply that humans are never in control of their lives. In fact, the evidence indicates that everyone exerts control over his or her life at least some of the time.
"Just as the best musicians are able to nuance the composition to create music, humans can nuance the circumstances of their lives to create personal music. In both cases, certain boundaries are preset. The musical composition sets the boundaries on what notes are played. For a human, genetic and cultural potentials determine personal limits. A musician can play a set composition artfully, and humans can also play their personal circumstances beautifully. Both must pay attention to achieve even a modicum of control. It is easy to relinquish control to the cultural momentum. It takes effort over time to play music with our lives.
“Note (excuse the pun) this effort tends to be a guiding force rather than an initiatory force. It takes elements that are already in place and then shapes them. Similarly, the musician guides the interpretation of the composition rather than creating notes of his own."
"In terms of the Posner Attention Model, it operates automatically most of the time. However, by paying attention humans can control the biological response to some extent. For instance, we suggest that meditation is a technique for gaining partial control over the Decay Factor. Meditation is the conscious practice of setting the Decay Factor on high - the sedentary range - so that we don't immediately react to trivial conditions - such as newspaper stories. Even the common method of counting to 10 before reacting is a technique for gaining partial control over the process. In fact, humans can practice turning the Decay Factor dial from low to high by consciously shifting attention from specific to general features of the environment, and then back again.
"Overall, the less guidance one exerts over biological processes, the more these processes dominate behavior. With the absence of conscious guidance, the process becomes a permanent condition. Paying attention can reverse habit pattern. But it is not easy. Ask any musician who must revise technique that has become automatic. With regular use, a flexibility of response naturally emerges. As is said about so many processes, physical and mental: Use it or lose it.
"Sorry to be so long winded, but that was a complicated question. I hope my answers provided some insight."
Life: "Definitely. It seems that my humans can respond either automatically or somewhat consciously to the circumstances of the mechanisms behind the Posner Attention Model. Because most have relinquished control of the process, the scientific community assumes that neurological and biological processes control the alternation between Posner’s phases. Yet you have provided examples and techniques for assuming at least partial control of the process. These techniques entail paying attention or practicing conscious intent.
"This brings up some more questions. Some have linked paying attention with mind intent. What role does mind intent play in your System? And if mind intent plays a role, how does it interact with the material world?"
Cell: "Whoa! Heavy. I think we’re nearing the end of this session, as my Pulse of Attention is fading fast. In his next article, the Author addresses Mind Intent. We'll get together after you read it."