Nov 27 2009
The Figure and Ground of Consciousness
Consciousness befuddles me. If it doesn’t you — you probably haven’t given it much thought.
I wonder, for example, how my consciousness would differ, if exist at all, were I to lack short-term memory.
You: Did you see those flower buds?
Me: What buds?
Actually, without short-term memory of the sensory sort, by the time you emitted the final phonetic element of your question, “buds,” the “did you” would have long left my mind.
My semi-educated hunch is that short-term memory of some sort plays a crucial role in what we call consciousness.
But maybe you shouldn’t ask me, for I am a being critically limited by the nature of my own consciousness. Whatever that is.
Oh, and by the way, the “figure” and “ground” of the title refer to memory and real-time sensation.
