The World at First Sight

Is it touch, sound or sight that is the beginning of knowledge? The objective of this essay is not to draw a set of dogmatic conclusions about the beginning of knowledge. Perhaps, it would be prudent to enumerate a few possibilities regarding the role of sensory perception in the early stages of schematic construction. There are more but let us explore a few. When we enumerate possibilities, we are speculating but within our scope so that we can be spared of speculation for its own sake. With respect to the first events that provide source for a child to absorb from, we can begin by stating that the first stage of learning is probably through instant reaction. At this stage, it would be difficult from our perspective to call this instant reaction as learning, when in fact it is responsible for development. We have either read or heard of stories where infants in the womb receive sensations and these sensations cause a reaction which triggers the starting point of their perception. In these stories, infants grow up under the influence of these sensations and depending on their intensity develop into ‘extreme characters’.

 If I were to take up a case study in a particular mythology, a child becomes devoted to the concept of a compassionate being on account of hearing the chanting of the being’s name while in the womb.  There is the converse scenario where some anxiety and agitation experienced by the mother causes the infant to develop with angst as the starting point. Without the child’s knowledge, gradually the basis of his/her schema is angst and learning too depends on the conflict the child experiences between the state of the unknown and the object or subject to be known. In the former example, the child may learn under the influence of the concept of a compassionate being. Learning, in this case happens by associating the object/subject to be understood with a mysterious being outside time and space. The inspiration therefore flows not from the world to the child but from the sensation experienced in the womb even without the child’s knowledge. In both the cases, learning happens. It is not as though one is more appropriate than the other. All that can be said is that as long as learning is experienced by the individual concerned there would be a change in behavior or state of mind. 

If anxiety is the source of learning than the preference for a medium is also influenced by a certain conflict. If the concept of divinity is the source of learning than the preference for a medium could be influenced by imagery. In angst, the imagery may be absent but learning can happen by negation. This negation can be perceived as confrontational learning.   Probably, we can say that this inference drawn from mythologies indicates that a sensation gives rise to an imagery which influences the development of an individual. If the theory is overstated than we do not have to immediately look at the genetic basis of learning preferences. Till date, it has been difficult to predict the learning preference of a child without the pursuit of psychoanalysis. Genetic explanations would be easier to decode by a specialist in Genetics. In any case genetics does not give answers to the nature of experience of an infant in terms of anxiety or tranquility. Only psychoanalysis can. Many children may not learn from physical sensations at all. They may learn more from sight or sound. The basis points to how the individual perceives the world at first sight. This could be the beginning of learning for that individual concerned. Once he/she is aware of the unconscious preference, this will facilitate lasting clarity from then on. 

Announcement

For some time, from now on, my articles are going to be focused on how to leverage your whole brain. I have already started with my two posts, 'Leveraging Your Whole Brain' and 'In between Two Brains- Wernicke and Broca'. I will be writing a lot more on the subject as I feel it will give us insight into writing, the creative process and how to leverage a balanced hemispheric dominance in a world that seems to favor excess logic or excess creativity. Please feel free to give your suggestions. Your comments are most welcome.

In between Two Brains- Wernicke and Broca

On taking up the topic of speech production, it must be suggested that individuals who are spontaneous in speech cannot throw much light on the subject. They cannot know what happens to them while they are in the process of speaking. The only way a process of the brain can be understood is by adopting 'a fly on the wall' approach. This would imply standing outside the process in order to observe it neutrally. In Artificial Intelligence, there are no prizes for guessing that getting a computer to speak is not easy for a human being. This could be a result of the human being's underlying assumption that consciousness is needed to speak spontaneously. Nothing can be farther from the truth.

Some human beings who experience brain related trauma during communication exhibit psychosomatic symptoms which make it difficult to speak fluently or understand quickly or both. These individuals do not necessarily have problems with experiencing the minimum range of consciousness. In fact they may have layers of conscious experience that are inaccessible to ordinary mortals. The reason can be attributed to the sharpening of their introspective skills.

 Then there are those with consciousness disorders who have their fluency intact. It indicates that comprehending and producing speech have not much to do with consciousness after all. There are cases of people with injuries in their Wernicke and Broca areas who speak using other faculties of the brain that are not injured. Some of them retain speech production but have an altered sense of diction. Through them it is possible to understand how speech is comprehended and produced. It is also possible for an individual to attempt to be correct while speaking and this slows down the process of speaking but increases their ability to simultaneously ascertain how they think. These individuals may write with a facility that can give you a market to teach. The reason is that their thought process is organized to the extent of recording its nature and dimensions simultaneously. This gives them an edge when it comes to writing. It also enables them to introspect scientifically and come up with insights on speech production, comprehension and natural language processing. Scientists would do well to employ the aforementioned rare skills of these individuals to make strides in artificial intelligence when it comes to natural language processing and resource-faculty application.

  

Leveraging Your Whole Brain

Of all the natural predispositions, the most fundamental one is the intellectual orientation of the individual. This determines the choices and interests which he/she would pursue from the present moment onwards. If we were to look at the surface, the brain is divided into two hemispheres. There is the common hypothesis that the left brain tends towards logical activities and the right brain towards creative ones. If we were to go deeper we would find that any individual uses both the faculties of the brain, but at different points in time for specific activities. This is possible because both the hemispheres are connected. In fact in rare cases when they were not connected the individuals found it difficult to talk. Language although predominantly a left brain activity needs you to access the right brain faculties for humor and imagination. In a study of poetry, for instance initially it was thought that the poet has exceptional verbal ability. After a thorough introspection by poets themselves it was discovered that poetry is not all about linguistic convulsions but also about the emotional intensity, which is a tendency associated with the right brain.

If we look at Mathematics, we find that story problems need a combination of verbal and mathematical abilities- two different faculties in the same left brain hemisphere. In the case of Geometry, what is needed is a combination of visual-spatial and logical abilities where the former is associated with the right brain and the latter with the left brain. Without the connection it is rather difficult to solve problems in Geometry. This fact, although difficult to observe is of utmost importance to draw a clear picture of the nature of intellectual activities. It is in this light that we can tell the difference between intellectualism and intelligence. It would therefore be wise not to draw conclusions based on scores in I.Q.tests as they are not designed to assess every intellectual activity that the brain is capable of.

In the brain hemispheric tests, the objective is to show your hemispheric dominance. After the result of the test, it gives some inputs into the nature of activities that you would tend to pursue and areas where you would face difficulties. Usually, most individuals exhibit either left brain dominance or right brain dominance but there is a minority which has a balanced hemispheric dominance. They use both the hemispheres equally. Although, it is thought that one needs to use both the hemispheres in order to be capable of multiple activities, the whole brain dominant individual tends to experience conflicts in decision making, which he/she may overcome by prioritizing the nature of intellectual activity. For example; he/she may decide to be practical when it comes to mundane activities and may prefer putting away the creative dimension for the time being. The same person may reject common sense when the need of the hour is to find a creative solution. Knowing your brain hemispheric dominance helps you understand your strengths and limitations but what helps you more is leveraging your intellectual orientation depending on the nature of your activity and of course what helps you most is to play it by the ear instead of going by the rule book.     

Overriding Concerns about Extraterrestrials

Amidst the chaos there is an order that keeps a human being secure from the onslaught of danger. It is unknown how this chaos penetrates occasionally and is kept away quite successfully by fool proof systems at other times. The attempt at creating a force field keeps a living being from contact with natural forces beyond it. One such concern that raises thoughts of such a nature is the concept of extraterrestrials. Is there life in outer space somewhere which we are unable to communicate with? In the planet Mars from time to time there have been triggers of excitement reopening the possibility of the existence of extraterrestrials in that planet. Firstly, some of us have an undying curiosity and wonder regarding out of the ordinary phenomenon. This in psychology is referred to as the transcendence of imagination and this is a flight from the mundane activities that holds the individual captive and makes it impossible for him/her to see the light of a world beyond the wall.

Before we broach on the subject of extraterrestrials it would be wise to understand what chaos really is. Interest in chaos is quite different from the desire for it. In this universe it seems as though there is little chaos but couldn't this be the illusion of the security provided by day to day activities of a repetitive nature. Repetition gives security because it is what predictability orders. This predictability over time throws some individuals out of the system making them sources of extraordinary experiences. They are the ones who are predisposed to sensing and perceiving what others cannot. It may be a mistake to assume that scientists, astronomers and astronauts have the best chance of discovering extraterrestrial life. It could simply be a set of individuals who are imaginative to the point of perceiving through signals what lies beyond their walls of reality. In Egypt there were paintings of beings and objects which do not resemble life on earth such as UFOs and aliens. Some thinkers have entertained the possibility of aliens having visited this planet before based on these paintings. The word alien refers to an out lander and one who has an outlandish insight may be in a better position to sense signals of beings outside the world of immediate importance.

For those who are concerned more about matters of immediate importance the chance of discovering beings beyond their sensory perception is negated. For those who are concerned about discovering these beings outside the wall of reality through incremental discoveries the chance of making them is limited by their approaches. It may be only individuals with access to subversive excitation who have some chance of discovering these extraterrestrial beings. It could be a mistake for instance to suppose that extraterrestrials can be perceived by human sensory perception in the first place. What may take more than light years to see by the naked eye may take an instant to discover by accident. As a result of our inflated concerns about everyday life we may miss out on the significance of a concept that may in fact take our spirits far away from the problems in hand to the extent of proving that these problems are nothing but illusions of petty human concerns. This does not mean that we are wrong to be anthropocentric when it is in our nature to be so. It suffices to say that in order to go beyond the wall of reality it might be wise to break it once in a while. All it takes is an unidentified flying object.   

Long Measure

The pendulum swings to and fro

But if you can just remain still,

The bird that sings is not the crow;

It’s the raven that catches chill.

The mountains you climb are just plains,

You may be still in complete peaks;

Yet faster than the fastest trains

With rose of wisdom on your cheeks!

Why Look at Procrastination as a Thief?

The idea of procrastinating one’s duties has its roots in prehistoric times. It is not a habit forming behavior resulting from the ease of comforts and luxury of modern times. It is as old as humanity. However, it was always and still is discouraged and looked at as a weakness marring the potential of a human being. In ‘the Picture of Dorian Gray’ by Oscar Wilde, a character Lord Henry describes ‘punctuality’ as a thief of time. Of course one dare take this as sacrosanct. Lord Henry, as you would find after reading the novel is not what he is.  Procrastination is not the opposite of punctuality. After investigation you would find that it is not that bad either. It gets replaced by another word or another phrase which would imply putting something off till more clarity sets in. 

In some contexts such as construction of monuments, procrastination was sometimes considered a useful device of managing energy and time. In the Bloomsbury circle, it was compulsory to postpone any discussion which would end up confusing the participants. Unless and until the speaker was clear about the message, he would hesitate to bring it to light. Procrastination also gives a sudden spark of energy which compulsive routines do not. In the case of a compulsion the individual has to indulge in a routine even if it is not warranted. Without doing so, he/she becomes uncomfortable. It is here that procrastination as a device carries with it a great range of benefits. A compulsion drains your energy while procrastination helps you preserve it. 

Postmodern art is brilliantly exceptional when it comes to hiding a clear idea. Its ideas get hidden by layers of imageries to make the spectator postpone the interpretation till all the layers are unraveled. The catch is that at no point would you be able to unravel its meaning completely as your interpretation is just one of the many possible interpretations. By procrastinating you take more time to carve out newer perspectives. You would not be able to do this if you surrender to the dictates of a demanding routine. You can use procrastination as a psychological technique to buy more time for solutions. Procrastination is from this angle not a thief of time but its innovative preserver.