In his continuous research into how the electorate thinks or even why, this post is one of mariner’s brain twister posts. This post has no more significance to today’s news than finding the next geode in Iowa. Everyone has played logic puzzles at parties or when reading a magazine. Mariner suggests his readers think about an enigma that the sciences have yet to solve:

Why did consciousness emerge from a fully functional subconscious brain?

Dan Falk, a Canadian science journalist, sets up the issue: “The puzzle of how non-conscious matter, responding only to the laws of physics, gives rise to conscious experience (in contrast to the ‘easy problems’ of figuring out which sorts of brain activity are associated with which specific mental states). The existence of minds is the most serious affront to physicalism.”

The common thought test is the zombie test. The experiment features an imagined creature exactly like you or me, but with a crucial ingredient – consciousness – missing. Though versions of the argument go back many decades, its current version was stated most explicitly by David Chalmers in his book The Conscious Mind (1996). He invites the reader to consider his zombie twin, a creature who is ‘molecule for molecule identical to me’ but who ‘lacks conscious experience entirely’.

Imagine the conscious mind looking at an apple. The apple has an independent reality; it is an object within an entirely reasoned environment including terrain, buildings, roads, etc. The apple is red, a value among many colors that are not part of the immediate image. Lurking close by is a conscious awareness of the industry of apple production and perhaps even an impression of the grocer.

All these externally perceived inputs are collected by our consciousness. What did our subconscious see?

It will be awake, able to report the contents of its internal states, able to focus attention in various places, and so on – all part of the senses. It is just that none of this functioning will be accompanied by any conscious experience. There is no reasoned, abstract awareness. Imagine that you are asleep while the apple is present. What will you know about the experience of the apple? At best the brain may register aroma, perhaps indiscriminate noises, subconsciously of course.

The key question is, why did a totally functional subconscious brain have any need to invent consciousness? The major senses like seeing, touching, etc., provide a completely functional reality for survival. Flight or fight is a fully subconscious behavior; pain and comfort, too, are subconscious behaviors.

Scientists to this day have not been able to pinpoint a literal link that provoked the emergence of a conscious mind. Thus it remains an open question – why does the electorate have a conscious mind?

Is the reader still awake or need mariner sign off only to the zombie partner?

Ancient Mariner

Mariner often cites his father as a treasure trove of shorthand descriptions of personality, tendencies and interpersonal behavior. Most frequently mariner borrows one his father’s favorites: the difference between why, how and what people. In short, why people must know why something exists before any further comprehension can be learned and often may not need any further detail; how people are great problem solvers but need information from why and what people in order to have a problem to solve in the first place; what people don’t care why or how and see no problems if a step-by-step procedure works.

When mariner was a preacher, he had a story about how we can be blinded by our own tendencies. He told the story of a woman preparing a ham for dinner. She cut off one end of the ham as she always did. Her daughter, watching, asked why her mother cut off the end of the ham. The mother replied that she simply cooks the ham the same way her mother did it.

Later, the daughter asked grandma why she cut the ham. “Because it wouldn’t fit in the pot”, she said.

Many confrontations occur for no other reason than the different priorities of these three thought processes.

Another set of descriptors is the difference between extroverts and introverts. Extroverts need human interaction as an element of progress; introverts make progress without any need for dialogue. Mariner once had the experience of wanting to talk with a coworker about an issue. “Leave me alone,” the coworker said; “I have work to do.”

Here is a pop psych test that’s been around for a long time: Without skipping below the figures, which of these objects seems most comfortable to you:

If you prefer the circle, you may enjoy moments of harmony and stability.

If you prefer the square, you tend to organize things and dislike loose ends.

If you prefer the triangle, you may enjoy challenges and like to achieve.

If you prefer the squiggly, you may enjoy being creative and free spirited.

Pop psychology tests are enjoyable and vague enough to toy with as long as it remembered that no one is a purebred; most of us are a mix of two with perhaps one type a tiny bit stronger than the other.

Pop psych was overrun by the Meyers-Briggs test – a compilation of 16 different personalities with variations within each one. Myers-Briggs became popular to the point that everyone walked around bragging they were an INTJ or an ESTP. Still, because no one is a purebred, these four-character IDs must be taken with a grain of salt and a conscious restraint to avoid condescension.

Another personality test used frequently is the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). It is used most often to determine a person’s criminal tendencies.

If you want to have a finer understanding of yourself, type ‘pop psychology tests’ in your search engine. There’s a test for everything – even how fast and accurate your fingers are.

Ancient Mariner