Why we do what we do

 

‘Into Me See’ series of essays

By Graham Little

These essays summarise and extend the conclusions from the intellectual position in the book The Origin of Consciousness. Excluding this work, there is no general theory of psychology, no general theory of knowledge integrated with a general theory of psychology, no general theory of cause. This means that all historical lines of thinking have failed. Our options are to seek to revise what has been previously offered, or find a new start point. Near forty years ago my research lead me to conclude that everything able to be said had been said, every wrinkle possible had been explored.  I judged further re-treading the historical lines of thinking would prove fruitless.

We need a new start point if we are to fully understand who we are, where we came from, what is religion, what moves us, is there a God, do we have a spirit, what is science, what is truth, do ideas exist, and the other ‘big’ questions. I began by building a new social science methodology, applied it to the system ‘person in their environment’ then interpreted the resulting theory.

I do not have opinions on intellectual issues, what is offered is not ‘opinion’ but conclusions. I believe that truth and verisimilitude are not found in opinion or belief, but in methodology and argument. Where I do apply a judgement unsupported by method or argument, making it an ‘opinion’ or a ‘belief’, I aim to make that clear.

After reading these essays I hope you will then read the book The Origin of Consciousness to fully understand yourself and others, why you are here, why you are as you are, and how to find spiritual fulfilment.

Titles of the essays are listed in the menu to the right. The print copy of the book is here, print.  

Just as in Ripley’s world of believe it or not, we are rather less complicated than historical theories of us suggest. The details behind this claim are in the book The Origin of Consciousness. To assist, I here offer summary conclusions from the book. But first we need cover some fundamental points.

I accept significant scepticism, given the decades, centuries, even millennia during which our existence, our consciousness, our spirituality has eluded definition and clarification. What moves us has seemed beyond understanding. But when we carefully clarify the nature of understanding, what is it exactly that we can understand, then all is demystified.

The point is crucial. Imagine some event, any event, it does not matter. What is going to happen? If it is a well-known regular event, then likely you have a very good idea, but that is all, you have an idea, you cannot be sure, and the actual event when you get there may or may not match precisely your expectations. If you have strong views on the event then it can happen that what you ‘see’ of the event is what you ‘expected’ and you may miss aspects of the actual events due prejudice. I have done that, I suspect most of us have.

We can describe your expectations of the event as your ‘personal theory’ of the event. I do not think that is too far a stretch, and gives us some common concrete ground with which to explore the relationship of ‘theory’ to the actual events. Technically, we should call the event the empirical circumstance to which the theory applies. Likely that makes very clear the sort of analogy I am making between every day thinking and events, and science as the relationship between theory and empirical circumstance to which the theory applies. Hereafter I will drop the phrase ‘to which the theory applies’ unless it really is not self-evident. I do not think anyone would confuse expectations of going fishing and one’s daughter’s wedding.

Okay, we have some grounds for communication. Now, sit back and ask: What can we actually know in advance, for sure, every time, of any event?  Actually, when you think hard about it, not necessarily very much. In life, we go out to an event to be surprised, to experience new, different...etc. But that is not the point of science.

Assume that we are seeking thorough, consistent understanding of the event. What is it exactly that we can know? Going fishing for example, we know we will have a rod, line, reel, lures (I am a salt water fly fisherman), on a boat, and perhaps know the area we will fish (but that can depend on weather conditions on the day).  We can sort of sense that there is a ‘structure’ to the event, and that structure is regular and consistent, and without that structure then it just not the same event, it becomes a different event. For example, if we go deep sea game fishing, using a game rod not a fly rod. Still fishing, but our expectations are really very different, our personal theory applied to the event is different. So we know that a type of event has a particular structure, salt water fly fishing having a different structure from salt water deep sea game fishing. The structure defines the type of event and directs the details of the day. But even as we repeat the type of event with the exact same structure the empirical circumstances that emerge on the day will be specific and unique to that day.  

I hope that gives you a ‘feel’ of what I am talking about. I now offer the exact same argument, but more formal, more conceptual, and more precise. Imagine a system in a box, and imagine there is no aspect of the system outside the box. Now imagine input into that box. Because there is no aspect of the system outside the box we know that the output from the box can only result from the input acted upon by the mechanisms inside the box, it cannot be anything else. These mechanisms are the causal necessity of the system, they are always an aspect of the system no matter the input. The mechanisms are fixed, permanent, a regularity of the system.  It is this regularity of the universe that makes it possible to use ideas in survival, it also enables science, and leads to quips like ‘if it looks like a duck, sounds like a duck and walks like a duck then it is probably a duck’.

To continue our analogy, the ‘structure’ of an everyday event is analogous to the ‘mechanisms’ in the box, the output are the empirical circumstances. We can use intellectual tools, called Ashby tools (see The Origin of Consciousness for the references) to build models of those mechanisms. The models are called Ashby diagrams and we refer to those models of the mechanisms as our scientific theory of the event being our understanding of the mechanism that process the input producing the output.

I do not want to go any deeper into this argument, so I will sum it by saying the mechanisms in the box are the physical necessity that processes any input, and the Ashby diagram is the conceptualisation of those mechanisms, our theory of those mechanisms, and hence is our understanding of physical necessity. I define our understanding of physical necessity as ‘cause’, hence an Ashby diagram represents the cause of the empirical events (it is a little more complicated, but I do not wish to go further into it in this essay, refer to The Origin of Consciousness). 

Go back to the fishing trip...we ‘see’ how the structure of the trip is the same, rods, reels boats, casting the fly etc...And we can sense how if we change this structure, then the event changes, we can also sense how this structure while consistent does not determine in advance exactly what is going to happen on the day. We may get fish, we may not, the schools of Kahawai and Trevally may be there they may not. We get a sense of the structure relative to the actual things that occurred on the day. Using the formal terminology, our everyday analogy offers insight into the relationship between theory and empirical circumstance. We begin to sense how the structure can be applied to explain and systematise the empirical circumstance, and that we can know the structure in advance, but we cannot know the empirical circumstance in advance.

I hope I have made clear this fundamental background because arising from it I now make three crucial assertions.

First, all mechanisms are regularities of the universe, consistent and repeatable. All empirical circumstances are generated by the mechanisms, the structure of the event and are unique to that specific example of the event on that day, at that time and in that place (and observed by that observer, although I will not explore the role of the observer in this essay).

Second, all we can ever know in advance of any event is the conceptualization of the internal mechanisms, the Ashby diagram of the type of event. The Ashby diagram is our theory of the event (see The Origin of Consciousness for the references and details of how the Ashby tools are to be applied). Our theory is a set of variables with links between them that describe how the mechanisms within the event generate the empirical circumstances.   

Third, that theory in science bears the exact same relationship to any set of empirical circumstance as our personal theories bear to personal events in our lives. 

Scientific theories are managed with attention to such things as precision, accuracy, ability to predict outputs, and reproducibility. If some group of scientists share a theory of some type of event then that theory is said to be the current scientific paradigm for that type of event. An accurate scientific theory enables better management of the events, for example, how to use fertiliser such that there is improved grass growth enabling more stock producing more milk.

Personal theories are managed with much less care and attention. Should they be? The relationship between our personal theory and the events in our lives is exactly the same as for the scientist and their use of theory.  The scientist may explore many points of view to find the best fit between their Ashby diagram of the type of event, their theory, and the empirical circumstances that emerge from that type of event.  When they find a good fit, they then use it to improve management of that type of event.

Given that our psychological processes are an exact parallel, do we need to do less?  What would happen if we took more time and care to reflect on the thinking we apply to some type of event...if we explored more options of how to best think about the event, would we be placed in a position to better manage the event and so have a more rewarding output?

The scientist seeks to have their theory of an event, their reality (what is in their mind), best match the type of event, the Reality (what exists beyond their mind). They do this by seeking to understand the underlying mechanism driving the empirical circumstances of the event, using Ashby tools that capture those mechanism building Ashby diagrams that enable prediction and management of the type of event. I refer to this process as one of seeking congruence between reality and Reality (refer to The Origin of Consciousness, and Into Me See: The beginning for a discussion and definition of the terms reality and Reality). The search for congruence is the search for truth in seeking the best match between what we think and what is there and what happens. The search to improve congruence between reality and Reality is the search for ‘greater truth’, and is called verisimilitude.

As individuals, seeking perhaps balance, fulfilment, spiritual peace, and effectiveness should we do less?  But I digress, and will not carry the argument further. I merely sum the discussion by pointing out that the theory in the book is clear, the very structure of our psyche makes the search for congruence intrinsic to our existence it is not a choice, and the argument is then summed in the phrase ‘everyone is a scientist’. We act on what we ‘see’ which is determined by what we use to ‘look’ exactly as the scientist. But the scientist places emphasis on managing what they use to ‘look’. If we followed, if we reflected and shaped what we use to ‘look’ with more care and precision, would we enable a more rewarding result? For now, I leave you to reflect on the question.

The theory of us in The Origin of Consciousness has the following elements from which is forged all mood and conduct. But before the summary, there are several very important properties of the theory arising from the discussion above. First, the theory is a conceptual Ashby diagram of the mechanisms within the system ‘person in their environment’. It consists of variables with linkages between them such that if a variable changes then the variables immediately linked to it change in sequence following the links. The Ashby diagrams are then linked variables that track the flow of change through a system (refer to The Origin of Consciousness for a discussion on the idea of the flow of change). 

Second, the causal theory applies to everyone, but the variables have a range of values, so to assess how a particular person may act or feel requires measuring the values of the variables as expressed in them in that exact situation at that immediate time, place the values into the theory and then calculate the result.

Theory is a set of linked variables describing how the mechanism of the system process the input. An input into any situation has the effect of changing the value of a variable, this change then cascading through the set of linked variables to produce the output from the system. If an input has no effect on the system then there is effectively no input, nothing happened, nothing changed.

This general stuff describes how any theory must relate to the details of any empirical circumstance and describes how any system of linked variables must relate to the situation. It is the values of those variables that describe the empirical circumstance, and this must be since the manner in which we must think about it can only be a specific example of how we must think about any event (‘must’ in the sense it is how we are constructed, we have no choice about it). And this arises even forced on our understanding by two fundamental propositions both of which we know in advance of any attempt to build a theory of psychology. First, we cannot know the empirical details of any situation in advance, we can only know the structure of the event, the mechanisms. Second, we ‘see’ all events in mind, and what we see in mind is different from the event beyond our mind, so we have reality and Reality. All of this general stuff applies to a theory of a person in an actual situation, we cannot know what a person will do, but we can know the theory. Getting to know a person is effectively coming to know the values of the variables as expressed in them. Personality is then the carrying of values of some variables from one situation to the next giving consistency to their conduct and mood, ‘if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and sounds like a duck’ then it is likely ...Joe or Helen or Abdul or Liu or...

The uniqueness of every event is a fundamental of this intellectual position since every event occurred in a specific place in the stream of events that is our life, therefore no event can ever be repeated. It is possible to experience similar events, but that event that occurred five seconds, five days, five years ago occurred then, and is unique because of that.   

The short overview below captures the key aspects of the theory providing summary insight into the crucial features of us that are the underlying causal structure of all mood and conduct.

1.      The brain.

a.       Our existence, ‘I’, does not lie in the brain per se, but in the energy flows in the brain. When the energy flow stops, or is significantly altered by neural malfunction, then we cease to be or may have our life experience restricted, or our neural state altered to the extent ‘someone’ is there, but ‘I’ have ceased to be.    

b.      For purposes of psychology, the brain is best understood as an entropic device, which means the energy in the brain flows inherently to the lowest available energy states.

c.       Habit results from the energy flows of the brain following its internal entropic tendency. It follows that habit is not psychological but neurological. The original formation of habit may have been by choice of response, but allowing habit today is enabling historical choice, and does not necessarily reflect current choice.

2.      The structure of our psyche.

a.       Our psyche exists in multiple structures, called mental sets (refer to The Origin of Consciousness) consisting of one or all of an idea, emotions, and habits, all interacting with the initiating stimulus.

b.      Our spirit is an identifiable structure the core of our psyche containing those ideas and emotions most integrated with our self-concept and experience of self.

c.       Our psyche is the structure of mental sets both active and inactive.

3.      Our mind and spirit.

a.       The combination of attention and our spirit constitutes consciousness.

b.       The combination of consciousness with our active knowledge, emotions and attitudes constitutes our mind.  Our mind is our consciousness and those mental sets active at that moment.  

c.       It follows that our mind is in a constant state of flux.  It is ‘I’, the central aspect of our spirit that gives continuity to our existence in mind. ‘I’ experience my mind as ‘me’.

d.      ‘I’ have access via attention to all mental sets. ‘I’ can initiate mental sets I know of. But, mental sets may also be initiated by stimulating events independent of ‘I’.

e.       These arguments lead to the insight that sometimes we need slow the flux of mind in order to allow aspects of our psyche to come forth. This is reinforced by the understanding that the first stages of perception are neurological not psychological, hence the brain can perceive that which the mind has not noted and slowing the mind’s flux enables emergence of that which we may not know we know (refer The Origin of Consciousness for a full discussion on perception). 

f.       Our spirit is the seat of ‘I’ and is that part of our psyche always active. The exception is perhaps in ‘flow’, the state where we are so engrossed in an activity we lose ourselves in it.  There are two ways it could happen, either our spirit ceases to be an active mental set, or our attention is diverted from it, in either case we lose touch with our central existence, with ‘I’ (refer The Origin of Consciousness for a full discussion on flow).

4.      Choice and free will.

a.       The attention mechanism enables us to direct energy flows in the brain to take paths that would not occur if the brain is left to its own entropic tendencies.

b.      Choice lies in resisting habit and adopting actions we choose.  Exercising choice requires energy.

c.       Free will resides in our mind, proprioception, and our knowing, for example, how to lift our left arm seven inches. We do not know how we lift our arm, we just know we can, but we are bounded in that we cannot do that which we cannot do, or think we cannot do.

5.      Congruence, truth and verisimilitude.

a.       Survival is improved by applying the best ideas to the circumstance. The emergence and use of ideas in physical survival dominated early human development.

b.      The multiple structure of our psyche enables us to ‘look at’ what we use to ‘look’ and so determines what we ‘see’ of some event. That is we can think about how we think and make the crucial choice of the ideas, and emotions associated with them, we allow to shape our mood and conduct. 

c.       Selecting the best ideas and applying them in our greater fulfilment is the modern equivalent of selecting the best ideas and applying them in our survival 100,000 years ago. 

d.      The search for the best ideas to apply remains a dominate force today, often referred to as politics, religion, values, morals or ideology. Each of us is unique, each seeking to fulfil our own spirit, this search the modern expression of evolution’s striving for survival.  It is this unique personalised striving that leads to the view that the world will become dominated by a single idea namely “I want what is best for me (and mine)”. I suggest this idea is already evident in the world, what we need learn is the tolerance essential amid such diversity and individual pluralism.

e.       The search for the best ideas is the search for congruence, to match what we think, our reality, to the external circumstances we face, called Reality. Congruence is striving for verisimilitude itself the striving for truth.

6.      Evolution of consciousness and the inevitability of our existence.

a.       Brains evolved in interaction with differentiated perceptual fields to create the neural structure in human’s enabling the creation and application of ideas used in survival.

b.      Differentiated perceptual fields are an integral part of any environment, hence the evolutionary momentum toward creation and application of ideas in survival is a natural aspect of any and all ecosystems (refer The Origin of Consciousness for a full discussion on differentiated perceptual fields).

c.       The species that emerged with the greatest capacity to create and apply ideas in survival would necessarily emerge as the dominant species. That species is us.  

d.      Consciousness is an inevitable result of the evolutionary momentum toward the human type capacity to create and apply ideas in survival. This argument is summed in the phrase ‘human type consciousness is the pinnacle of evolution’.

e.       Once the capacity to create and apply ideas in survival is consolidated, then evolution becomes cultural not physical, ideas die instead of individuals of the species.

f.       Once the species masters the use of ideas in physical survival and is clearly the dominant species, then the emergent concerns are with the species spirituality and with management and consolidation of ideas into knowledge (see the discussion in The Origin of Consciousness on the time line of this development from 50,000 years ago to today).  

These elements are the conceptualisation of the mechanisms operative within us.  They are the theory of what happens inside the box...in this instance the box is ‘us’, the system ‘person in their environment’. We can only ever know in advance the theory of the mechanisms, in order to establish the empirical circumstance of this event at this time on this day with this person then we need measure the values of relevant variables place the values in the theory and calculate the result. The details of the variables and their interrelationships are discussed in full in The Origin of Consciousness.

We are a spirit within a mind within a brain within a body.

Understanding this ‘nested’ structure is crucial. Each element of ‘us’ is separate, but integrated with the other elements such that if any one fails, the whole fails and/or the person has their experience of life significantly reduced. The mind exists within the brain, but neural events can and do occur that are not psychological, but because the brain is the mechanism of mind the neural events will have psychological consequences. For example, clear air white out is a neurological process with no psychological component, but due the nesting of mind in brain, there are major psychological effects which as a matter of principle cannot be understood or explained from a psychological point of view. (Note, as an aside, for deeper understanding of the links between events and mechanism, the non-continuous structure of knowledge and the role of reductionism in science see the appropriate sections in The Origin of Consciousness.)

The fundamental of all human existence is the tension between habit as embedded in the entropic tendency of our brain, and freewill which is exercised by using our mind and attention mechanism to apply energy to direct neural energy flows into pathways of our choosing, redirecting them away from pathways driven by entropy.  These arguments lead to the phrase ‘consciousness is the only known force in the universe that can thwart entropy’.

Additional crucial issues are what is not included in this theory of why we are as we are. First there is no Freudian type ‘unconscious’. There is our mind the seat of our consciousness and free will, and the entropy of the brain driving our habits. We may have emotional responses without knowing where they come from, but these are readily accounted for within psychic structures from forgotten events, or events that predate cognitive capacity as in early childhood, such that under related circumstances feelings emerge without associated ideas or associated memory of their formation. Second, there is no religious soul, nothing that continues to exist after our death.  Finally, there is no higher consciousness...as in meditation. The argument will not be put here, but in summary meditation is shown as a state of neural functioning unrelated to any psychological state, and that which is often referred to as ‘higher consciousness’ as in supposed ‘oneness’ of meditation is shown to be a marked reduction in consciousness and derived from neural structures similar to those that give rise to clear air white out. 

The theory is more straightforward, less dramatic, and more systematic than I suspect you are used to or expected. But it is precise and thorough. It makes no assumptions other than those of the necessary method for constructing social science theory, or all theory for that matter.

You may disagree, but the theory arises totally from the methodology by application of the tools within the rules associated with those tools. Hence to disagree is not to disagree with some aspect of the theory, but to confront the methodology, challenging the very notion of applying reason to understand ourselves, and challenging the use of Ashby tools and Ashby diagrams and the intellectual rules implicated with them.

I would be pleased to receive any comment, always interested to listen to or read well-reasoned argument, grl@xtra.co.nz. -§-