If you take these together, you realize that most of what cognition is, is a type of predictive processing that works to reify itself as a process: namely, the mind takes something to have already happened/existed, then attempts to enforce that outcome/perception even more through thought.
That is why almost all advanced meditation practices – from whichever tradition – end up pointing to the same conclusions one ought to arrive at experientially: to see the true nature of the mind as a positive reinforcement machine, and to understand oneself apart from that machinery alone.
That said, as you pointed out, not all habituation or positive reinforcement is created equal. Some of these loops are clearly more upstream than others, and uprooting them (or even noticing them) is difficult or impossible; not to mention likely not ideal.
The other thing to emphasize is that the 'brain' is only one aspect of the machinery of the mind. Loosely, the 'job' of the brain is to take the perceptions from all others aspects of mind – i.e., from different parts of the body, environment, etc. – and 'synthesize' them into a predictive inference as described above.
Well, I think you can take self deception somewhat seriously on a dispositional understanding of beliefs and motives. So, we might generally say that people can fail to realize what their own behavior is functionally optimizing for, in the behaviorist sense. I guess this feels different than thinking you have unconscious desires in a deep semantic sense, but it is still something people are often wrong about.
Contra the emotional reading images: looking at freezeframes is a pretty weird thing to do, if you think about it. Its easy to find ones which are deceptive, even when it wouldnt be in real life. Also potato quality.
> Perception is inference.
> Only the outputs of the brain can be observed.
> Minds are dispositional, not propositional.
If you take these together, you realize that most of what cognition is, is a type of predictive processing that works to reify itself as a process: namely, the mind takes something to have already happened/existed, then attempts to enforce that outcome/perception even more through thought.
That is why almost all advanced meditation practices – from whichever tradition – end up pointing to the same conclusions one ought to arrive at experientially: to see the true nature of the mind as a positive reinforcement machine, and to understand oneself apart from that machinery alone.
That said, as you pointed out, not all habituation or positive reinforcement is created equal. Some of these loops are clearly more upstream than others, and uprooting them (or even noticing them) is difficult or impossible; not to mention likely not ideal.
The other thing to emphasize is that the 'brain' is only one aspect of the machinery of the mind. Loosely, the 'job' of the brain is to take the perceptions from all others aspects of mind – i.e., from different parts of the body, environment, etc. – and 'synthesize' them into a predictive inference as described above.
Well, I think you can take self deception somewhat seriously on a dispositional understanding of beliefs and motives. So, we might generally say that people can fail to realize what their own behavior is functionally optimizing for, in the behaviorist sense. I guess this feels different than thinking you have unconscious desires in a deep semantic sense, but it is still something people are often wrong about.
Contra the emotional reading images: looking at freezeframes is a pretty weird thing to do, if you think about it. Its easy to find ones which are deceptive, even when it wouldnt be in real life. Also potato quality.