Book Review: The User Illusion: Cutting Consciousness Down To Size

Author: Tor Norretranders
Spiritual Bias: Unknown
Origins Bias: Evolutionist
Rating: Middle of the Road+
Level: Advanced

Comments: The brain is a fascinating organ - often thought of as the most complex entity in the universe. One feature of the brain is the consciousness which is generally thought of as the primary initiator of action. But Norretranders makes the case that there is a sub-conscious area of the brain that is actually in "control." There is an elaborate "user illusion" that makes us think that our consciousness drives our decisions. To support this theory, Norretranders points to several scientific experiments that seem to show that the consciousness is made aware of many actions a few hundred milliseconds after the sub-conscious brain.

This is a good book, although I do believe that our ability to really discern the integration of the consciousness and the sub-conscious brain is probably limited. In any case, this subject matter is very interesting and the implications of the "user illusion" theory should certainly be discussed in the realm of origins.


Sample Quotes: "Consciousness is not about information but about its opposite: order. Consciousness is not a complex phenomenon; it is what consciousness is about that is complex."

"The thesis is extremely simple, at least when expressed in numbers. We can measure how much information enters through the senses. We do so simply by counting how many receptors each sensory organ possesses: how many visual cells the eye has, how many sensitive points the skin has, how many taste buds the tongue has. Then we can calculate how many nerve connections send signals to the brain, and how many signals each connection sends a second. The numbers are vast. The eye sends at least ten million bits to the brain every second. The skin sends a million bits a second, the ear one hundred thousand, our smell sensors a further one hundred thousand bits a second, our taste buds perhaps a thousand bits a second. All in all, over eleven million bits a second from the world to our sensory mechanisms. But we experience far less: Consciousness processes far fewer bits (40)."