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Re: Imagine this
December 18, 2008 by Anonymous, 48 weeks 5 days ago
Comment id: 33436
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To answer that, you need to understand what "imagination" is.
You could say that imagination is consciousness itself... Mind machinery directed to reflect upon a world model. The default world model that "sane" mind machinery is directed to reflect upon is the "real world", i.e. the one that is consistent with sensory input. By "reflecting", I mean updating the world model via the constant feedback of an integration of memories (past), sensory input (present), and inferences/hypotheses (future). This feedback in part stimulates the same regions of the brain that are stimulated by sensory input, examples being your inner monologue and the images you "see" when you close your eyes. (If I'm not mistaken, imaging of brain function has shown that imagining a carrot causes activity in some of the same regions that are activated when you actually view a carrot.)
In "altered" states of mind, the evolution of the world-model may become inconsistent with sensory input... the inference/hypothesis component of the integration process overwhelms the sensory component. This phenomenon may be consciously directed (daydreaming, being creative in general) or imposed unconsciously or unwillingly (dreaming, chemical imbalance or abuse, defect/illness/insanity, physical injury).
So, when you ask, "where do you suppose my imagination came up with all this stuff?": My answer is, "this stuff" is simply your current world view, which has developed over the course of your lifetime.
Go right ahead! Synthesize whatever world-model you feel like. Your brain will let you, it's very flexible. (Just don't come crying to me when your brain attempts to reconcile your synthetic world-model with the one your senses are perceiving, as it inevitably must.*)
*It won't be too traumatic. The decision to deviate from the "real" world will be recorded as a historically significant event in your synthetic world-model.**
**Unless your decision to deviate from the "real" world is either forgotten or otherwise masked... Then, you may have a problem.