Today’s article is called HOW AND WHY CONSCIOUSNESS ARISES: SOME CONSIDERATIONS FROM PHYSICS AND PHYSIOLOGY by Mark Solms and Karl Friston.

What I find fascinating about this paper is the detailed description of the active inference process used by us humans, and other intelligences, to model the world, predict what it is we should be sensing and then either adjust those predictions based on prediction errors that come back from the next set of sensations or take action to gather more input. All of this is done while also paying attention based on “affect” or the “felt sense of uncertainty” , as the authors put it, in order to guide what is salient in this moment that we should actually be paying attention to .

In a sense we are living in a projected reality based on our predictions of the “outside” environment but this is where it gets really interesting. What is “inside” and what is “outside”? The paper speaks of interoception, or the sense of our “inner states” like our heart rate, but as I began to think about it, what makes the sense of my heart rate any different than the sense of the ticking clock on the wall? The definition of “inner” and “outer”, “self” and “environment” is entirely a defined by a specific point of view and is somewhat of a moving target.

Look at your own perceptions right now. What I find in my view is sights, sounds, feelings, and thoughts all of which are presumably my environment, or at best something I have, since it is “I” who has them. Today’s paper argues that this intuition of “I” is also one of those things I am predicting along with the sights, sounds, feeling and thoughts. Wow.

Today’s article, Predicting green: really radical (plant) predictive processing by Paco Calvo and Karl Friston reveals that plants, like animals, engage in predictive processing - a fundamental aspect of intelligence involving predictions and evidence-gathering to minimize surprise and uncertainty.

Despite lacking a central nervous system, plants demonstrate intelligence through adaptive behaviors, predicting future conditions and adjusting their growth patterns accordingly. I found this to be amazing.

Humans also generate internal models of the world, comparing predictions with sensory data and adjusting beliefs and actions to minimize discrepancies. I find that this process creates a sense of separation between self and environment and a constant striving to align reality with expectations.

However, Douglas Harding's Headless Way provides a complementary viewpoint. Harding invites us to notice that at the center of our experience - where we assume our head to be - there is actually a vast, boundless awareness. This awareness is the space in which all sensations, thoughts, and predictions occur.

Harding's insights remind us that there's more to our nature than prediction and adaptation. We are also the vast, open awareness in which all of life's predictions and surprises play out - a truth we can directly experience here and now.

By integrating these perspectives, we can navigate life with both the wisdom of our adaptive, predictive nature and the freedom of boundless awareness. Editors Note: True to the nature of the Headless Deep dive I worked with Claude.ai to help me draft this article.

Michael Levin is one of my favorite scientists. He and his collaborators are working in the area of biology and cognition with a framework he calls the Technological Approach to Mind Everywhere (TAME), which I find to be very much compatible with eastern philosophy and the Headless Way.

One of the most mind blowing papers is Biology, Buddhism, and AI: Care as the Driver of Intelligence. This paper struck a chord with me as both someone who is interested in Buddhist-type philosophy and someone who is interested in AI. The concept Cognitive Light Cones introduced in this paper as a way of describing the depth and breadth of what an intelligence cares about is an idea that should be at the forefront of AI research as we bring new intelligences into the world. It seems rather obvious that we would want those new intelligences to care about us and the things we care about as well.

More than that though, this paper got me thinking about “care” as a fundamental quality behind everything we experience. What we experience — what we see, hear, feel, smell, taste, and think — is optimized and shaped by evolution to be what we care about. It is those aspects of the world that we find salient to our own existence and thus when I see the world I see what I care about. It brings a new flavor to everything. There is care, love and compassion underscoring all experience.

It is not about preferences, or approval or disapproval of what I experience. The mere fact that I experience it means I care for it. Now that puts a new spin on those annoying people and situations in life. So-and-so may really tick me off, but I experience their words and actions because deep down I care about other people and what they say. I may not agree with them or approve of their actions but I can’t help but care about them. Caring comes before any judgements are made. Caring is what lets them in to my awareness in the first place.

I hope you enjoy this episode of Headless Deep Dive as much as I did.

Our first episode of Headless Deep Dive of course has to be based on the writings of Douglas Harding. Douglas’s book, On Having No Head, is one of his best known and most influential books. It clearly points us to the direct experience of what it is like to be open awareness.

I was flabbergasted to hear the AI generate hosts truly grasp the concepts laid out in this seminal work by Douglas Harding. I hope you enjoy it as well.

For other writings by Douglas Harding and information on the Headless Way in general, I highly recommend the headless.org website.