I get what you mean! Here are a few very quick thoughts—hope they make sense!
Maybe one challenge around introspecting on binding is that one typically has to be in altered or ill states of consciousness to experience what it’s like for binding to break down. For instance, under some psychedelics, the color of an object can “bleed out” of its boundaries.
In normal waking consciousness, we just take binding for granted. We have no problem recognizing that the eyes, nose, mouth, etc. of the person in front of us are “glued” together into a unified gestalt that we can make sense of (and e.g. recognize as our friend). Some people with integrative agnosia can’t do that.
As David Pearce says, no binding = no mind. Without binding, there would only be “qualia dust” floating around. It makes sense that evolution would recruit bound experiences to make sense of the external world. Ethically, we should care about bound experiences.
Binding is also the reason why you can’t do your taxes on a high dose of LSD (though maybe altered states of consciousness can be used for other types of computation).
Happy to chat about this more in person one of these days! I just moved to London and plan to visit Oxford every now and then. ☺️
I get what you mean! Here are a few very quick thoughts—hope they make sense!
Maybe one challenge around introspecting on binding is that one typically has to be in altered or ill states of consciousness to experience what it’s like for binding to break down. For instance, under some psychedelics, the color of an object can “bleed out” of its boundaries.
In normal waking consciousness, we just take binding for granted. We have no problem recognizing that the eyes, nose, mouth, etc. of the person in front of us are “glued” together into a unified gestalt that we can make sense of (and e.g. recognize as our friend). Some people with integrative agnosia can’t do that.
As David Pearce says, no binding = no mind. Without binding, there would only be “qualia dust” floating around. It makes sense that evolution would recruit bound experiences to make sense of the external world. Ethically, we should care about bound experiences.
Binding is also the reason why you can’t do your taxes on a high dose of LSD (though maybe altered states of consciousness can be used for other types of computation).
Happy to chat about this more in person one of these days! I just moved to London and plan to visit Oxford every now and then. ☺️
Awesome, I’d love to chat when you’re around in Oxford!