In the Beginning

When I was a teenager I loved to read my father's Scientific American magazines. I enjoyed the articles on physics because they explained the nature of the universe. The articles on biology were interesting but seemed less important, the cosmos vs. the mere workings of the world, you might say. Then there were the articles on perception and cognition, now they were truly fascinating. Consciousness what a concept! I began to realize that the universe began there. I was intrigued by research into the workings of the brain, on how we see and how we make sense of what we see. Articles on awareness, the processes of thought, on how we interact and learn, ultimately how we comprehend the world. Later, experiments with altered states provided insightful glimpses into the workings of my own consciousness. In college I studied art and film; I learned the elements of narrative structure, drama and philosophy. Art filled in another piece of the puzzle, an intuitive, right brained approach if you will. I began to explore my own experiences of perception and expression. At school I was exposed to the ideas of Koestler, Jung, Bateson and McLuhan, among others, and with them the seeds of an ever greater exploration. In my professional life I have applied my skills to film and advertising, observing as we developed and executed various media, what was effective communication and what was not, ultimately forming a broader theory of how we interact as sentient beings. Recent developments in neurobiology, cognitive psychology, and artificial intelligence bring even greater insights to this exploration. I am not an expert nor an academic. I have been circumspect about publishing at all. So it is with humility that I put this work forward under the heading: some thoughts toward a new theory of mind.