Is Our Perception Of The Present Entirely Influenced By Memory?

[mso489]

No, of course not. However, if you live an orderly and routine life with few changes, you do more and more of your activities by habit without too much thought. I think one of the benefits of travel is that it presents you with an entirely new set of arrangements to figure out and keeps your mind and body somewhat limber to adaptation. Both ways are good. Practicing preparing a good meal over the years makes for a happy time doing what you already know how to do leaving some time to think a little and experience enjoyment. However, on behalf of change, there is an old Dutch saying that has some wisdom: "Sometimes a change is as good as a rest."

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Keep on keeping on reminds me of a former managers definition of insanity.

Do you mean, when someone keeps doing something that doesn't give you the desired results, over and over, expecting the results to change? Because that is not the same thing as "keep on keeping on."

 

[anotherbob]

Is our perception of the present entirely influenced by memory?

technically yes. Our senses are processed in microseconds but not instantaneously. So everything you experience is already the past by the time you experience it. I mean functionally it's pretty much right as it's happening but not quite. So our perception of the present is a memory

 

[LotusEater]

There is a current thread re communication - seems to be a lot of miscommunication going on in this tread

The Art Of Communication :: General Discussion

It's actually more like this: That's pretty good. Prettttay, pretttay, prettttt-y good! ?

pipesmagazine.com

 

[Sweet Home Alabama]

Do you mean, when someone keeps doing something that doesn't give you the desired results, over and over, expecting the results to change? Because that is not the same thing as "keep on keeping on."

It very much could be.

 

[Sweet Home Alabama]

From Langer, accepted truth prevents other options from being considered. Seeing things as they are rather than what we think they are opens an array of potential.

 

[mingc]

What would you perceive if you don't remember anything, not a single thing? You will have some basic programming assuming you are functioning physically. So you'll be able to see, hear and feel. But you'll have no language. And no prior reference for what you see, hear or feel. You wouldn't know whether you are hot or cold because you can't remember, and hence don't know, what hot or cold is to you. You also don't know what wet or dry feels like. The sights and sounds you perceive will appear completely random and chaotic, and you will be utterly confused.

 

[warren]

It very much could be.

I suppose it's all in how you wish to see it. For me, it means pressing on, handling life's vicissitudes as they arrive, enjoying each day above ground and ... well, just keeping on keeping on.

Seeing things as they are rather than what we think they are opens an array of potential.

So, your truth might not be my truth. If one believes something to be true, then it is indeed their truth, their reality. Philosophers enjoy the abstract and creating a multitude of "answers" when no questions have been raised. Philosophers generally have/had too much time on their hands as they wouldn't "keep on keeping on". Too lazy to work I guess. Much as I enjoy reading philosophy I never put more than a modicum of trust in their observations as some other philosopher will have an opposite view. That's my philosophy anyway.

 

[Sweet Home Alabama]

I remember my first time putting my head into a mountain stream over pour in early Spring. No memory . New experience. I’d hate to depend on the past to define the future.

 

[Sweet Home Alabama]

I suppose it's all in how you wish to see it. For me, it means pressing on, handling life's vicissitudes as they arrive, enjoying each day above ground and ... well, just keeping on keeping on.


So, your truth might not be my truth. If one believes something to be true, then it is indeed their truth, their reality. Philosophers enjoy the abstract and creating a multitude of "answers" when no questions have been raised. Philosophers generally have/had too much time on their hands as they wouldn't "keep on keeping on". Too lazy to work I guess. Much as I enjoy reading philosophy I never put more than a modicum of trust in their observations as some other philosopher will have an opposite view. That's my philosophy anyway.

That’s a saying I’ve heard before, your truth is
not my truth. Warren, that’s why they make vanilla and chocolate ice cream.

 

[LotusEater]

From Langer, accepted truth prevents other options from being considered. Seeing things as they are rather than what we think they are opens an array of potential.

Unfortunately we are the filter through which we see the world. We can only know things in this way so to “see things the way they are rather than what we think they are” is impossible

 

[warren]

that’s why they make vanilla and chocolate ice cream.

We've moved from perceptions to preferences I guess. I can't keep up.

 

[LotusEater]

I remember my first time putting my head into a mountain stream over pour in early Spring. No memory . New experience. I’d hate to depend on the past to define the future.

It wasn’t all new - you probably expected it to be cold ,wet and exhilarating. Now that you have done it you have a more precise notion of what the experience is/was/will be next time

 

[puff_not_snuff]

Mostst everything we know is a function of our brain’s interpretation of incoming stimuli. We build up schemas and expectancies about the present based on our past experiences. When new experiences aren’t congruent with our schema the schema gets updated. This happens constantly and continuously and in ways that are so subtle that we are usually not even aware that our perception has been altered.

Basically our brains make predictions about the world based on a model that is constantly being updated. It is called predictive processing.

Thank you. Some comments in this thread are making me have predictable processing.

 

[mso489]

Isaac Newton and that damned apple. Everybody knew they fell. He just took it a step further and decided there must be an inherent force that made them do that. Of course, his insight had probably been realized by people going back hundreds of thousands of years, but Isaac raised the possibility for Europeans of his time. Every child in a high chair discovers gravity and is thrilled to see things fall to the floor for hours at a time, especially since the tykes aren't able to pick them up, so someone else does that work for them.

 

[puff_not_snuff]

Isaac Newton and that damned apple. Everybody knew they fell. He just took it a step further and decided there must be an inherent force that made them do that. Of course, his insight had probably been realized by people going back hundreds of thousands of years, but Isaac raised the possibility for Europeans of his time. Every child in a high chair discovers gravity and is thrilled to see things fall to the floor for hours at a time, especially since the tykes aren't able to pick them up, so someone else does that work for them.

Thanks for the physics lesson. It's always fun to remember 6th grade. You aren't actually Sister Helen are you?

 

[Misanthrope]

I'm of the opinion that the past gives you the tools to make the present better, and the present gives you tools to make tomorrow better.

 

[karam]

Depends on the person I think. As an introspective introvert the older I get the faster I seem to react, the mind is certainly faster than when I was younger, probably due to having more more references than before.

 

[Sweet Home Alabama]

It wasn’t all new - you probably expected it to be cold ,wet and exhilarating. Now that you have done it you have a more precise notion of what the experience is/was/will be next time

More importantly, it taught me to take a chance on something most people would think was not a good idea.

 

[Sweet Home Alabama]

We've moved from perceptions to preferences I guess. I can't keep up.

Perhaps that was your intent. Can’t say.