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A Biosemiotic View on Consciousness Derived from System Hierarchy Host Publication: The Unity of Mind, Brain and World Authors: R. Cottam and W. Ranson Edition: The Unity of Mind, Brain and World: Current Perspectives on a S Publisher: Cambridge University Press Publication Year: 2013 Number of Pages: 36 ISBN: 978-1-107-02629-2
Abstract: We strongly believe that high levels of conceptual consciousness are impossible without embodiment, and that therefore any idea that consciousness could transcend the physicality of life is mistaken. The derivation of consciousness from lower more localized forms of awareness poses a more pragmatic question: why, from a high level of consciousness, are we apparently unaware of these lower awarenesses? The adoption of a carrier-plus-signal description for the mutual observation of the two hyperscales suggests that these lower level awarenesses may well be present, but that they may not occupy the center of attention, and may only be recognizable as lower-level 'neural noise'. Striking support for neural birationality comes from the degree to which the two hemispheres of the brain apparently concentrate on different styles of processing (Glickstein and Berlucchi 2010): "linear, sequential, logical, symbolic for the left hemisphere and holistic, random, intuitive, concrete, nonverbal for the right" (Rock 2004), corresponding to the dual rationalities we have described, and to the primitives of logic and emotion, respectively (Cottam et al. 2008b).
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