1. We greatly underestimate consciousness when we attempt to redefine it as merely awareness or selective attention. Consciousness seems closer to the higher intellectual functions such as structural language, planning ahead, composing music, logical chains of inference. Just as intelligence has been described as “What you use when you don’t know what to do”, so too consciousness is prominently involved when the situation contains ambiguity or demands creative responses. Many mental activities can be handled by subroutines; consciousness helps to deal with the leftovers.
2. But there is some method to all of this floundering around. The key concept is that of levels of organization. The more consciousness one has, the more layers of processing divide one from the world… The deeper and broader our consciousness becomes, the more complex the layers of processing are necessary to obtain that consciousness. Levels are best defined be certain functional properties, not anatomy. A proper level is also characterized by “causal decoupling” from adjacent levels; it’s a study unto itself. For example, you can weave without understanding how to make clothing. Chemistry is a proper level: Mendeleyev discovered the patterns of the table of elements without knowing anything about the underlying patterns of election shells.
3. Mental life can pyramid a number of levels. Some of the major tasks of early childhood involved discovering four levels of organization in the apparent chaos of the surrounding environment. Infants discover phonemes and create standard categories for them. Between 18 and 36 months of age, they start to discover patterns of words called phrases. After syntax, then they go on to discover the rule about narratives having a beginning, middle and end.
4. Yet finally what we may arrive at is a theory of the mind and consciousness. The given theory starts that a mind is so decoupled from its material support systems that it seems to be independent of them.
Определите, является ли утверждение:
We can redefine consciousness as merely selective affention.
1) в тексте нет информации
2) истинным
3) ложным
ЗАДАНИЕ28 (выберите один вариант ответа)
Определите, является ли утверждение:
Levels of mental organization cannot be properly defined by anatomy.
1) истинным
2) в тексте нет информации
3) ложным
ЗАДАНИЕ29 (выберите один вариант ответа)
Определите, является ли утверждение:
Four-year-old children have four levels of organization.
1) в тексте нет информации
2) ложным
3) истинным
ЗАДАНИЕ30 (выберите один вариант ответа)
Определите, является ли утверждение:
According to the theory consciousness doesn’t depend on its material support systems.
1) в тексте нет информации
2) ложным
3) истинным
ЗАДАНИЕ31 (выберите один вариант ответа)
Укажите, какой части текста (1, 2, 3, 4) соответствует следующая информация:
“Causal decoupling” is one of the characteristics of a proper level.
1) 4 2) 1
3) 2 4) 3
ЗАДАНИЕ32 (выберите один вариант ответа)
Укажите, какой части текста (1, 2, 3, 4) соответствует следующая информация:
Among the higher intellectual functions there are composing music and structured language.
1) 4 2) 3
3) 1 4) 2
ЗАДАНИЕ33 (выберите один вариант ответа)
Ответьте на вопрос:
How many levels of mental organization is it necessary to obtain?
1) 18 levels.
2) Some number of levels.
3) 4 levels.
4) 1 level.
ЗАДАНИЕ34 (выберите один вариант ответа)
Определите основную идею текста
1) Our consciousness consists of 4 levels of organization.
2) Our consciousness is deep and broad.
3) A proper level is characterized by causal decoupling from adjacent levels and defined by certain functional properties.
4) Levels of mental organization make consciousness independent of its material base.