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Original Message

RE: some observations ( and a request for Elizabeth)

Posted by May Belt on May 31, 2011 at 04:45:18:
The reason why I asked if YOU could ‘handle’ that concept before I took it any further is that sometimes I can easily detect when someone else is just casually taking part in a discussion merely for the sake of it, and at other times not. In this occasion I felt genuine interest in the subject but was not absolutely sure.

Part One.

Staying away from audio matters for the moment for background purposes.

Let us look at the human being (or rather, let us first look at Nature and evolution).

Let us look at the concept of evolution programming us (and most other creatures) to read/sense/monitor our environment every millisecond of every second of every minute of every hour of every day of our lives. To stay safe, ‘readings’ have to be done so regularly, each different ‘reading’ creating a memory of that ‘reading’ and each new reading/memory compared with the previous reading/memory to make sure that no changes have taken place or to judge what changes have taken place.

To spell it out more using a hypothetical example and an ‘early creature’.

The ‘creature’ is at the edge of a clearing – with a tree on the left, a rock in front and a bush on the right. The ‘creature’ takes a ‘reading’ of that scene at 10.56. Everything is still, no changes are happening. That ‘reading’ is committed to memory timed at 10.56. At 10.57 another ‘reading’ is taken, that new ‘reading’ is committed to memory timed at 10.57 but, at the same time, it is compared with the previous (10.56) memory and the conclusion from comparing the latest reading with the previous ‘reading’ is that nothing is changing. The same thing happens at 10.58. And also at 10.59. Each new ‘reading’ compared with the previous (timed) memories. However, at 11.00 when the latest ‘reading’ is taken and compared with the previous memories, a change is registered – something has changed at the edge of the clearing between the tree and the rock. The creature is immediately alerted and prepared for flight, fight or freeze. Each subsequent ‘reading/memory’ is compared with each previous reading/memory so that the creature is now able to ‘track’ whatever had caused the change !! Is it moving to the right, is it moving to the left, is it staying parallel, is it moving away, is it moving forward, or is it staying stationary ? The creature will STAY under tension until the danger has gone away !! The creature, programmed, by evolution, will stay under tension (on the alert), continually comparing each new reading/memory with the previous memories until such time as it can ‘sign off it’s environment as safe’.

But, the important thing is that there had to have been “stationary” (stable) ‘readings’ (at 10.56, 10.57, 10.58 10.59) for the creature to have been able to KNOW (become aware) that something had changed at 11.00 !!!!! It is that COMPARISON with all the different ‘readings’ - (timed) memories i.e memories in chronological order - which is the important thing.

Nature has developed, over millions of years, numerous techniques to be used as “Watch out, there’s danger about” signals. But, also, Nature has developed numerous techniques to be used as “It’s OK, you can relax now, the danger has gone away” signals, because Nature cannot have creatures left ‘under tension, on the alert’ unnecessarily because that would be too wasteful of precious energy !!!! There has to be a signal (or signals) which are used in Nature meaning ‘it’s OK, you can relax now’. So, as well as being ‘programmed’ to read/sense the environment for signs of danger, creatures (and us) are ‘programmed’ to be searching the environment for signals of reassurance !! It would appear that Nature has used various techniques (including chemicals) for both purposes.

To be continued.

Regards,
May Belt,
Manufacturer.