Title: thepopupschool / On Perception

Question: According to the preface of "On Perception," what was the basic conclusion after two years of Consciousness studies regarding human perception?
Answer: That (unlike other animals) human perception was faulty, rarely to be trusted, and that everything we took to be real was likely an illusion.

Question: What are two concise cases presented in "On Perception" to counter the argument that human perception is faulty?
Answer: The case of athletes and the case of illusions.

Question: How does the example of athletes argue for the reliability of perception?
Answer: Their perceptual organs are strongly coupled with the environment in a precise way to direct behavior, movement, gesture, and action with remarkable accuracy.

Question: How does the example of illusions argue for the reliability of perception?
Answer: That we know they are illusions is also given to us by our perceptual organs.

Question: What does "On Perception" define perception as?
Answer: Participatory Cognition.

Question: What does "co-gnize" or "co-gnosis" mean?
Answer: To "together know".

Question: According to "On Perception," what are the two senses of "together know" in relation to perception?
Answer: 1. Perceptual organs participate together in complex ways. 2. Perception is deeply reliant on participation with the world through movement and manipulation.

Question: Provide an example of how our perception adjusts for "errors" through feedback with the world, as mentioned in "On Perception."
Answer: Amazonian spearfishers "intuitively" account for the refraction of light in water.

Question: What research finding supports the idea that "sight" is dependent on hearing?
Answer: The possibility of echolocation with blind people.

Question: According to "On Perception," how might the mouth be involved in the perceptual organ we call "sight"?
Answer: Often, people guide their hands (e.g., threading a needle) by moving their mouth, which is evolutionarily related to touch and sight.

Question: What research involving kittens suggests that the perceptual organ of "sight" is also dependent on the feet?
Answer: Kittens not allowed to walk around normally remained functionally blind, unlike those who could use their feet.

Question: According to Tor Norretranders, approximately how many bits of information does the world send to our sensory mechanisms per second? How many do we consciously perceive?
Answer: Over eleven million bits per second are sent, while we consciously perceive about forty bits a second (possibly exaggerated).

Question: What does "On Perception" suggest we should remain vigilant about despite the limited portion of conscious experience?
Answer: What might be available in deeper prereflective awareness.

Question: According to "On Perception," how does the body cognize itself? What sense is key to this?
Answer: Through its own body-consciousness, namely that of touch, which is "self-othering".

Question: Why can't the eye see itself, the ear hear itself, etc., according to "On Perception"?
Answer: Because the body self-others.

Question: What constitutes the core perception of self, other, and world in our experience?
Answer: That the body self-others.

Question: What is "apperception" as described in "On Perception"?
Answer: A true, direct perception at the level of the background.

Question: According to "On Perception," what is the mind's sense of time derived from?
Answer: The background processing of the body, a virtual simulation of bodily movement.

Question: What do affect-laden "arousal energies" in the background processes prime in the senses?
Answer: The "appetitive drive" of the senses, giving them relevance to pursue a goal.

Question: How does "On Perception" describe the senses in contrast to passive organs?
Answer: More like "cars on open roads" designed to go somewhere; dynamic and creative "illuminators" and "amplifiers" of experience.

Question: What does "On Perception" call the zone of participation where the perceptual system is in contact with the world?
Answer: The "hylozoic zone".

Question: According to "On Perception," what drives the sensemaking up-hierarchy from the hylozoic zone?
Answer: Somewhere between 10^7 and 10^11 bits of information.

Question: What are the three levels in the complex up-hierarchy architecture of perception described in "On Perception," moving from deeper to higher levels?
Answer: Hylozoic zone, Bodily Space, Object Space, and Mind-Space. (Note: I've listed the main levels. The source provides sub-levels within Bodily and Object Space.)

Question: What is the final level atop the sensemaking hierarchy in the up-hierarchy architecture of perception?
Answer: The I-me-Mine Self Complex.

Question: According to "On Perception," what are you participating with when you read?
Answer: A shared simulation that the author is also participating with in writing.

Question: What is the Zen notion of direct perception NOT meant to suggest? What is it more correct to say?
Answer: Not meant to suggest that we can see the world as it is. It is more correct to say that the awakened state sees the perception for what it is.

Question: What are three constraints on the degrees of freedom in the infinite field of participation that constitutes perception?
Answer: 1. Human species biology. 2. Individual physiology (health and skill of perceptual organs). 3. State-specific thresholds for conscious awareness.

Question: In the Gelukba's Sautrantika view, what kind of thought can lead to direct perception? What is required for this possibility?
Answer: Conceptual thought can lead to direct perception, but this depends on having a correct conceptual framework.

Question: According to the Gelukba's framework, what do ultimate truths apprehend versus conceptual truths?
Answer: Ultimate truths apprehend "specifically characterized, impermanent phenomena," while conceptual truths apprehend "generally characterized phenomena".

Question: In the Gelukba's view, what is the primary ignorance that conceptions help overcome?
Answer: Not recognizing the generalizing, categorizing, static and reifying nature of conceptual thought.

Question: What does it mean to "perceive directly" according to "On Perception's" discussion of the Gelukba's view?
Answer: To "engage with the entire collection of features," being aware of the ecological field of participation from world to thought and back again.

Question: In the Gelukba system, how is each perceptual organ understood?
Answer: To be its own consciousness (eye consciousness, ear consciousness, etc.).

Question: According to the Sautrantika view, when are sensory and mental consciousnesses considered ultimate consciousnesses?
Answer: When directly perceived.

Question: According to "On Perception," where does the arousal drive originate at one end of the perceptual stream? What is its role?
Answer: In affect-laden values. It primes perception with relevance and provides the appetitive energies that drive the senses.

Question: When the arousal drive turns inward, what are the values discharged onto, constituting meaning and sensemaking?
Answer: Images and semantic units.

Question: According to "On Perception," what is the connection between internal and external value, and what serves as the bi-directional conduit?
Answer: Perception is the connection, and the body is the conduit.