The purpose of this chapter is to analyse the attempt to inscribe living consciousness in the context of scientific picture of the world. Unlike classic literary works, which explore living consciousness in terms of psychology, science fiction collides structures of living consciousness with science-generated objects, such as EEG, quantum particles, protein structures of the brain, gravitational fields, and others. Such a ‘collision of realities’ makes the reader especially acutely aware that the physical world contains irremovable traces of human living consciousness. (...) Stanislaw Lem’s story Solaris is a science-fiction ‘mirror’ in which the living consciousness of man is reflected in the world of physical reality. Using a fantastical image of the ‘living ocean’, Lem with artistic mastery describes many new features of human living consciousness and boldly penetrates with his imagination into the ‘holy of holes’ of living consciousness—the subconscious. (shrink)

The hypothesis is addressed that in the foreseeable future AI can replace human intelligence. The chapter argues that artificial intelligence (AI) in a sophisticated form of objectified consciousness, and as such is fundamentally different from living human intelligence. Whereas living intelligence is a part of living consciousness, AI is the product of cognitive aspects of living consciousness, which are translated into digital codes, turned into algorithms, and fed into computers. It is argued that the concepts of living consciousness and living (...) intelligence are inextricably linked to the concept of life. The concept of life in science is considered to show that it is impossible to logically derive subjective experience from natural processes. It is concluded that life is a supernatural event as its essential feature is the ability of a living entity to reflect upon its own states. Whereas living intelligence is free from the unbreakable cause-effect continuum of nature, AI is completely locked within this continuum. (shrink)

Since human living consciousness is free from limitations of logic and morality, it can generate not only innovations in science and art, but also behaviour incompatible with requirements of social reality, as well as behaviours that can threaten the survival of living consciousness itself. The problem raised in this chapter is the analysis of causes of one phenomenon of this darker side of living consciousness—the phenomenon of playing with death. Metaphysically, the phenomenon elucidates a new property of living consciousness—the vital (...) need for permanent activation and saturation with exciting internal or external stimuli. When internal stimulation is impoverished, the attempts to replace it with external simulation could lead to extremely dangerous activities. (shrink)

This book examines the role that human subjective experience plays in the creation of reality and introduces a new concept, the Bubble Universe, to describe the universe as it looks from the subjective viewpoint of an individual. Drawing on a range of research, the author questions the extent to which the scientific study of the origins of life, consciousness and subjective experience is itself influenced by scientists’ subjective worlds. The author argues that in many respects the Bubble Universe differs from (...) the universe as described by science and religion, and analyses these differences. The fabric and structure of subjective reality is described, and various aspects of the Bubble Universe are examined, including science, religion, life, morality and history. The differences between the views from inside the subjective universe and from scientific, religious and sociocultural versions of the universe are outlined, and their significance for practical and theoretical problems are highlighted and illustrated with psychological experiments. This book will be of value to all scholars interested in how subjectivity influences research and appeal in particular to those working in developmental and theoretical psychology, consciousness, epistemology, phenomenology, and the philosophy of science and of the mind. (shrink)

Magical thinking and behaviour have traditionally been viewed as immature, misleading alternatives to scientific thought that in children inevitably diminish with age. In adults, these inclinations have been labeled by psychologists largely as superstitions that feed on frustration, uncertainty, and the unpredictable nature of certain human activities. In Magic and the Mind, Eugene Subbotsky provides an overview of the mechanisms and development of magical thinking and beliefs throughout the life span while arguing that the role of this type of thought (...) in human development should be reconsidered. Rather than an impediment to scientific reasoning or a byproduct of cognitive development, in children magical thinking is an important and necessary complement to these processes, enhancing creativity at problem-solving and reinforcing coping strategies, among other benefits. In adults, magical thinking and beliefs perform important functions both for individuals (coping with unsolvable problems and stressful situations) and for society (enabling mass influence and promoting social harmony). Operating in realms not bound by physical causality, such as emotion, relationships, and suggestion, magical thinking is an ongoing, developing psychological mechanism that, Subbotsky argues, is integral in the contexts of politics, commercial advertising, and psychotherapy, and undergirds our construction and understanding of meaning in both mental and physical worlds. Magic and the Mind represents a unique contribution to our understanding of the importance of magical thinking, offering experimental evidence and conclusions never before collected in one source. It will be of interest to students and scholars of developmental psychology, as well as sociologists, anthropologists, and educators. (shrink)

To exclude the unavoidable magical elements in explaining the origins of living consciousness some scientists suggested that a person is a computer simulation run by some kind of Supreme Programmer. Psychological experiments showed that the simulation hypothesis met strong resistance in both children and adults. The participants were happy to imagine Supreme Programmers who could create people like them, yet they strongly denied the existence of such Supreme Programmers outside their imagination. Further experiments revealed that the cause of this denial (...) was the participants’ disbelief in the possibility of the imagined object transcending their living consciousness and entering the external reality. The analysis brings one to the conclusion that although a person’s body could be a simulation, the person’s living consciousness couldn’t. (shrink)

The methods of studying living consciousness and objectified consciousness are discussed. The cultural-historical method aims at managing objectified consciousness in the form of knowledge and skills with the help of symbolic structures, such as speech, logical thinking, and scientific concepts. The cultural-historical method is good at teaching ready-made knowledge in school, developing skills, restoring lost cognitive functions in patients, or forming cognitive and socio-moral forms of behaviour based on external control. However, this method is inapplicable to studying and managing living (...) consciousness, such as feelings, emotions, imagination, genuine morality, and creative thinking. (shrink)

Originally published in 1996, this book presents and analyses children’s reasonings about fundamental metaphysical problems. The first part describes dialogues with children that were constructed on the basis of Descartes’ _Mediations on First Philosophy_ and which look at children’s ideas about the relationships between true and false knowledge, mental images and physical objects, mind and body, personal existence and the external world, dreams and reality, and the existence of the Supreme Being, among others. The second part of the book draws (...) on concepts that children of various ages have about psychological and metapsychological aspects of human reality such as: cognitive and moral development; personal freedom and responsibility; the relationships between conscious and unconscious; living and non-living; and about the fundamental drives of an individual for development and expansion of his or her needs and passions, for eternal life, and for the dreamlike world of fulfilled wishes. The book presents a systematic empirical and theoretical study of the problems, some of which were touched on in Piaget’s early writing but which he later abandoned and which were only sporadically illuminated by other authors, whereas others were completely new to research in developmental psychology at the time. It will still be a helpful guide for developmental psychologists, teachers, educationalists, social workers, lawyers, and other professionals interested in the knowledge that 4- to 14-year-old children have about the most fundamental aspects of reality and human beings. (shrink)

Science and Magic in the Modern World is a unique text that explores the role of magical thinking in everyday life. It provides an excellent psychological look at the subconscious belief in magic in both popular culture and society, as well as experimental research that considers human consciousness as a derivative of belief in the supernatural, thus showing that our feelings, emotions, attitudes and other psychological processes follow the laws of magic. This book synthesises the science of ‘natural’ phenomena and (...) the magic of the ‘supernatural’ to present an interesting look at the juxtaposition of the inner and outer selves. Fusing research into psychological disorders, subconscious feelings, as well as the rising presence of artificial intelligence, this book demonstrates how an engagement with magical thinking can enhance one’s creativity and cognitive skills. Science and Magic in the Modern World is an invaluable resource for those studying consciousness, as well as those looking at the effect of magical thinking on religion, politics, science and society. (shrink)

The distinction is proposed between living consciousness, which includes subjective experiences ‘here and now’ (e.g., perceptions, feelings, emotions, imagination, and creative thinking) and conforms to the laws of magic, versus objectified consciousness that comprises physical (e.g., computers) and symbolic (e.g., languages and concepts) human artifacts and conforms to the laws of nature and formal logic. The magnificent success of science in the modern world has plunged many scientists into the illusion that magical events are ancient history and exist today only (...) in art and night dreams. The illusion reached its pinnacle in the middle of the XXth century, when nuclear power stations, flights to the Moon, early computers, genetic engineering and other wonders of science made some scientists believe that there is nothings in the world that cannot be explained by science. But there was a price to pay for this scientific optimism – the scientists became blind to their living consciousness. They began looking at the world as if nature and objectified consciousness were the only things that mattered, with living consciousness being viewed as a mundane thing that accompanies brain processes but has no causal powers. The aim of this book is to de-spell living consciousness and show that, far from being a mere accompaniment to brain functions, living consciousness defines the features of both physical objects and human artefacts. We will examine how our living consciousness works, and how our understanding of this work helps in solving key problems of modern life, such as facilitating creativity, protecting from magical manipulation with minds, fighting certain kinds of crime, managing fake-reality, preventing misuses in psychotherapy and other psychological practices, comprehending controversial issues in science, and tracing origins of totalitarian media narratives that trigger hatred and wars. (shrink)

The book is about living consciousness: private subjective experience, which conforms to the laws of magic. The concept of living consciousness is employed to clarify disputable concepts such as natural psychological functions and artificial intelligence, to explore how living consciousness is reflected in visual art and fiction writings, and to show how living consciousness could be influenced in education to promote creative thinking, memory and differentiating perception.