Speculative · Paradoxes, Perception, and Unseen Realities · Neuroscience

Predictive Processing

Andy Clark · 2013

"Your brain does not passively receive reality through your eyes and ears. It hallucinates reality, and only uses your senses to correct its errors."

The idea

We assume our eyes work like cameras, streaming data to the brain for processing. Neuroscience now suggests the opposite: the brain is locked in a dark, silent skull. It generates its own 'best guess' (a hallucination) of what is happening outside.

Why it works

The takeaway — recall it first

Inattentional Blindness: The Invisible Gorilla

"Attention is not a spotlight that dims the periphery; it is a gate. When you are focused on one task, a fully visible, unexpected event can pass through the middle of your visual field and never reach awareness — and you will be certain you would have seen it."

Daniel Simons & Christopher Chabris · PaperContinue→