Sleeping with eyes open (N.A.C.)

[Mike Arman]

Sleeping with your eyes open, and in fact even functioning almost normally
while asleep, seems to be possible (no snide comments, please), but not
particularly advisable.

If you really want to get into this, there's a scholarly tome called
(ready?) "The Origins of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bi-Cameral
Mind" by Julian Jaynes which discusses the nature of consciousness in great
depth.

The book is actually far more readable than the rather forbidding title
would imply. In fact, it is downright fascinating. Jaynes is a respected,
well known anthropologist and historian, and I have heard him speak some
years back when he was on tour. He spoke at the Stetson University in
DeLand, Florida, and his talk was well received.

In the book, one point he covers (a minor one, by the way) is that we are
not exactly sure what consciousness is. We are also not sure of the time
element in consciousness. He asks it this way: Is consciousness "always
on", or is it like a flashlight in a dark room, on only from time to time,
and only when required to find one's way? He postulates (see, he's an
expert, so he can postulate, we're laymen, so we only "say" things) that
consciousness is in fact "blink mode", and not continuous.

He partially bases this on the behavior of some predatory insects. They
charge their prey, and seem to stop short just before pouncing, sometimes
more than once. They stop because their rudimentary brains cannot process
the information their eyes provided during the charge (they have
over-driven their headlights, so to speak) and therefore they have to stop
and wait until they can determine where their prey is NOW - and must wait
until their brains catch up with the overload of visual information.
(Jaynes is not the only person who says this, by the way.)

While they are waiting, their attention is turned inward ("processing,
please wait . . . "), and they are unaware of their surroundings -
unconscious.

Human brains are (hopefully) more developed, and can multi-task much
better, but there are some rather complex physical behaviours which can and
do take place despite the fact that the person is asleep or unconcious, or
thinking about something completely different.

If you can find a copy of this book, and have a few hours to spare on
something COMPLETELY different, do it, and prepare to be amazed at some of
what you will read.

We now return you to our more usual programming . . .

Best Regards,

Mike Arman