WIll Power

What process in the brain causes will power?

The 1st thing to consider should be, what “will power” means. My interpretation of the common meaning behind this term would be basically; the ability to intentionally make a choice after consideration, despite the urge to do otherwise. A technical definition that I just googled; “control exerted to do something or restrain impulses.” 

The aspect of exerting control, or intentionally sticking to a choice made, seems likely to involve mental focus and awareness to persist in accomplishing which was mentally decided on. The mental function for this aspect seems it requires more detailed thought and analysis to decide upon an intended goal. The 2nd aspect of impulses or urges, which are being restrained or counteracted, describe what seems to involve more basic and generalized mind functions, which someone does not intentionally decide upon.

The 1st aspect seems to basically be the function of conscious focus and awareness, both in the process of making a decision, and in exerting control to follow that decision. If the decision or action which an individual is focusing on, requires fighting urges, then the process likely involves accessing memories of reasons of cause and effect for why to refrain from the impulses. Without conscious thought of reasons to avoid the impulses, the person would default to following the impulse. It could be argued that an individual can subconsciously exert control, but doing this seems it wouldn't really be restraining impulses, but rather following an alternate impulse.

This 2nd aspect of impulses would be caused by either instinct or subconscious, since they occur without a decision or intent. I described more of the differences of function between instinct, subconscious, and conscious thought, in a post from 2+ yrs ago; Plane’s of Brains. Basically, if the impulse is genetic, then it would be instinct, whereas if the impulse has developed from experiences, causing positive or negative reinforcement to be triggered by similar factors as saved in memory, then it would be a subconscious reaction. 

The next thing to consider is what causes will power to be more effective? If the ability for someone to control their actions, is by being more consciously aware of reasoning, then it seems being more persistently conscious, should cause more will power. I explained more of this process, in a post from about 15 months ago; Conscious Control. Everyone seems to use both subconscious and conscious thought regularly, and some have tendencies to use 1 mind function more than the other (as I estimated in my last post; Conscious Use Variance). The cause of someone having the ability to use more conscious focus, seems to be genetics guided by experiences and information learned. 

Besides genetics, some information could be key for the ability to develop conscious control. Concepts that are general, yet applicable enough to be used in most scenarios involving refraining from impulses, can be saved in memory as a root. If it is used enough to reinforce the neural pathway, conscious control can be improved by concepts such as; Will Power.  

Conscious Use Variance

What variances are there in tendencies for people to use conscious thought compared to subconscious? What might be the causes of variances?

It seems that basically all people use both conscious thought and subconscious thought (even simultaneously) in different degrees, as I further described in my last post; Processing Proportions. There must be tendencies for some people to commonly use different degrees of each type of thought process, compared to other people. The amount, and cause of variance in tendencies may be difficult aspects to determine.

1 generalized method for coming to some estimate of tendencies for someone to use more conscious thought, might be very similar to what I hypothesized could be a generalized way to estimate intelligence, in a post from 10 days ago; Intelligence Inference. Intelligence and degree of use of conscious thought seem to be fairly correlated, as both seem to involve comprehension of cause and effect. I further described this correlation in my 2nd last post; Human Advantage. Based on this, a rough estimate for variance in tendencies to use conscious thought, could be to consider variance in levels of intelligence. 

Other than that, a simple way to personally get an idea of the variance of tendencies of different people, could be to think about experiences you’ve had or heard about, where other people tend to make decisions or choices using 1 method or another. When people have a choice to make, they might use 1 of 2 methods more often than the other;
1. Consider rational reasoning, and causes and effects of their choice

2. Make a quicker choice based on “intuition”, or “gut feeling”

Number 1 is more conscious thought, by accessing memory of details of how the factors involved in the circumstances at hand, will interact. Number 2 is accessing subconscious memory, without much focused awareness of any details of the memories, or the positive or negative reinforcement connected to those memories of factors involved in the circumstances.

The cause of these variances of tendencies to use different degrees of conscious thought, should likely come down to 2 aspects; genetics and development. The physical genetics of a person, as well as what they’ve learned throughout their life are likely the 2 biggest causes of someone’s tendencies for method of thought. In a post from 4 months ago; Intelligence; Inherent or Integrated, I considered those causes for intelligence, to likely be both genetic and developed. As intelligence seems mostly in sync with the degree of conscious thought used for more complex decisions, this should be a similar answer. 

The difference between these 2 causes, might be that genetics (or inherent ability) would be the base cause for capability. The maximum capability for someone’s tendency to use conscious thought, would be preset by birth, while development through life would cause a variance up to that maximum capability. Included in development which causes an adjustment on degree of typical use of conscious or subconscious thought, would be information learned. Certain information about concepts which can be learned in someone’s life, could have a significant influence on their usual thought methods. When a concept is learned and saved in memory, which can apply to many situations throughout life, this concept can work as a root for future circumstances to branch back to. Concepts learned, such as those which regard; problem solving skills, effective reasoning, or analysing cause and effect, could play a significant role in causing tendencies for someone to use more conscious, rather than subconscious thought, in some situations.

The variances for people to more commonly use conscious thought compared to subconscious, seem to be about the same as variances in intelligence level. Between the 2 likely causes of these variances, genetics would allow the maximum capabilities, while learned experiences and information would likely cause the outcome of their; Conscious Use Variance. 

Processing Proportions

During processing, what proportions of subconscious and conscious memory access, does the brain use?

During times of consciously aware attentiveness, it seems that the brain can simultaneously utilize subconscious memory.  

Simply using words to think or speak is a process of consciously making connections of cause and effect between factors or concepts. But each word referenced for factors or concepts within the conscious combination, also has a subconscious subset. The portion of brain activity which I’m considering to be conscious, would be the portion that makes a neural connection between memories of factors, and their interaction or relative cause and effect. I further explain details of the specific aspects of conscious thought, in a post from 2+ yrs ago; Conscious Comprehension. So in the process of any general thoughts using language, involving a relative connection of how something affects something else, the conscious portion would be the neural access to memory of the pronouns, as well as the verb connecting them. For eg, someone thinks; “cats chase mice”. Cats & mice are the pronouns of the 2 factors, and chase, is the verb which references the interaction. 

The subconscious subsets, would be the neural combinations of memory of each individual factor and interaction. For eg, any additional neural access connected to “cats”, but which the person is not focusing on. In any example of words which someone is thinking, in order to make a connection or interaction between factors, the overall neural combination between the pronouns and verb, would be the conscious portion, whereas varying additional neural access to each word's memory subset, would be the subconscious portion. 

Most words we save in memory, after being a toddler, are saved through conscious connections of memory of sensory perceptions of that particular factor. Once words are saved as a subset, the mind can then subconsciously access that word and the meaning behind it, through ease of neural connection. When memory of that word is accessed in the future, without awareful analysis of it in particular, it is being used as a subconscious subset. The variation and quantity of any subset would likely change to some degree each time it is accessed.

Considering that in the human brain, there are supposed to be an average of 86 billion neurons, many with thousands of synapsis connections, the amount of brain activity at any time of active thought, should be astounding. I just Googled it now, and there are estimates that 95% of brain activity is subconscious, leaving only 5% conscious. Of course this is likely not too accurate, as consciousness is not down to a measurable science (yet), but it gives an estimate of the vast quantity of neural activity. 

At any time of mental analysis, it seems likely that only the core combination of neurons, which are accessing memories of that which the person is focusing on the connection between, would be the conscious portion. Each factor which the person is considering in analysis would likely have additional neural tangents (like tree branches), which are being accessed subconsciously. The neural connections and combinations seem to be the relevant aspects of the brain’s Processing Proportions. 

Human Advantage

Is there a significant advantage which humans have, over all other animals?

Often the question is asked, what makes humans unique? Do we have any particular significant advantage of capabilities? Often when specific abilities of humans are considered, there can be found examples of other species of animals with the same abilities. For example, some other species of animals also use tools, communicate, create art, have hierarchal communities, etc. But perhaps the difference in degree of these abilities, between humans and other species, is overlooked. Perhaps there is 1 underlying capability which causes all these other abilities. 

The ability of a significantly increased level of intelligence should have a ripple effect, causing a high degree of effective ability in many areas of a species functions. Modern science may typically dismiss intelligence as a valid distinguishment since experiments which measure intelligence are not very accurate or regimented at the time. But just because something isn't distinctly proven through experiment, doesn't mean common consideration should dismiss a concept as quickly as science does. There can be many aspects of suggestive evidence to consider for a concept in philosophy, making it significantly probable, before technology and experimental evidence shifts it to science. 

I explained more detail of what I mean by “intelligence”, in my last post; Intelligence Inference. I also suggested general methods of estimating intelligence, based on the 3 components; abilities to problem solve, make accurate predictions, and achieve goals. Based on this concept of intelligence, it should be fairly noticeable that humans have a significantly higher degree of intelligence than any other animal. 

A key method of function of the brain, which allows this increase of intelligence, seems to be comprehension of cause and effect (as I further explained in a post from 1.5+ yrs ago; Carry the Concept). This allows the ability to make connections in memory of more specific factors which cause results. Accessing memories of more particular causes of effects, allows this information to be applied (or “carried”) to new situations involving similar factors or concepts. Specific factors causing effects, is the aspect which is accessed in memory, of how the factors interact, as I further explained seems to be the key component for consciousness, in a post from 2+ yrs ago; Conscious Comprehension. 

In many cases, animals can problem solve (depending on the definition), predict, and achieve goals, but it should be observable that the majority of the time, they are using subconscious reactions combined with instinct, and the degree of effectivity should generally be far less than human comprehension. I explained how subconscious reaction can still cause a minor degree of these abilities, in my 2nd last post; Adaptive Intelligence. 

For humans, this relevant increase in intelligence should cause an increased advantage for many particular abilities that I mentioned at the beginning. Comprehension of cause and effect, should allow a much more varying use of tools which are more effective for their intended function. Understanding of complex language can allow much more accurate communication, to more accurately understand other individuals, and vastly share and learn useful information. Art can be created in many more forms with understanding of preference of appealing aspects, and societies can be organised in cooperation for accomplishment. 

It may not be distinctly scientifically measurable or proven as of yet, but it seems that 1 function of humans is likely the core cause of many other effective advantages. The significant increase in degree of intelligence, through comprehension of cause and effect, seems to be the notable; Human Advantage. 

Intelligence Inference

How can a degree of intelligence be inferred?

Intelligence can be difficult to define accurately, but for the sake of this post, I’ll try to use the meaning which seems to be commonly insinuated in general. I’ll be referencing “intelligence”, as basically; the ability to problem solve, make accurate predictions, and achieve an intended goal (where physical abilities allow). Part of the reason the definition of intelligence can often vary, and be difficult to specify agreeably, is likely because we don't have a full understanding of it’s function, or the cause of it. This can also make intelligence difficult to measure or determine. So what is a plausible most effective method to infer, or determine this type of intelligence?

Since my description of intelligence included problem solving, predictions, and achieving goals, a method of determining an individual's ability to accomplish these 3 things would likely be the best measuring system. The most well known measurement method of intelligence is likely an IQ test, which seems to be a fairly good example of this idea of measurement method, but is limited in its applicability. An IQ test is limited to only those who can take the test, but not applicable to those who dont understand the language (such as animals), or those who dont have a chance to take the test (such people in history). If there is relevant data about individuals, or groups, there should be a method of best determination of intelligence.

A method more specific than generally measuring the 3 components; problem solving, predictions, and achieving goals, would depend on the particular context, and available information. The process which an individual uses to attempt any of these 3 components, could be a relevant signifier of degree of intelligence within some contexts. An individual using a process of comprehension of cause and effect, is likely to allow much more effective problem solving, predictions, and goal achievement. Comprehension of cause and effect can allow the advantage of applying a previously learned concept, to a new situation (as I further explained in a post from 1.5+ yrs ago; Carry the Concept), allowing more effective problem solving and predictions. In my last post; Adaptive Intelligence, I explained that without comprehension of cause and effect, problem solving and achieving goals can still be done by being adaptable and open-minded, using a process of trial and error, but it is not nearly as effective as using the process of comprehension. 

By this meaning of “intelligence”, a seemingly effective, generalized, overall method of determining the degree of intelligence, would be estimating an individuals’ or groups ability to problem solve, accurately make predictions, and achieve goals. This method should be broadly applicable to various situations and available information. The process used by an individual to accomplish any of the 3 components, should be a decent indicator of estimating their effectiveness, since a process involving comprehension of concepts, should be more effective than trial and error. Understanding the process of function seems like an appropriate method of; Intelligence Inference.