Talk:Multiple thought streams

Theories of Consciousness

Multiple parallel modalities

"In an ambitious new theory of the processes of consciousness, Dennett (1992) challenges the standard view of consciousness. This he characterizes as the "Cartesian Theatre" view in which the subjective self i likened to a privileged observer watching a play in which everything comes together on the stage. In other words, consciousness is akin to watching a single sequence of perceived events unfolding before us which match the actual sequence of real events occurring outside of us. Against this view, Dennett argues for what he calls a "multiple drafts model" in which "all varieties of perception -- indeed, all varieties of thought or mental activity -- are accomplished in the brain by parallel, multi-track processes of interpretation and elaboration of sensory inputs" (o. 111). In other words, the contents of consciousness, far from being a unified stream, consist of multiple narratives which are undergoing continuous editorial revision. The significance of these ideas in this context is that they imply a multivocal quality identical to that attributed by social constructionist writers to interpersonal and societal symbolic transactions."