[FRIAM] multitasking

[Marcus Daniels]

I think it is understood that multitasking is slow thinking, not the stuff in the metaphorical FPGA.   Some people have weird and esoteric things in their FPGAs.

From: Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com> On Behalf Of Prof David West
Sent: Tuesday, June 1, 2021 2:00 PM
To: friam at redfish.com
Subject: [FRIAM] multitasking

I am putting this in another thread so it will be easier to ignore.

In another thread, glen's post included the sentence — "At last week's salon, we broached the (false) concept of multitasking in humans, ..."

This was a trigger. a big one, hence the hyberbolic rant that follows.

Humans not only can, but do, multitask all the time and any "research" that "proves" otherwise is BS.

If, and only if, you define cognition in such a limited way that you can apply the metaphor/model (e.g. context switching) of a serial computer is it possible to demonstrate an inability to multi-task.

The fact that you can think, write, talk, breathe, ride a bicycle, and admire a sunset simultaneously — and similar examples — must be defined away as somehow not multi-tasking.

One of the more fascinating altered-state experiences I have enjoyed many times is watching — quite literally a visualization albeit an internal one — a plethora of generative mental processes occuring concurrently, along with "sifting," "winnowing," and "sorting" processes. Using a technique akin to directed lucid dreaming, I posed a mental problem — explaining to another member of FRIAM a specific theory of complexity and aesthetics — before taking the stimulant.

The resulting experience was akin to watching fonts (pun intentional) of words and phrases spew forth onto a "page" where they circled and danced around each other seeking "connections" until coalescing into cogent sentences which I could then type into the computer. Each "font" was a generative process focusing on one aspect of a context of relevant context and experience, without losing sight of the whole; all of which were operating concurrently. A plethora of cognitive
multi-tasking.

Far more mundane, in a controlled psychological experiment in a lab ad Macalester, I was able to put a simple jigsaw puzzle together while maintaining an alpha wave generating "Zen mediation."

davew

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