Scott Free Thinking

To see a full list of questions here on Scott Free Thinking along with their answers, see the Scott Free Thinking Questions Introduction & Index.

Today’s Question: Just what is the subconscious mind capable of?

Answer: As with a great variety of things, this is definitely an open question that has not been entirely answered. In fact, the mind/body relationship is something that has been studied since the beginning of civilization, and probably thought about well before even that. Now, it is not one of those fundamental questions that cannot be answered, but it is something that we are a long way from discovering. Consider for a moment that the fundamental basis for Albert Einstein’s relativity theory was formed off of a daydream of sorts - his imagining himself riding on a beam of light. They are also saying that computers are going to surpass the speed of human thought within the next 50 years, but other experts are saying that this would not be possible. While science fiction books are being written about computers becoming self aware and taking over the planet, I think it is safe to say that most people in the scientific community are still convinced that the true self aware machine, the human being, is the only self aware being we’ll be seriously worrying about over the next several, several decades.

Here are a few things that the scientists do know. Your brain operates off of a massive neural net that, from birth, consists of billions upon billions of neurons and literally trillions of connections. The subconscious mind regulates what we do when we’re not thinking about it, and any action, conscious or unconscious, is communicated to the brain via electrical activity to the spine up to the brain. It is obvious that subconsciously your body is regulating itself. But what is not obvious is all of the psychological processes going on. Why do we have to dream and what can happen in dreams? What can be achieved through lucid dreaming?

Others have suggested that the brain is remembering every sight, sound, and sense it ever experiences. If this is true, it means that it’s entirely possible we do not have limits to what we can remember or how much we can actually learn, even as adults. Learning Strategies Corporation has suggested that the subconscious can process up to 20,000 bits of information at once, but admittedly they also have said that the fact of the matter is that we cannot be entirely sure. Some have said 10,000, others have said as much as 120,000.

One thing is for certain: we have extremely powerful potential and the human mind is capable of some amazing things.