world as its own model

Rain Forest Photo Source: WhatodoinPR.com

Dennett (1991: 356) notes that, given its apparent continuity, “one of the most striking features of consciousness is its discontinuity.” The tactile gap between contact points inherent in the experience of grasping a bottle is a crude example of this disconuity. Dennett revisits two fundamentals of vision:

The blindspot is a spacial hole, but there can be temporal holes as well. The smallest are the gaps that occur while our eyes dart about during saccades. We don’t notice these gaps, but they don't have to be filled in because we’re designed not to notice them.

The discontinuity of concsiousness is also embraced by roboticist, Rodney A. Brooks (1991). Brooks is determined that we do not waste valuable brain power and energy constructing explicit representations and models of the world. In his words, They would:

simply get in the way. It turns out to be better to use the world as its own model.

Brooks, R.A (1991) Intelligence Without Representation, Artificial Intelligence 47: 139–159.

Dennett C. Dennett (1991) Consciousness Explained. Little Brown and Company, Boston, London and Toronto.