R. F. Laird on Consciousness

December 22, 2023

An On-Line Book

This is one that can’t be exported to Amazon print or Kindle e-books because of the kind of writer I am. I use links and graphics and videos the way other writers use punctuation, italics, and boldface, for the purpose of enhancing the experience of reading. The pieces included here were actually chosen by the search functions at three of my websites, lists that were summoned by a single word, “consciousness.” In the case of this app, I did not use all the pieces listed and I did a second search for the word “generations” because consciousness evolves or devolves or otherwise changes through time. Only a couple titles were added because of the second search. That explains what’s here. It’s by no means everything I have written on the subject, but I have always relied on external limiting functions because I can’t stop connecting and connecting things in my head and need outside agency when it comes to selecting content for collections. Why the content of this book is confined to about one decade. It would be way harder to take it farther back in time, and I have other projects to work on.

The order is pretty much what the search functions gave me, which only gets chronological in the case of the third and final source. Reading in order is therefore not required, which is pretty standard with my stuff. Individual pieces are related and interdependent in many ways but can usually work independently as well. The ones here range all over the place, from very personal to coldly analytical, which is also how my mind is configured. I once took a magazine test offering to tell you whether you are left or right brain dominant, more cerebral, logical, and analytical or more intuitive, creative, and emotional. I hadn’t been able to decide in my own case. The magazine said I was one of a smallish subset that is balanced between the two, with neither dominant. They said this could be a good thing or a bad thing. They were right. I have found it a good thing and a bad thing, sometimes both in the same half hour.

The good news for you is that you get to choose which of my different sides appeals more to you, if any at all. I haven’t edited any of this material from the original text. One of the apps won’t let me change anything: it’s locked up. But I am not in the habit of such edits anyway. Why I value the showing of dates. Every piece of writing is at least in part a function of the moments in which it was written. For example, there are some fond references to another writer whom I believe was doing good things until his personal space-time location reached a tipping point that pushed him over a cliff into what looks to me like madness. But I can’t delete who both of us were nearly ten years ago, and I don’t want to.

That’s it. It’s a book, it’s free, and it’s yours to do with what you want, including share it freely with others you think may like it. I may add a few more items at the end, depending on how I feel, but there’s no need to wait around for that. For example, the final article is confessedly not finished. Just as I am not finished with this topic either.

From A Deerhound Diary:

Islands of Consciousness (August 2017)

Low Information Intellectuals (August 2013)

Denial is a River in Egypt (April 2014)

Now for Something Completely Different (February 2014)

Quantum Life Eternal (November 2013)

When Sport Becomes Art (February 2014)

The Long View (November 2013)

Talking to Myself (October 2013)

Confession (April 2013)

Screw You Liberals (July 2013)

The Anti-Feline Backlash (May 2014)