Amygdala - The Encoding Room Musing

AMYGDALA began with an old observation: Something happens outside us. Something happens inside us. And somewhere between reaction and awareness, we arrive. The amygdala is not a single fear switch or the first gateway to consciousness. It is part of a much larger interconnected system of sensation, memory, context, autonomic response and interpretation, much of which can already be moving before conscious thought catches up. That became the musing. How much has already happened before we notice? How early can awareness meet the reaction? Can recognising the process create a little more space between what reaches us and what we pass on? And then the question became uncomfortable. Is it true, or does it simply feel true? Is the thought ours, or did we receive it? If we are certain we are right, should we check again? If we are certain we are good, should we check again? Beware the virtue signaler. Especially the one within you. AMYGDALA does not attempt to explain consciousness, prove where agency begins, or offer an answer. The science gives us something to stand on. Beyond that sits hypothesis, philosophy and the simple wonder of being human. This is my part of the transference: what I encountered, what I understand, what I question, and what I am still wondering about. What happens to the thought after it reaches you belongs to you. So you want agency? What are you going to do about it? — DJ Solrac The Signal Within