Conscious Realism and the Mind-Body Problem - UCI Cognitive ...

Conscious Realism and the Mind-Body Problem 95is or how recently it was modified. The icon sits at some spot on thedisplay, perhaps in the upper right. But this does not mean that the fileitself is in the upper right of the computer. The location of an icon onthe display is, in part, simply a convenient way to keep track of it. Thereis, in short, no resemblance between properties of the icon and propertiesof the file. This is no problem, no failure of veridicality. It is the intendedconsequence of friendly formatting.The interface also helps the user by means of concealed causality. Notonly is the structural complexity of the computer hidden behind icons,but also its causal complexity. When you drag the file icon to the recyclebin and release, does moving the file icon to the recycle bin icon causedeletion of the file ? No. Icons have no causal powers within the computer.They are patterns of pixels on the display, and send no signals back tothe computer. The complex causal chain within the computer that deletesthe file is hidden, behind the interface, from the user. And nothing in themovement of the file icon to the recycle-bin icon resembles anything in thiscausal chain. Is this a failure or misrepresentation of the interface ? Tothe contrary, it is the reason for the interface. Hiding causal complexityhelps the user to quickly and easily delete a file, create a new one, modifyan illustration, or format a disk, without distraction by a myriad of causaldetails.Although the icons of the interface have no causal powers they arenonetheless useful by providing clued conduct. The icons effectively informactions of the user, allowing the user to trigger the appropriate, buthidden, causal chains. 1 In the case of deleting a file, the icon of the fileinforms the user how to click the mouse, and the icon of the recycle bininforms the user how to release the mouse, so that appropriate causalchains are triggered inside the computer, resulting in deletion of the file.Icons inform an effective perception-action loop, without themselves havingcausal powers in the computer.To the extent that a user interface succeeds in providing friendly formatting,concealed causality, and clued conduct, it will also offer ostensibleobjectivity. Usually the user can act as if the interface is the total reality ofthe computer. Indeed some users are fooled; we hear humorous stories ofa child or grandparent who wondered why an unwieldy box was attachedto the screen. Only for more sophisticated purposes, such as debugginga program or repairing hardware, does dissolution of this illusion becomeessential.1 Here, and throughout the paper, the verb trigger means “to initiate a sequence ofactions, typically causal and complex.” To say, for instance, that stress triggers cardiovasculardisease means that stress initiates a complex causal sequence of biochemicalinteractions that eventuate in the disease.