Hofstadter, Dennett - The Mind's I

A Conversation with Einstein’s Brain 454TORTOISE: I suppose it depends upon what you mean by "control," Achilles. Clearlyyou cannot force your neural flash to deviate from the path of least resistance; butthe Achilles of one moment is directly affecting what will become the path ofleast resistance in the next moment. That should give you some feeling that "you,"whatever you are, have some control over what you will feel and think and do, inthe future.ACHILLES: Well, yes, that is an interesting way to look at it, but it still means that Ican't just think whatever I want to think, but only what was set up for me to think,by an earlier version of me.TORTOISE: But what is set up in your brain is what you want to think about, to a largedegree. But sometimes, admittedly, you can't make your brain function as youwill it to. You forget someone's name; you can't concentrate on somethingimportant; you become nervous despite your best attempts to control yourself; allof this reflects what you said: that in a sense your "self" is not in control ofyourself. Now it is up to you whether or not you wish to identify the Achilles ofnow with the Achilles of bygone times. If you do choose to identify with yourformer selves, then you can say that "you"-meaning the you that used to exist-arein control of what you are today; but if you prefer to think of yourself as existingsolely in the present, then indeed it is true that what "you" do is under control ofnatural law and not under control of an independent "soul."ACHILLES: I am beginning to feel through this discussion that I "know" myself a littlebetter. I wonder if it would be possible for me to learn all about my neuralstructure-so much so that I would be able to predict the path of my neural flashbefore it even covered its path! Surely, this would be total, exquisite selfknowledge.TORTOISE: Oh, Achilles, you have innocently thrown yourself into the wildest ofparadox, without the benefit of even the slightest coaching on my part! Maybeone day you will learn to do this regularly; then you will be able to dispense withme entirely!ACHILLES: Enough of your mockery! Let's hear about this paradox I've inadvertentlyfallen into.TORTOISE: How could you learn all about yourself? You might try reading the Achillesbook.ACHILLES: That would certainly be a phenomenal project. A hundred billion pages! I'mafraid I'd fall asleep listening to myself read. Or -horrors-I might even die before Ihad completed the task! But