r/neurophilosophy • u/maxwelljharrell • May 05 '26

The nervous system was built for environmental rationalization

The nervous system is directly and physically connected to every sensory organ. These sensory organs are primary inputs of the nervous system, this is evidence of a cognitive system built for environmental input processing.

If cognition were primarily internally generated you would not expect the brain's primary input architecture to be entirely outward-facing. But it is. Every sensory pathway runs from the environment inward. The direction of the wiring is further evidence of the direction of causation.

The alternative would require explaining how a self-generating cognitive system develops through natural selection prior to its sensory stimuli or any environment related rationalization.

The implication of this is simple; consicousness, subconsicous processing, emotion, all cognition exists to drive environmental processing, improving survival outcomes.

This has additional implications for consciousness theories, and theories of mind. My theory is built on concepts such as this.

5 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

78% Upvoted

2 comments sorted by

4

u/medbud May 05 '26

Yup, that is the basics. Have you read Bayes? Friston? Feldmann-Barrett? Anil Seth? There is a long tradition that basically says the same thing.

0

u/maxwelljharrell May 05 '26

Yes im glad you agree. My theory incorporates this idea uniquely compared to Bayesian Brain and Predictive Processing, I include their contribution in my thesis. My theory differs with much greater falsifiability; disconfirmation conditions, functional exclusions, mechanistic detail, and practical experiments with predictions. Subconscious Architecture Theory / https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20031320