Interesting insertion of "utility", a kind of meta-variable to be considered. To be clear, I'd say the organism believes in heartbeats, lung pumping, etc. But to ask whether the organism believes in the usability/utility of (subjective) measurements of such things smacks of a hidden assumption.
But to answer as authentically as I can in spite of that hidden assumption, I'd answer that *after* the yogi did such a full cycle manipulation successfully at least *once*, then that yogi might believe that meta-variable. (By "full cycle manipulation", I mean taking conscious control and reinstalling the new behavior into the autonomous part.) After such success, the yogi organism has some experience with whether, how, and what impact any particular part may have had. For example, perhaps heartbeat plays no role in her ability to take conscious control and reinstall the new program. Hence, she might doubt the utility of heartbeats but believe the utility of lung pumping regulation. Again, though, whether the yogi organism believes in this meta-layer "utility of X" would depend on where they draw the threshold. I can imagine very process-based yogis who, like me, put little stock in belief and more in the process of doing, staying "hands on". And I can imagine yogis who idealize the process (perhaps similar to chi?) and may even write books about it. I have no experience with how yogis actually are, of course. On 07/09/2018 10:21 AM, Prof David West wrote: > I think the answer may be in what you just wrote, but a bit of assistance > please. If we were to anthropomorphize your autonomous nervous system would > you say it 'believed' or 'doubted' the utility of heartbeats, lungs pumping, > etc.? > > My interest arises from studies of Yoga adepts who "take conscious control of > breathing" and upon achieving total conscious control, delegate the control > back to the autonomous system which maintains the regularized, 'managed' > breathing instead of the 'normal', somewhat chaotic/strange attracter-ish > breathing regimen prior to the application of Yoga technique. -- ☣ uǝlƃ ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove
