40
D. de Paulis
Fig. 6.3 COGITO in space VR video still image. Image by Sandro Bocci, 2017. © Daniela de
Paulis
other civilizations without having explored his own labyrinth of dark passages and
secret chambers, and without finding what lies behind doorways that he himself has
sealed” [7].
6.3 COGITO in Space in Relation to Previous Interstellar
Messages
The broad questioning underpinning the development of COGITO in Space led me
to reflect upon the complexity of human thought as possibly the most recognizable signature of our experience of life. When faced by the neuroscientists with
the decision on which part of the thinking process to highlight in the brain activity
recording for the project, I eventually opted for the possibility of representing the
entire dynamics of the brain and to capture as much as possible the contradictory and
often conflicting facets of the thinking process. As a result, the neuroscientists and
I focused on recording spontaneous cognition, also known as ‘stream of consciousness’, the raw thinking process that is typically not object of study in neuroscience.
The term ‘stream of consciousness’ was coined by philosopher and psychologist
William James in “The Principles of Psychology” in 1890: “consciousness, then,
does not appear to itself as chopped up in bits … it is nothing joined … it flows. A
‘river’ or a ‘stream’ are the metaphors by which it is most naturally described. In
talking of it hereafter, let’s call it the stream of thought, consciousness, or subjective
life. In literary criticism, stream of consciousness is a narrative mode or method
that attempts to depict the multitudinous thoughts and feeling which pass through
the mind” [8]. The idea of recording and sending into space a ‘stream of human
D. de Paulis
Fig. 6.3 COGITO in space VR video still image. Image by Sandro Bocci, 2017. © Daniela de
Paulis
other civilizations without having explored his own labyrinth of dark passages and
secret chambers, and without finding what lies behind doorways that he himself has
sealed” [7].
6.3 COGITO in Space in Relation to Previous Interstellar
Messages
The broad questioning underpinning the development of COGITO in Space led me
to reflect upon the complexity of human thought as possibly the most recognizable signature of our experience of life. When faced by the neuroscientists with
the decision on which part of the thinking process to highlight in the brain activity
recording for the project, I eventually opted for the possibility of representing the
entire dynamics of the brain and to capture as much as possible the contradictory and
often conflicting facets of the thinking process. As a result, the neuroscientists and
I focused on recording spontaneous cognition, also known as ‘stream of consciousness’, the raw thinking process that is typically not object of study in neuroscience.
The term ‘stream of consciousness’ was coined by philosopher and psychologist
William James in “The Principles of Psychology” in 1890: “consciousness, then,
does not appear to itself as chopped up in bits … it is nothing joined … it flows. A
‘river’ or a ‘stream’ are the metaphors by which it is most naturally described. In
talking of it hereafter, let’s call it the stream of thought, consciousness, or subjective
life. In literary criticism, stream of consciousness is a narrative mode or method
that attempts to depict the multitudinous thoughts and feeling which pass through
the mind” [8]. The idea of recording and sending into space a ‘stream of human