The user illusion
by Tor Nørretranders · first published 1998
73% recommend27% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Popular-science tour of consciousness and information, built around the idea that the senses take in vastly more data than we are aware of; praised as thought-provoking and fascinating for anyone curious about the mind.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
The author asserts that "what our consciousness rejects constitutes the most valuable part of ourselves," and that "we have to get outside and live life fully with all our senses to experience it more fully."--Jacket.
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…ability to help organize society and our own activity on a larger scale, to plan ahead, and etc, and etc, etc.... Edit: Good general discussion of these issues can be found in Tor Norretranders' book The User Illusion. Highly recommended.
on “A Language That Linguists Thought Couldn’t Exist” ↗A few interesting books that relate: Multimind, by Robert Ornstein The User Illusion, by Tor Nørretranders The Commanding Self, by Idries Shah
on “I am a committee, chaired by a hedonist ” ↗As far as I remember the book The User Illusion: Cutting Consciousness Down to Size makes the measure to 16 bits/sec. A very interesting read now long ago. I must read it again. http://www.amazon.com/User-Illusion-Cutting-Consciousness-Pe...
on “Human Brain Processing Speed clocked at less than 60 bits/s using Hicks Law” ↗Ditto to both of those. Also: The User Illusion: Cutting Consciousness Down to Size, by Tor Nørretranders.
on “Ask HN: Psychology Books” ↗There's also a good book coming at the same subject from a more Western, scientific angle: The User Illusion by Tor Nørretranders. It comes to similar conclusions about the "self" as Buddhism.
on “Astrology For Businesses” ↗Go read "The User Illusion" http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/106732.The_User_Illusion
on “On Filters” ↗Sounds like you've been reading The User Illusion: Cutting Consciousness Down to Size by Tor Nørretranders (Well worth it, if you haven't)
on “Why You Won’t Be the Person You Expect to Be” ↗"The User Illusion" by Tor Nørretranders is a must read for anyone interested in the subject. One of the best books i've ever read.
on “The Grand Illusion: Why consciousness exists only when you look for it (2002)” ↗See The User Illusion: Cuttiog Consciousness Down to Size https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/106732.The_User_Illusion
on “My Subconscious Is a Better Developer Than I Am” ↗You don't have a true self. The belief that you do is an illusion. See The User Illusion: Cutting Consciousness Down to Size by Tor Nørretranders.
on “Ask HN: How Do I Know My True Self?” ↗…book gave me a lot to think about 25 years ago. Made me aware of limitations of my own consciosness. Has perhaps been superseded by some other book since then, I'd love to hear recommendations. "The User Illusion: Cutting Consciousness Down to Size" by Tor Norretranders
on “Ask HN: What book changed your life?” ↗Tor Nørretranders' The User Illusion was a great read, hereby warmly recommended. One of the principal ideas was that our senses take in many orders of magnitude more of data than we are able to be conscious of. I believe he estimated something…
on “List of books that will induce a mindfuck” ↗…letter simply containing a question mark. The publisher responded with only an exclamation mark, and Hugo immediately understood - he had written an eternal classic. (BTW, I read this in the book The User Illusion - a fantastic read)
on “German government comes out against Chat Control” ↗The User Illusion by Norretranders discusses this in depth. He relays an estimate that our conscious bandwidth is roughly one millionth of the total bandwidth of our subconscious mind. Incredible! It's literally one of…
on “How Your Brain Decides Without You (2014)” ↗"The User Illusion: Cutting Consciousness Down to Size" is a great read if you're interested in exploring consciousness. A significant portion is devoted to discussing just how much information our bodies are taking in,…
on “Latest Everything: Bot shows signs of consciousness” ↗