Honestly, do it, and consider all this technically. My hunch is that if you understand computer function somewhat technically then you will wind up closer to understanding what I am trying to describe.
In this narrative, The Mind, functioning cognitively, and normally, is like a Computer, also functioning normally. At this point, normally and before the accident, both are "On". And, because both are On and "booted up", both have operating systems which are functioning normally. Functioning so well that all that happens with a normally functioning Mind or Computer is happening. And, taken for granted.
Now, anyone who understands computers technically also understands that the operating system which is managing the computer in order to get everything done (which is currently being taken for granted) is actually composed of hundreds, maybe thousands of subroutines. Each subroutine actually has its own specific function that it takes care of. And, if the subroutine isn't functioning or has been shut down or hasn't yet been booted up, then whatever the subroutine is required for is not functioning either.
Important → When one first turns a computer on, at that very first moment, no subroutines are executing yet. If the computer actually had "awareness" (which it doesn't, but assume it does,) then in the beginning when it is first turned on, it actually has no awareness of anything. It doesn't even know it is a computer. It has no idea what it is capable of, or even what it might be capable of once all its subroutines are working. It eventually may. But first some sufficient number of subroutines need to "boot up", come "online". And even then, it is only aware of the things it can do once those functions are online. And has no idea of anything that it can't do but could ... until the function that does it comes online. ← Important
That's just how the computer works. Starts with no functions running, and then the initial functions are started up, and each of them takes some time to become fully booted up, and then from there additional functions can be booted up now that prerequisite functions are running, and so on and so forth.
Why do I discuss this? Because that is what happened to Me, the Cognitive Me, perhaps even elsewhere, but certainly cognitively as a result of the accident. I say. And even though its just Me, the Cognitive Me, saying it, what I just stated is a credible hypothesis to consider. And, not only that, I am telling you that what I did experience, at least from the time I was able to experience and credibly remember what I experienced, is actually entirely consistent with the hypothesis that I went through a "cognitive reboot", much like a computer would. And, as I was "firing up", a process that took time (e.g. days and weeks, depending on the relevant subroutines and functions,) I was actually unaware of what I had been, what I was capable of, and what I was progressing to. Until I was. Step by step ... becoming more aware as I was coming more "online" again. Function by function. Piece by piece. Consistently moving forward.
I went through a Cognitive Reboot. What I regard (and "regard" is actually a cognitive conscious function, and thus made possible by a subroutine) as Me was rebooted.
Important → And by the way ... I did not think my way through the reboot. Well, as I progressed through it I was thinking more and making more credible, sometimes out of the box, choices. But the actual mechanism of the reboot was nothing I could think into existence or make happen. Or alter. It is what it is. It was what it was. And, it was an intrinsic part of the machine that is me. I was built with it. It was, in other words, a.) Instinctive. And thus, genetic. The biological evolutionary process (which, by the way is a process of selection) that resulted eventually in Me provided me with a cognitive reboot mechanism. And in my case, it got invoked as a result of my accident. ← Important
Does that mean "All of Me" was erased, and restarted from scratch? Not exactly, but close. Just like the subroutines that our rebooted computer runs, our subroutines come with their own "code" that need to be executed in order to come online. This code is not randomly anything that materializes out of thin air. For computers, it is written machine language, stored and available for access and execution. For human cognition, this code is genetic in origin, and if it hasn't been changed or destroyed in the accident, then it, and the physiological structures that have been built as a result of it, are also available for access and execution.
The Hypothetical Reboot Order:
Where we are going to wind up regarding order assuming a reboot starts, and physiological damage does not impair progress:Followed by:
- The Instinct Engine (only) first ONline
- Most of Various Instincts offline (depending on debth of reboot)
- Habituated Indoctrinations offline
- Memory access and recall offline
- External communication (messaging) offline
- Reality discrimination offline
- Short term memory (STM) formation offline
- Long term memory (LTM) formation offline
- Rationalized thinking offline
- Judgement optimization (instinct and learned belief review and adaptation) offline
- Critical thinking offline
- Innovation offline.
[Click here] for the currently proposed reboot sequence of the subroutines proposed above.
Basically, all come online, sequentially, over several days, weeks, or months. There may be some overlap. Off switches to On gradually, rather than Off switching On all at once. Oftentimes, those switching On are prerequisite functions used by the functions switching On later. In other words, subsequent functions coming On are ensembles containing some of the functions that came On before them.
In a Cognitive Reboot, The Instinct Engine starts up first. If it can. If it can, then the rest restarts sequentially as the Reboot progresses.
Eventually, if lucky, the stored memories and learned perspectives are able to be accessed, thus become relevant, and come online as well. Until then, genetically determined instincts come online first, not all at once but gradually over time, very early on. Once they are "Restarted and Booted Up".
Is a Cognitive Reboot a full 100% reboot? Probably not. Full Start probably occurs at the time of conception, and from there, yada, yada, yada. For me, I was a 57 year old adult. So, rather than a full 100% Start and Boot Up, using our narrative I probably experienced a "restart." Not all the way from the beginning, but close to it. "Learned" behaviors that had resulted in adaptive wiring and my past long-term-memory learned memories had been left intact and available once the subroutines necessary for accessing them and executing them were back up and running. A Reboot.
At some point, after several functions had come back online over weeks, I acquired (probably reacquired) the ability to observe other of my cognitive functions coming back online. I had no idea what was coming back online until it came back online. Why? Because it didn't even exist as an idea to me until it did come back online. So, I watched the Cognitive Me coming back online in retrospect. Once functions did, or as they did, I would remember that I had once had them, and might wonder how much would come back online. But I had no thought about specific functions at all until those specific functions began to come back online.
One function that took about two weeks before it began to come back online was the ability to create and store Long Term Memory (LTM). It actually didn't occur to me to remember anything until I had the actual ability to recall anything (i.e. access memories already stored and not lost through damage.) And of course, that also means that it would not occur to me to access any newly recent experiences until I had the ability to form long term memories. (Without that, there is nothing stored to recall.) Until then, I apparently had Short Term Memory, which would evaporate after 10-20 seconds or so. More or less.
Some elaboration on the above declaration may need to be made. After all, the Nature / Nurture debate and the "How much of the Cognitive Self is resident and dependent upon the physical brain" debates are old ones.
Click here.
These filters have their own unique settings per individual, they are multigenic in nature, and there are many of them.