your attention for example is mediated
by unconscious forces and you know that
you know that perfectly well and this is
another Freudian observation you know if
you're sitting down to study for example
your conscious intent is to study but
you know perfectly well that all sorts
of distraction fantasies are going to
enter the theatre of your imagination
non-stop and annoyingly and and there
isn't really a lot you can do about that
except maybe wait it out you know so
you'll be sitting there reading and your
attention will flicker away you'll think
about I don't know maybe you want to
watch gee in the virgin on Netflix or
something like that or maybe it's time
to have a peanut butter sandwich or you
should get the dust bunnies from out
from underneath the bed or it's time to
go outside and have a cigarette or maybe
it's time for a cup of coffee or it's
like all these subsystems in you that
would like something aren't very happy
just to sit there while you read this
thing that you're actually bored by and
so they pop up and try to take control
of your perceptions and your actions
non-stop maybe you think well this is a
stupid course anyways why do I have to
read this damn paper and what am i doing
in university and what's the point of
life it's like you can really well you
can really get going if you're trying to
avoid doing your homework and and and
then you might think well what is it in
you that's trying to avoid because after
all you took the damn course and you
told yourself to sit down why don't you
listen well because you're you're a mess
that's basically why you haven't got
control over yourself at all and no more
than I have control over this laptop
okay so there's the memory function of
the unconscious and there's the dis
dissolute of function that's an
interesting one the unconscious contains
habits once voluntary now automatized
and dissociated elements of the
personality which may lead a parasitic
existence that's an interesting one I
would relate that more to procedural
memory you know so what you've done is
practice certain habits whatever they
might be let's call them bad habits and
you like those things to get under
control but you can't so maybe when
you're speaking for example you use like
and you know and you say I'm a lot and
you practice that so you're really good
at it and you'd like to stop
but you don't get to because you've
built that little machine right into
your being right it's neurologically
wired and it's not under conscious
control and anything you practice
becomes that it becomes part of you and
that's another element of the
unconscious a different part and then
there's a creative part which is that
well you know you're sitting around and
maybe you're trying to write something
or maybe you want to produce a piece of
art or a piece of music or maybe you're
just laying in bed dreaming and you have
all these weird ideas and especially in
dreams it's like what where do those
things come from and even more strange
one of the things that's really weird
about dreams and almost impossibly weird
is that you're an observer in the dream
it's like a dream is something that
happens to you well you're dreaming it
theoretically so how is it that you can
be an observer it's almost like you're
watching a video game or a movie but
you're producing it that at least in
principle although the psychoanalysts
would say well no not exactly your ego
isn't producing it your unconscious is
producing it's a different thing it's a
different thing and of course Jung would
say well it's deeper than that the
collective unconscious might be
producing it it's in some sense it isn't
you exactly or it isn't the you that you
think of when you think of you and
that's the ego from the Freudian
perspective the you that you identify
with that's the ego and outside of that
is the unconscious the it'd that's more
the place of impulses and you could
think about those as the biological
subsystems that can derail your thinking
right and that govern things like hunger
and sex and aggression and your basic
instincts is another way of putting it
and it's a reasonable way of thinking
about it because these are subsystems
that you share with with animals you
share them certainly with mammals you
share most of them with reptiles you
share a lot of them with em Finian's and
even going all the way down to
crustaceans there's commonality for
example in the dominance hierarchy
circuits and so these are very very old
things and the idea that you're in
control of them is well you're not
exactly in control of them and I would
say the less integrated you are the less
you're in control of them and the more
they're in control of you and that can
get really out of hand you know you can
be like with people who have obsessive
compulsive disorder for example which
which which is which seems to be I would
say that dissolute of elements in some
sense of the unconscious the way that
it's portrayed here poor people with
obsessive-compulsive disorder they can
spend half their time doing things that
they can't really control and they have
very strong impulses to do them and it's
very hard on them to block them you know
they they'll almost panic if those
things are blocked and then you have
people with Tourette's syndrome you know
that they'll be doing all sorts of weird
dances and spouting off obscenities and
and and and imitating people without
being able to control it and and
sometimes a little bit of anti-psychotic
medication can dampen that down but it's
as if there are these autonomous semi
spirits inside of them that grip control
over the behavior and make them do
things and you know you find that to
some degree in your own life because
maybe you've become very attractive to
someone even maybe you don't want to be
attracted to the person and then you
find yourself you know texting them when
you know perfectly well that you should
be going to bed and you know you're
you're in a grip of something and and
you can't control it and that's all part
of the unconscious and all part of what
Freud was studying