Are current user-interfaces encouraging us to consume information mindlessly? Does blocking information help? Can human consciousness be elevated by better interface design for applications? In this essay, I will present a perspective from the philosophical framework of Yoga.
The starting point for my thoughts is a question that I asked myself sometime ago, about whether Shannon’s definition of information as “surprise” is overlooking some basic biological framework of being human.
Shannon’s theory for information processing, which was developed first for faithful encoding and decoding of communications e.g, in a telephone network, influenced many other far out domains where it was never intended.
Here is Whiting’s information processing model for human cognition in sports etc.
A fundamental thing about this model is that it is a linear pathway : input → (pipeline) → output.
There can be many blocks in the pipeline, but the input/output resemble Shannon’s original diagram for communication in a channel. What if this is a bad way to look at the process ? An alternative way to look at a similar process is to consider this as a homeostasis, like how nature maintains ecological balance, or how a cell maintains pH or temperature.
Another example is about how a peaceful cognitive state can be maintained in the mind by meditation.
I will use the Yogic philosophical framework to sketch out how such a theory for cognition and “information processing” might look like. In Yoga, before we deal with the mind, we discuss two things: food and breath. I will discuss them first as metaphors. This follows the understanding that the human body is a “Pancha Kōsha” or that it has 5 conceptual planes: Annamaya (material plane & food), Prāṇamaya (breath), Manōmaya (mind), Vijñānamaya (understanding & awareness) and Ānandamaya (bliss).
I will discuss the first 3 planes, starting with the material plane. How does the body process food?
It can be argued as follows: the energy that comes in via food goes into 5 different usages/pathways:
- For digestion and excretion.
- For speaking.
- For acting out in the world through motor organs.
- For using motor organs to bring new food in.
I didn’t mention the basic and most essential usage.
0. For letting things just be as they are. For maintaining whatever is within the body which is food (for whichever animal) to remain so as food without deteriorating → this is homeostasis.
One might say it is a peculiar way to look at the problem. But there is a logic. It becomes clearer when we discuss breath.
The plane of breath can also be considered to have 5 components. Here, Yogic philosophy gives them clear names.
- Apāna : The breath that activates digestion and pushes excreta out of the body. This circulates in the lower part of the body.
- Udāna : The breath that enables speaking, by inhaling and exhaling through the mouth . This circulates in the upper part of the body.
- Vyāna: The breath that pushes air to all extremities of the body. This regulates blood flow that supplies nutrients everywhere. This nourishes the muscles so that they can move.
- Samāna: The breath that draws air inwards from all corners. This diffuses entropy: pH, heat etc.
The counterpart to the usage 0 is the breath itself that maintains homeostasis & keeps the body alive, letting it inhale and exhale further into the future.
0. Prāṇa: It circulates in the most essential circuit to keep the body alive: center of the brain, spinal cord, other vital organs.
It is important to discuss breath because the plane of breath is the only way a person can control amongst the various modes of vital activities regulated by the parasympathetic neural circuit. All the 5 types of breath can be independently controlled with respect to their pace. It is only by this ability to control breath that other activities can be indirectly controlled: heart-beat, digestive ability, sleep, dream states etc.. which are all possible to some degree by the mastery of breath control. In the Yogic scheme, food nourishes breath and breath nourishes mind. It is an illusion that most people have that they can make their mind go wherever they want. This is absolutely not true. The control of mind is much harder than the control of breath.
Five modes of information flow in “mental processing”
Now let us discuss the 5 equivalent modes for “mind processing”. This is how information gets consumed and metabolized by the mind.
Apāna: Information is digested & excreted. The mind creates no new modalities except excreting it in a less usable form (and slowly decaying).
Udāna: Information is used for speaking. In Yoga, this is considered to have the potential to activate a creative source (parā). It is then transmuted into 3 forms: pashyanti, madhyama & vaikhari. A less aware mind is considered to perceive only the outer forms and does not possess creativity. On the mental plane, every activity to produce new information can be considered as an output of Udāna. The vocal pathway with the tongue is the most powerful muscle in the body, but other pathways can channel the Parā as well, pushing the universe into new creative directions.
Vyāna: This is about integrating the information into one’s body and one’s own identity. Until the information becomes part of every fibre, it has not really been used. This is the most powerful expression of embodied cognition.
Samāna: This causes the discrepancies and imbalances in one’s body and self-identity be reduced to equality by the flow of information. This is the antidote to cognitive dissonance. This is our hope to get over walls of hatred through truly understanding each other.
Prāṇa: This is the eternal flow of information that keeps the body and mind in homeostasis. This is what we need to protect : free software, open-source and open-data. This is the divine Saraswati that creates and nourishes all. We need her protection. She needs no protection.
Most applications for the web and smartphones today might be applying a rather limited model of information processing for designing user interfaces, treating the user as a cog between input and output. That is between (a prejudiced view of) Prāṇa and Apāna only. Such a design for user interface does not imagine the other modes of mental activity. In Yoga, it is considered that people who activate only Apāna will die. It is a death on the mental plane, sooner or later. But even if it is later, it is a slow death with every minute of life being a process of death. Don’t let social media feed your Apāna !
In the early days of computer applications, full programmability was the norm. It was possible to activate all five modes of mental activity. The current user-interfaces are designed to block your creative agency. Like junk food and opioids that will only keep you addicted, user interfaces are being hacked to hook you into predictable modes of behavior. What way for the future? A full theory of cognitive interfaces is needed, where all the 5 mentioned activities in the mental plane can be modeled and measured: not all clubbed and hidden under a trivial activity like Apāna. Until such a design for user-interfaces becomes the norm, we might need to periodically plug out our minds — out of badly designed interfaces.
A Yogic framework of user-interface design to elevate the consciousness of the user
Here is a faithful introduction to the 5 types of Prāna in Yoga, with a few postures and exercises that enable you to control them.
The author Olga Kabel has wisely disabled her twitter account. But she refers to the book of scholar @davidfrawleyved who is active.
The American Institute of Vedic Studies, founded by @davidfrawleyved has an article that connects tech addiction to the addiction of food & drugs, which I discussed previously in a Twitter thread. In the Yogic framework, these addictions are similar.
Although the nature of tech addiction is still not understood today at the neuro-physiological level, mapping these addictive pathways is the relatively easier part.
It is more difficult to understand what would be supportive technologies & user-interfaces that amplify Yogic consciousness. We do not yet have a theory to optimize for the “joy” of using a technology, leading ultimately to the most supreme of such joys — Ānanda . But in an old essay on my blog, I gave some wild examples of how such technologies might look like.
I think extending the practices of Āsana and Prāṇāyāma of Yōga to the sphere of the mind (Manōmaya) will let us build a framework for designing such technologies.
In the Yōgic framework, Prāṇa is the most essential of all the 5 planes of existence, encompassing even the mind. In the Brihadāraṇyaka Upanishad, Sākalya (student) discusses with Rishi Yājñavalkya (teacher) on what are the most essential Dēvas. The 33 Viśwēdēvas of ṚgVeda (which encompass all the aspects of the universe) are successively reduced to 6,3,2,1.5 and ultimately to 1 (Prāṇa).
How to control the five aspects of Prāṇa?
Firstly, Apāna should not be excessive but has to be integrated with Prāṇa. Stillness and ecologically rich areas amplify Prāṇa, which has to flow freely with the universe. It is said that Dēvas (immortals) feed on Prāṇa, Asuras (who suffer death) feed on Apāna.
Secondly, Vyāna and Samāna have to be realized. This can happen only in silence. In breathing, Vyāna (expansion) is realized by holding the breath after inhaling. Samāna (dissolution) is realized by holding the breath after exhaling.
Vyāna refers to the deity Vishnu and Samāna to the deity Shiva. Vyāna and Samāna can be visualized as the opening and closing of the infinite lotus that is located at the heart (Hṛt-Padma). This can aid in meditation. I discussed the corresponding imagery in my article here.
Finally, if these 4 aspects of Prāṇa are in balance, then Udāna can be controlled. This is the means to tap into cosmic creativity that is also present in one’s own body. It will lead to joy of different levels, which is technically the fulfillment of the 7 Chakras located along the spine of one’s body.
While Prāṇa refer to the sensory organs (Jñānendriya), Apāna & Udāna refer to the organs of motor control (Karmēndriya). In mythic imagery, these two polarities are the worlds of Dēvas and Pitṛs. They define two ways to exercise one’s Karma (action). Both are important. In this framework, a technology that does not exercise the user’s motor control and creative capacity, while forcing the user to be passively consuming information, is considered to create an imbalance of Prāṇa.
Social media and most apps on “smartphones” fail on these counts. Further, if no distinction is made between mere excretion (Apāna) and creative action (Udāna), users cannot maintain their focus.
In Yoga, Apāna is controlled by Bandha (blocking) e.g, Mulabandha (contracting pelvic muscles). Meditation is supported by Mudra (posture & finger gesture). Any technology can be interpreted as an extension of the user’s own body. Indeed, such extended body image can be part of one’s own brain and controlled with brain interfaces. This can also be true for virtual interfaces on software. We need a theory of Bandha & Mudra for these user-interfaces.
Finally, an understanding is needed on how to effectively encode silence (Anāhata). Silence has meaning given the holistic ecological context within which to interpret it. But in Shannon’s information theory, silence has no information. i.e, there is no place for Samāna & Vyāna. In my opinion, a complete theory for the design of user interfaces based on Yogic principles is possible. But this also needs to extend the very basics of information theory. So this is a tall order, but possible.
Acknowledgement: This essay has been created out of a Twitter thread, which is prepared into an essay using Spooler and further edited slightly on Medium. Thanks to Darius Kazemi for providing Spooler.
