The Equator Line[i]

Dennett is saying here that there are thousands and thousands of things reaching us since the time we wake up and he considers these things like micro judgments. These things can be colors, emotions, etc. However, are they processed consciously by us?
All these things happen in a chain of events where the precedent can influence the next one and over this we have a kind of notion about what is going on in the world. Dennett calls this stream of consciousness where we have all the events competing for the attention of the brain and over many channels (ear, nose, mouth, etc.). So, in such time, a kind of event reaches the top – what Dennett named fame [= consciousness]. On the other hands, there is an illusion, according to Dennett, that we are very right or confident about our decisions and willing – he approximates this to the Cartesian view of the things.
So, there is not a place in the brain where our decisions are located and from where we could have a domain of everything or control. There is a tremendous and complex battle inside the brain and we cannot indeed determine what is consciousness, pre consciousness, post consciousness and so on and so forth. This line would be the equator line but it is an illusory line which we can’t see or deal.


[i] Digest of "Daniel Dennett - How are Brains Conscious?". In: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSkfHDdZZ3o.

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