User Illusion made the point that your consciousness can only ingest 40 bits/s. So the reason language is "slow" is because there is no reason to deliver information at a higher rate than people can ingest it.

https://www.amazon.com/User-Illusion-Cutting-Consciousness-P...

A valid question, but I want to point out that Buddhism (and modern psychology, to a certain extent) have been using this transitory, conditional model of the self for a long time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatta

https://www.amazon.com/User-Illusion-Cutting-Consciousness-P...

It'd be a "predictor" if an FMRI could predict that the neurons are about to light up a second before that happens, rather than just measure the delay between neuron activity and conscious perception or conscious motor control.

Regardless, if anyone finds the thought that an FMRI can detect you making a decision a significant amount of time before you're aware of making that decision particularly interesting, this book dives into that research and much more about the nature of consciousness from a neuroscience and information theory POV:

http://www.amazon.com/The-User-Illusion-Cutting-Consciousnes...

Almost probably not, at least not like that. You might like to read The User Illusion (http://www.amazon.com/The-User-Illusion-Cutting-Consciousnes...) for some more thought along these lines.

"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, versus how much reaches our consciousness.

http://www.amazon.com/User-Illusion-Cutting-Consciousness-Pe...

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...