There is an ‘autopilot’ nature to much of life. The point where mid-brain response kicks in, and we just ‘do’. I think this evolved so we could provide for ourselves when we are tired; make breakfast, change our baby, gather food, etc. It’s a part of life, and I see nothing wrong with this.
Certain things in our world today tap into that process. TV is one, a lot of social media is another. The catch is we end up negotiating interactions with others, and many of the interactions of our lives, in more of a mid-brain response pattern, than in a thoughtful, and conscious method.
I see some definite downsides to this. My feeling is that a lot of what we see in terms of negativity on the internet, is a product of this less-thoughtful, mid-brain response cycle; responding to others without giving so much thought to something. Not out of lack of ethics, but simply because of manipulation of process, by being in environments, physical or mental, that cater to eliciting mid-brain response.
It’s also interesting to consider where we create in these methods: things like instagram, where we can take a picture and share it with a few movements of a wrist and finger, means we are viewing much more content that may be created by the mid-brain response. When we consider that the mid-brain response is a product of training, based on repeated action, we can begin to see the problem with this. Status quo stands a higher chance of being represented in response, based purely on incidence of exposure. Also things like fear, which may not lead to reposes that coincide with what we consciously believe ethically, or morally.
In short, this response caters to a reality we have known, rather a reality we decidedly want to exist. And when we realize we are building many interactions in our world based on situations that elicit midbrain response, there is cause to worry about regression from ideals, or perpetuation of the cycles that condition midbrain response.