Original Thought

[Omeganitros]

Where does Original Thought come from? My first thought was "Nature," but maybe you smart people have a different answer.

[toujours-ailes]

ummm... thats a good question... I have no clue.... nature makes sense though

[The_Q]

Where does original thought come from? I don't know, what made you think of the question? That's most likely where it's from.

I'm sure that most thought is inspired by curiosity. That's how I started my out of school studies, and then what you would call "intelligence." Honestly, that's not what I believe. The most likely answer is that original thought is nothing more than the product of a finely taught and well honed mind. This does not mean that one should study facts, but rather one should study thinking processes. I found my personal favorite and it has a name. You all know what I'm talking about.

Q

[emccky]

Too confusing to think about.

[Poltech]

It depends what you mean,

If you mean thoughts that are original, meaning a thought containing no other outward influence of experience, what we have heard (musically, spoken, or otherwise), have seen, or read, I would have to say that it isn't possible. I would say that the process of coming up for something, which seems original consists of building or adding upon what already exists.

For example: The person who first thought that Canola Oil or other Vegetable Oils could be harnessed and used to power vehicles probably has some contact with a study about the kinds of products that are produced when Vegatable Oils are burned or something of the like. Looking at this study the person decided to take this study to the next level. What if we could use these oils in replace of Fossil Fuels, and so the originallity of thought occurs. The thinker didn't come up with a completely original idea out of the blue, it consisted of something that already existed and was expanded on.

[Omeganitros]

Then where did the very first original thought come from? Something had to start it. And then I thought, "from Nature."

[Poltech]

In a sense Nature would be a resonable explanation because we must have aquired the ability to think from evolution. Again, Human beings have developed the capacity for original thought, from the earliest form of beings. While the first thoughts may not have been complex they must have been about satisfying some sort of important need.

In my opinion the first original thoughts thought by any creature would about gathering food, whether it be methods to harvest what is around, to complex hunting methods, other original thoughts would be thoughts about shelter and reproduction. Of course, most pre-homo sapien beings had hierarchys, which probably was the result of original thought. The thoughts being something like: Since I'm the stongest being of my group I shall be the dominant force. The thought probably wasn't as straight forward though.

All in all, I would think that Original thought is derived from nature, and created by the procedures to satisfy the basic needs of life.

[Velious]

im trying to think about whats making me think about what im trying to think about
it isnt working

[Tasselfoot]

Evolution and Experience.

i don't feel like explaining myself, so go back and look at Qs post. if you don't understand why i said those two, then its not worth my time to explain it.

as always... this is IMO.

[Jam930]

Response to stimuli.

[DracIV]

The first thought came on the day when the man finished eating his mammoth and wondered, "Where will I find my next meal?" Thought came about when we took our predicting skills beyond, "if X occurs Y will happen" and predicted, "if I do X I get Y, but if I get Y then Z occurs and I do not want Z to occur so I should not do X." When we finally realized that chains of events require decisions, we had our first thought in the realization that we now need thought to succeed.

[Jam930]

Come on, no caveman ever thought of any X or Y.


It was simply response to stimuli.

Caveman stubs toe.

"Toe hurts"

1st thought.

Caveman stubs toe again.

"Toe hurts"

But this time he comes to the conclusion that if he stubs his toe, his toe will hurt, so he learns to be careful and not stub his toe.


Eventually observation leading to predictions - solutions - plans - preparations and strategy - cooperation - communication of thoughts - ideas - inventions and innovations - cars, planes, cell phones and FFR.

Humankind in a nutshell.

[Lupin_the_3rd]

Humans elect president

President wages war for suspicion of WMDs in a country "linked" to 9/11

Humans elect president again

[DracIV]

Jam, that is exactly what I said. Variables, like X and Y, mean "[insert anything here]." We agreed.

[slimshdy425]

Originally Posted by Jam930

Response to stimuli.

I agree. I don't think there is any thought without a stimuli, or else the thought is purposeless. We obviously don't make purposeless thoughts out of no where, they simply don't exist. Even great inventors have/had stimuli, such as a problem or a realizing that there is a better way to do something from their own observations/knowledge.

[Tasselfoot]

like when an apple fell on Newton's head.

[Omeganitros]

I just finished reading a chapter from the book Xenocide. I think it had something to say on this subject, but I don't remember.

[Jam930]

Well one thing to remember is that some people, with the same stimuli, don't produce as many/as impressive thoughts as others might.

We need to research more about how we can train ourselves to think well.

[AZN_Kaibigan07]

Well, I'm down wit you on the topic of responses to stimuli, but I'm not sure about "training ourselves to think well?" That kinda depends on what you mean by "thinking well," doesn't it? Is it the ability to generally discern and perceive ideas and objects, or is it the mental capacity to not only see and identify, but also to critically analyze? I guess it's possible to change the opinions that someone has about something if you present a good enough argument, but can you really change the way that a person thinks, in general? When people get exposed to things/stimuli over and over, they eventually get accustomed to it and develop a set opinion about it, and this could determine the way that they'll think about the next thing that comes along.

[Jam930]

If what you're saying is true, then it is possible to build a robot that would act perfectly human.