peru@soleil.UUCP (Dave Peru) (10/07/88)
Here's one for all you mental masturbators out there: Have you ever thought about what the brain is doing between thoughts?
bph@buengc.BU.EDU (Blair P. Houghton) (10/11/88)
In article <409@soleil.UUCP> peru@soleil.UUCP (Dave Peru) writes: >Have you ever thought about what the brain is doing between thoughts? 1. About the same as yours does during thoughts; or, 2. Exponential decay. --Blair "What's the diff?"
bwk@mitre-bedford.ARPA (Barry W. Kort) (10/11/88)
In article <409@soleil.UUCP> peru@soleil.UUCP (Dave Peru) writes: >Have you ever thought about what the brain is doing between thoughts? I suppose it does the same thing as what a clock does between ticks, or what a computer does between instructions. --Barry Kort
kmont@hpindda.HP.COM (Kevin Montgomery) (10/12/88)
/ hpindda:comp.ai / peru@soleil.UUCP (Dave Peru) / 11:17 am Oct 6, 1988 / > Here's one for all you mental masturbators out there: > Have you ever thought about what the brain is doing between thoughts? ---------- How about the question of do you only have one thought at a time?! I don't think so. Between each thought, I'd say "propagating energy", but that's just the side of the tracks I'm on... (somebody define thought, while you're at it, too!)
smann@watdcsu.waterloo.edu (Shannon Mann - I.S.er) (10/12/88)
In article <409@soleil.UUCP> peru@soleil.UUCP (Dave Peru) writes: > >Have you ever thought about what the brain is doing between thoughts? Thinking, what else? We are aware of one thought/idea/concept etc. at one time. Evidently, the mind does not cease functioning when we choose not to focus upon it's internal workings. There is a continuous cosmic soup of thought circulating through your brain at any one time, operating at many different levels. Our awareness is of only a small segment of the total whole. For example. The mind is constantly deleting stimulus that doesn't change (stimulus adaptation). We are not conscious of the process, yet, it is con- tinuous. Next question... Is this thought? -=- -=- Shannon Mann -=- smann@watdcsu.UWaterloo.ca -=-
bph@buengc.BU.EDU (Blair P. Houghton) (10/13/88)
In article <409@soleil.UUCP> peru@soleil.UUCP (Dave Peru) writes: > >Have you ever thought about what the brain is doing between thoughts? Sleeping. --Blair
lee@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu (Greg Lee) (10/13/88)
From article <5141@watdcsu.waterloo.edu>, by smann@watdcsu.waterloo.edu (Shannon Mann - I.S.er): "... " There is a continuous cosmic soup of " thought circulating through your brain at any one time ... Speak for yourself. Greg, lee@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu
rwojcik@bcsaic.UUCP (Rick Wojcik) (10/13/88)
In article <409@soleil.UUCP> peru@soleil.UUCP (Dave Peru) writes: > >Have you ever thought about what the brain is doing between thoughts? If you tell me what a thought is, and how large it is, I will tell you how many can fit inside the head of a pin. :-) -- Rick Wojcik csnet: rwojcik@boeing.com uucp: uw-beaver!ssc-vax!bcsaic!rwojcik
cww@cadre.dsl.PITTSBURGH.EDU (Charles William Webster) (10/16/88)
In article <1116@buengc.BU.EDU> bph@buengc.bu.edu (Blair P. Houghton) writes: >In article <409@soleil.UUCP> peru@soleil.UUCP (Dave Peru) writes: >> >>Have you ever thought about what the brain is doing between thoughts? > >Sleeping. > > --Blair Do you mean that between the rapid succession of conscious "moments" is a sleeplike state, or that there is nothing between these "moments", except longer periods of sleep? Much current research on dreaming is converging on the generalization that dreaming is a kind of "consciousness". If this were true, then what is between dream thoughts? You may have been joking but I think it would be fascinating if the the brain was sleeping between "thoughts". But would it be the sleep of dreams or the sleep of little deaths? --Chuck
bph@buengc.BU.EDU (Blair P. Houghton) (10/17/88)
In article <409@soleil.UUCP> peru@soleil.UUCP (Dave Peru) writes: >>> >>>Have you ever thought about what the brain is doing between thoughts? In article <1116@buengc.BU.EDU> bph@buengc.bu.edu (Blair P. Houghton) writes: >> >>Sleeping. In article <1614@cadre.dsl.PITTSBURGH.EDU> cww@cadre.dsl.pittsburgh.edu.UUCP (Charles William Webster) writes: > >Do you mean that between the rapid succession of conscious "moments" >is a sleeplike state, or that there is nothing between these "moments", >except longer periods of sleep? Much current research on dreaming >is converging on the generalization that dreaming is a kind of >"consciousness". If this were true, then what is between dream >thoughts? You may have been joking but I think it would be fascinating >if the the brain was sleeping between "thoughts". But would it be >the sleep of dreams or the sleep of little deaths? I meant that there is no "between thoughts" except for sleep, expecially the deeper sleep, not that associated with partial consciousness, such as REM sleep. --Blair "...with a hedge for whatever non-thinking states meditationalists are able to achieve..."
gbn474@leah.Albany.Edu (Gregory Newby) (10/18/88)
.In article <1153@buengc.BU.EDU>, bph@buengc.BU.EDU (Blair P. Houghton) writes: > >>>Have you ever thought about what the brain is doing between thoughts? > >>Sleeping. > > > > >Do you mean that between the rapid succession of conscious "moments" > >is a sleeplike state, or that there is nothing between these "moments", > >except longer periods of sleep? Research result (unpublished) from a recent conference: Participants were instructed to watch a string of blinking holiday lights (the xmas tree kind, which blink more or less randomly). A beatles' song was played (I forget which one). When polled afterwards, most participants reported seeing the lights blink on and off IN RYTHM to the music. Possible conclusion: consciousness, like most things we can name in nature, oscillates. I leave it for your consideration. --newbs ( gbnewby@rodan.acs.syr.edu gbn474@leah.albany.edu )
smann@watdcsu.waterloo.edu (Shannon Mann - I.S.er) (10/18/88)
In article <1119@leah.Albany.Edu> gbn474@leah.Albany.Edu (Gregory Newby) writes: >Research result (unpublished) from a recent conference: > >Participants were instructed to watch a string of blinking holiday >lights (the xmas tree kind, which blink more or less randomly). >A beatles' song was played (I forget which one). When polled >afterwards, most participants reported seeing the lights blink >on and off IN RYTHM to the music. > >Possible conclusion: consciousness, like most things we can name >in nature, oscillates. > Other possible conclusion: we unconsciously attach meaning to apparently randon patterns i.e. we hear the music, we see the lights, we notice that there are some of the lights lit on the beat, and disregard the rest as noise. Hence, we have a pattern where none existed before. Sounds like pattern- recognition to me. :-) Seriously, I believe Neuro-Linguistics uses tapping, or rubbing motions to influence the pace of communications between two people. Don't know why, just seems to work. >I leave it for your consideration. > >--newbs -=- -=- Shannon Mann -=- smann@watdcsu.UWaterloo.ca -=- 'I have no brain, and I must think...' - An Omynous 'If I don't think, AM I' - Another Omynous P.S. I'd like to know what 'oscillating consciousness' is supposed to mean.
peru@soleil.UUCP (Dave Peru) (10/18/88)
RE: Have you ever thought about what the brain is doing between thoughts? To really understand this you need to think about it every night for 2 years. Or think about this: What is generating my thoughts. Say it to yourself over and over and over and ... I used to want to write a program that executed the "how" of how we think. Now all I want to do is theoretical physics and learn how to do 5th dimension algebra. But now that I think about it, maybe the only way to learn 5th dimension algebra is to write a program executing the "how" in the 2nd dimension. Maybe this will help you to understand something about trying to understand something about thought. Epimenides was a Cretan. Epimenides said, "All Cretans are liars." Life goes on.