[ExI] question from quora

Mike Dougherty msd001 at gmail.com
Mon Apr 18 00:50:19 UTC 2022


On Sun, Apr 17, 2022, 6:19 PM William Flynn Wallace via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

>
> *Anton Castleton* requested your answerIs it possible to learn to think
> directly in concepts rather than words?
> <https://www.quora.com/qemail/track_click?al_imp=eyJ0eXBlIjogMzUsICJoYXNoIjogLTQ5MjgyMzg5Mn0%3D&al_pri=1&aoid=Lzhtqx8Vb1m&aoty=2&aty=4&cp=1&ct=1650189000361087&et=103&id=1d540f9eeca9417ca9d25a28e6020ec8&request_id=289&src=1&st=1650189000364682&stories=35369065174&uid=zGWPcMS0Aej&v=0>
>
> <https://www.quora.com/qemail/track_click?al_imp=eyJ0eXBlIjogMzUsICJoYXNoIjogLTQ5MjgyMzg5Mn0%3D&al_pri=1&aoid=Lzhtqx8Vb1m&aoty=2&aty=4&cp=1&ct=1650189000361087&et=103&id=1d540f9eeca9417ca9d25a28e6020ec8&request_id=289&src=1&st=1650189000364682&stories=35369065174&uid=zGWPcMS0Aej&v=0>
>
> <https://www.quora.com/qemail/track_click?al_imp=eyJ0eXBlIjogMzUsICJoYXNoIjogLTQ5MjgyMzg5Mn0%3D&al_pri=1&aoid=Lzhtqx8Vb1m&aoty=2&aty=4&cp=1&ct=1650189000361087&et=103&id=1d540f9eeca9417ca9d25a28e6020ec8&request_id=289&src=1&st=1650189000364682&stories=35369065174&uid=zGWPcMS0Aej&v=0>Cognitive
> is not my field.  What do you think?  Or perhaps, how.  I tried thinking of
> geometric figures but the words kept popping up in my mind.   bill w
> <https://www.quora.com/qemail/track_click?al_imp=eyJ0eXBlIjogMzUsICJoYXNoIjogLTQ5MjgyMzg5Mn0%3D&al_pri=1&aoid=Lzhtqx8Vb1m&aoty=2&aty=4&cp=1&ct=1650189000361087&et=103&id=1d540f9eeca9417ca9d25a28e6020ec8&request_id=289&src=1&st=1650189000364682&stories=35369065174&uid=zGWPcMS0Aej&v=0>
> l
>

I suspect we always think directly in concepts.  It's that we have to
serialize complex mental constructs to a narrow bandwidth "words" to
communicate them.

I think Plato had this well understood but less well communicated as what
are known as Platonic Forms.  I imagine your ideal Tree differs from my
ideal Tree in several important details,  but we can still make and agree
on salient features of ideal Tree.

I think in this example we're thinking natively in concept of tree and only
when trying to talk about it do we connect words to those ideas.

That said, I know there are people with aphantasia that cannot understand
what we mean by "visualize", "picture this", or "mind's eye" - so it's
possible some people may have Chinese Box style rules for processing words
without actual connectiong to archetypal Forms.

Do you have a word-tag enter active working mind when I posit "packed lunch
that mom made for you" .. or does that evoke a flood of memories and
associations (ex: feelings) that might not even have word-tags?

>
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