Tank_Guy#3
Lion of Lehistan
I got into an odd argument with a friend regarding thoughts and assumptions. I won't bored you with the details, so I'll just pose the question to you: Do you believe that all thoughts are themselves assumptions?
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A question pertaining to thoughts and assumptions
- Thread starter Tank_Guy#3
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Yes, all thoughts are assumptions.
Thoughts originate as the transduction of a sensory signal: the conversion of an incredibly complex external world into a signal that's basically digital. The coding of a sensory input is, by its nature, a simplistic assumption about the outside world. The utility of this assumption has been tested through hundreds of millions of years of evolution, but it's still an assumption. Better techniques for assuming are (almost) always selected for, but it's an imperfect signal. We build thoughts off of this imperfection.
The great metacognitive leap is to realise that your thoughts don't accurately represent reality.
Thoughts originate as the transduction of a sensory signal: the conversion of an incredibly complex external world into a signal that's basically digital. The coding of a sensory input is, by its nature, a simplistic assumption about the outside world. The utility of this assumption has been tested through hundreds of millions of years of evolution, but it's still an assumption. Better techniques for assuming are (almost) always selected for, but it's an imperfect signal. We build thoughts off of this imperfection.
The great metacognitive leap is to realise that your thoughts don't accurately represent reality.
JohnRM
Don't make me destroy you
Semantics. Yes, technically they are assumptions, but that doesn't make it wrong to think, okay?
Integral
Can't you hear it?
El_Mac! I haven't seen you around here in a long time. 
