is thought just a random chemical mistake in the brain?

Question

because that would kind of suck

Answer 1

If we think that occurrence of thoughts in our mind is an act of absolute randomness; that thoughts come literally out of nowhere, then the entire logic and body of human knowledge can be called into question at the same time. The irony of the situation, however, is that the moment we do that, your question and all questions of similar nature become pointless - we can ask questions with all the doubtfulness in our mind, but we must be certain about the logic behind the questions we ask, that they are not coming from nowhere. It is for this reason that I cannot answer your question. If I assume that my thoughts, and the ones forming your question, are both random and accidental, originating from nothing and leading up to nothing.

I hope that you will realise at this point that we have no option but to search for a reason behind our ability to think and formulate inquiries out of that, for if we do not there simply is no reason for us to consider the matter any further. The rest of the argument of my answer henceforth would be in support of this later belief, that thinking is not accidental or random.

I understand that life is most of the time unpredictable, full of surprises and apparently random; there are things in life that we do not understand howsoever harder you may try, things that affect us, change us and make us do things, and the things that happened to us quite unexpectedly and suddenly. But again if we do not notice all this that all these things would not be all that accidental and alien to our personal sense of rational self. We do not see randomness in our thoughts or in the universe than we simply would not notice it. And since we do as a matter of fact; we do realise that thoughts are emerging in our heads and things are happening around us without our consent or any anticipation, the question emerges: if we are all is random in our head then what is it in our mind that is not random, as it is able to see and identify randomness - if there is no order anywhere a sense of chaos cannot be comprehended; if there is no darkness the presence of light cannot be known.

The humanly objective point of view in opposition is needed here. All thoughts are processional; they emerge out of reason and lead accurately reasonable to further thoughts or actions, the reason we might not readily understand or appreciate. If we abandon this objective point of view than we are in search of reality in which anything can be anything. We can question our sense of reality but all the thoughts for our questioning can only be perceived through what is already known to be real, logical and not accidental.

We can believe this life to be whatever we like to believe but the question is can we share our beliefs with out people; thoughts in my mind if are entirely accidental than they must be widely different from the thoughts in your mind, which obviously is not the case as we communicate. So there is some common reason connecting all the minds together into an internally logical collective mind.

Answer 2

There are different layers of thought.... and some of that stuff is so deep we can't access it.... then we have the conscious thought, which is sometimes on the same line as the subconcious stuff, but sometimes at wild variance to it. Sort of, you do something and concious thought fills in and justifies it, or explains it...

At least, those are my thoughts... but then, they could just be the feedback result of random chemistry. Thought couldn't be a true mistake however, because using the word mistake implies that you intended to do something in the first place... if, at the very least, a good portion of thought is feedback covering up some deeper decision made in the mind we can never understand, then maybe it would be delusional to say that intentions can be genuine/valid.

Answer 3

No, when you think about something, you will follow some path of thought, or line of thought. For example, here's a line of thought: (the link form one thought to another in CAPS letter)

"Oh, look at that QUESTION, that's interesting subject.."

"Oh, the question's about AIRPLANES..."

"I remember when I travelled in an airplane, it sucks, the FOOD's terrible"

"By the way, i'm hungry, WHAT FOOD DO I HAVE LEFT"

"Oh, just INSTANT NOODLES, ah well."

"These instant noodles are practical, WHO INVENT IT anyway?"


see? My mind drift away from seeing a question on the internet to who invent instant noodles, quite a jump isn't it? it's not random though, it appear to be random, perhaps, because it's jumping from one theme to another, but there's a link connecting it....

So, there's no random chemical spikes there... and that's why you can only come up with a thought that's just one step further from what you've already know...

In the designing process, I use mind mapping and brainstorming to come up with ideas, and this is how mind mapping and brainstorming works..

Answer 4

Not sure if it would be a "mistake" per se considering it would give us the evolutionary advantage to survive and become what we've become.

But then evolution is not random, and many other species display and express thought... So while it is almost certainly chemical in function, it would by no means be a mere mistake or accident.

Answer 5

Bicycle !

See how many thoughts that word brings into your mind.

The brain immediately brings up past memories of bicycles.
Your first bike, a penny farthing, tour de france, etc, etc.

They are all linked. Your brain works just like links on the Internet.

And yes, most of them will seem "random" !

Answer 6

Could be we never know.....mistakes are not always bad things...in fact chocolate chip cookies were a mistake and voila....lot's of people eat them!
But it would suck if we had no control of it....but to compulsive thinkers it kinda is controlling and random!

Answer 7

Randomness is based on order, and order is based on randomness. So thought is both ordered and random.

Answer 8

You obviously need an education in modern neuroscience and an appreciation of the difference between ultimate and proximate analysis.

Answer 9

No because mistakes don't happen in every person, and everyone can think.

Answer 10

thought is to one as beauty is to the eye of the beholder. categrizing it would be like taking imagination away from a little kid.