#7 - Natural Nature

Oh-ho. Today, we're going to actually use some of that grey matter that we stimulated before - Or something we looked at earlier, to rephrase. However, I'm going to be cruel and unusual and not tell you what I'm actually referring to. It should be pretty easy, but think of it as a game! Let me know what previous posts you think are relevant in the comments below.

Now, onto the main topic. Nature, natural nature. The nature of natural things is a curious one, and something which I think personally people don't pay enough attention to. Let's take one of the most hotly debated topics of the 21st century, for instance. Genetically modified foods - Whether you think they're the spawn of the devil, or whether you think they're a godsend (Pun intended, on both levels), I think we can all agree that they're not natural.

Oh, but that's where I disagree. Just to be contrary, you ask? Well, maybe, but that's where some of the best ideas come from. A great man once said "Genius is not in observing the extraordinary, but rather the everyday occurences of man." and truly, he was right. What is the true nature of our concept of natural?

Is a car natural? Probably not, you'd say.

How about a bicycle? Still a tool of the devil!

What about a monkey, using a club?

Or a magpie, fishing grubs from a tree with a stick?

In fact, when you get down to the nitty itty gritty horrible side of things, anything humans create is natural. We are a part of nature, and by that very definition, so are the things we create. That makes cars, natural - Genetically modified foods? Natural. Organ transplants? Natural.

So let me know what you think, both on whether all these horrible human constructs are natural, and also what posts this refers to! I'm deliberately excluding labels on this post to avoid making it too easy.

Cheerio,
~The Thinker

#6 - Colours!

Ahhh, colour. It's such a day to day part of our lives that it's something that we never really think about. Colours are there, red is red, blue is blue, and it's the same for everybody, right?

Right?

What if it isn't the same for everyone, people? Does blue look the same to you as it does to me? When you start to consider that some animals can see more wavelengths, or technically 'colours', than humans (That's right, kids, some creatures can see stuff outside of the 'Visible spectrum', or ~400-1300 nm to you scientists out there), then what colour do they see it in?

Isn't it just extraordinary to try and consider there being another colour? The brain isn't even wired to imagine what that colour might look like, and that's why you can't 'invent' a colour. It's similar to how you can't 'invent' a syllable (Just try, eventually you'll find you can deconstruct it into the basic syllables our bodies are wired with).

Mmm. Tasty. If I invented a colour, I'd call it...

Oh man, I don't even know what I'd call it!

Cheerio!
~The Thinker

#5 - The Rule Of Law

We're going to go a bit simpler today, mostly because I'm cursed with illness, but also because constricting the mind too much is a terrible idea.

So let's go a little more abstract.

"Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws." - Plato

A pretty simple one here, but take some time to think about it a little more deeply.. And then let me know what you think Plato's getting at. (I'll give you a hint - It's not just that bad people are bad!)

Cheerio
~The Thinker

#4 - Temporary Enlightenment

Time for a break from the traditional, and a move into the more hypothetical. Here's something that has always amused me and given my brain a run around on more than a few occasions, and while there's no concrete conclusion to come to (Personally I think that's part of the joy) it's still a fascinating thought exercise.

Sometimes we forget about the truly transient nature of life - It's from that which this statement arises, and arguably it is impossible to disprove.

"What if you only live today? Every day you remember in the past, and every day you anticipate in the future is a lie. You can remember your past as if it stretched into oblivion. But what if this is only a time share? You live today - But then tommorrow, a new you will fulfill your duty - Like you in every way, and remembering the events of yesterday and yesteryear as if they were decisions they made, tasks they completed, and experiences they themselves experienced."

What if we really aren't ourselves of yesterday? But a new entity taking on the mantle of the last, and doomed to pass away into finality at the end of the day. Nobody can possibly know, there could be a heaven up there filled with one day old people, asking 'But no, I'm SURE I was the one who was in that car crash.'

Is there really any way to know if, when we wake up with memories of our past, whether we truly experienced those memories ourselves, or whether it was simply a similar persona, taking its time in what we consider our body, and living our life?

Think about it, for a moment - And let me know what you think in the comments as always. Are we really who we remember we are?

A little depressing, perhaps, but interesting nonetheless!

Cheerio,

The Thinker

#3 - Sorites' Paradox

I know, I know - I love the ancient Greeks. They clearly had plenty of time on their hands, and used lots of it on thinking, and we could learn alot from that. Anyone who uses lots of time on thinking is alright in my book.

Anyway, on to the paradox! Sorites paradox derives from one of the simplest, most common things we learn to do - Counting. It derives from two things:

1. A million pieces of grain is a heap.


2. A heap of grain minus one piece of grain is still a heap.

If we agree that those two statements are true (Which I'm guessing we do? I don't know, that seems self explanatory) then we come to a serious problem. If statement 2 is true, that a heap of grain minus one piece of grain is still a heap, then if we repeat statement 2, nine hundred and ninety nine thousand nine hundred and nine (999,999) times...

Is one piece of grain still a heap?

And just to take it one step further, if that isn't bending your mind around enough, what about if we repeat step 2, one more time.

What if there's no grain left? But those two statements still make sense, right?

At what point is a heap not a heap?

This is another paradox based in vagueness, much like Theseus' Ship. Luckily, even if you find a conclusion here relatively easy to come to, you should find some enjoyment in working it through in that ole' headbox. Let me know what you think, at what point is a heap not a heap?

Cheerio,

~The Thinker

#RT1 - Random Thought - Victory Through Defeat

"It is not defeat, but victory, that takes the greatest toll upon a man. He who lies dead in defeat knows naught but that he fought well and died well. He who lives in victory knows always the pain of war, of battle, of the cost of his victory and his adversaries' defeat. He has the unadmirable task of accounting for himself to history, and even if truly the victor writes history, only the victor must hold himself to trial if he is to lie to make his victory seem more glorious than he knows it is, or to make his adversaries' defeat seem less noble than he knows it must be.

It is not the defeated, but the victorious, who pays for the war - To die a noble death at the height of a nation's glory is an easier path by far, than to rule over a people broken by the drain of creating victory."

The result of letting my brain run away with itself.

~The Thinker

#2 - The Ship of Theseus - Part Two

So, having thought through the old axe paradigm - Lots of people come to the conclusion that it's not the same axe, by the way - We'll move on to the ship. Theseus' Ship is a greek legend very similar to that of the axe, but with a subtle difference. I'll publish the whole thing here in full, as luckily, it's about 2000 years out of copyright.



"The ship wherein Theseus and the youth of Athens returned [from Crete] had thirty oars, and was preserved by the Athenians down even to the time of Demetrius Phalereus, for they took away the old planks as they decayed, putting in new and stronger timber in their place, insomuch that this ship became a standing example among the philosophers, for the logical question of things that grow; one side holding that the ship remained the same, and the other contending that it was not the same."

That was Plutarch, for the record, although the legend predates even him, the exact date is unknown. But does that change things for you? If each part is replaced as a so much smaller part of the whole, is it then the same ship? The same axe?

Think on that for a minute, before I take an even rougher tack.

So, now that you've come to your conclusion about the ship, let's go one step further. If all the parts of a human being are replaced one by one, how small do the parts need to be, before you'll accept that it's the same human being? Limb by limb? Organ by Organ? Centimetres? Millimetres?

How about cell by cell? Science tells us that on average, every cell in the human body (Including the brain) is replaced every seven years. It's not exact, mind, and some things might hang about longer than others, but still. Is that the same human being in seven years?

Literally, in the sense of physical matter, it's not the same. It's a different human, because that person has changed anyway, not just in what parts make up the whole. But to everyone, surely, they're still the same person. The emotional attachment, if any, that you feel to a person, remains the same. They are the same person you knew from seven years ago.

Perhaps it's less the matter that makes an object, and rather the reference we take to it? Is it the same axe? It's still your grandfather's axe, or George Washington's axe. It's still Theseus' ship.

At least that's how I look at it!

If you disagree, let me know. I'd love to hear it!

Cheerio,
The Thinker

#1 - The Ship of Theseus - Part One

We're going to start out today with one of the simplest and most original thought provoking arguments of all time. You may have heard of it in many different forms, but because it will probably carry the most relevance to western readers, I'll start with the version known simply as 'George Washington's Axe'.


You have an axe, given to you by your grandfather. Over the course of many years of use, the haft becomes worn (That's the handle, folks) - So you replace it. Then, you carry on using the axe, sharpening it every day until the head is beyond repair. You replace the head of the axe, many years after replacing the haft, and yet...

You can't escape a nagging feeling. Is this actually the same axe, anymore? The head's gone. The haft's gone. There's no part of this that your grandfather ever used - Or for the more apocryphal version, that George Washington ever used.

Hrm!

Is it the same axe? Let me know what you think in the comments!

We'll carry on with this one tommorrow.

Cheerio,
~The Thinker

Thought Number One

People don't think enough.

That's the point, really - Of everything. We forget sometimes, when we're sat in our homes, or on the train on the way to work, or cleaning, cooking. All those mundane things that occupy all our time - We spend far too little of that time just sat down, and thinking. That's what this blog is about, really.

Every day I'm going to do my best (And it will be only my best, nobody's perfect, am I right?) to type out one thing that will really, truly start you thinking. Get the cogs whirring, get the brainbox fired up. Forget brain-training and su-do-ku and all those things. The only real way to get your brain to work is to grip it around some high-quality-assured brain candy.

Today, and let's remember that we start as we mean to go on, I'm going to begin with everything. No, I'm not suggesting that we consider the magnitude of the universe, but rather that you take some time to look around you at everything, and revel in the beauty of it. Even the simplest things, the motion of the wind on a puddle of water causing a flicker of sunlight on the ceiling, or the sound of the rain on a rooftop.

Take five minutes out of your day to spend some time looking at your surroundings. When was the last time you did this? Can you even remember? So find something in your environment that makes you smile. Find something beautiful, or mysterious, or that you just don't understand, and appreciate it.

Enjoy - I look forward to the rest of this journey with you.