By Kathy Hughes
Contributing Writer
“I think, therefore I am,” goes René DesCartes’ famous insight into what makes us tick. Perhaps the greatest mystery about ourselves falls into the basket of words having to do with human nature: mind, consciousness and thought.
My husband, having studied with B. F. Skinner (who believed all behavior was programmed) was the ultimate skeptic: “What is the mind? Where is it? There’s no such thing; the mind doesn’t exist.” Okay, so what is consciousness? Why and how are humans aware of our existence, when other creatures supposedly are not? A “know it all” named Noam Chomsky claims that it is impossible for us to solve this mystery about ourselves.
I’m sure I’m not alone, but I am skeptical about their skepticism. In fact, I think I may have it all figured out, but more about that later.
Recently, I heard about a long term research project to shed some light on human thinking. One question is, “is thought possible without words,” i.e. without language? It would seem the answer to that question is, “Yes.” I’m sure animals can think, at least they can solve problems; instinct alone can’t explain animals’ ability to obtain food, shelter and comfort in their environment. Also, it would appear that not all people use words to think, but their thoughts are images as seen through a viewer.
What is “thought,” anyway? The dictionary is not helpful — “the process of thinking,” which is “to use the mind to reason.”
A relatively new concept in computing is “the cloud.” Just like the mind, the cloud is a space — not a physical place, but it exists nonetheless, and it can hold and store information indefinitely. What I imagine is like a halo, or better yet, a rainbow! It is suspended energy that can assume a form, or simply hang together so long as the energy lasts.
Given my discovery that the mind is a like a rainbow, or better yet, it is a rainbow, we can develop a whole new vocabulary. For instance, we can ask, “are you out of your rainbow?” “What’s your halo about that movie?” The ultimate is, “I halo, therefore I am.”
