Abstract Thought is Better Than You

These are some thoughts written down while I was sitting around thinking about things the other night.  It turns out, writing on paper makes the thoughts flow much more clearly.

Is this the pinnacle of human existence?  Sitting in the quiet which only culture and society could provide, unworried by the uncertainty of the external world, thinking?  I like to think so.  MY admiration for the profundity of this achievement is Sagan-esque in quality.  As our very existence is a cosmic near-impossibility, so too is the security of a quiet moment of profound thought nearly impossible on the cosmic level.  Abstract thinking at all, beyond the basic evolutionary functions of primal instinct (eat, sleep, mate, survive, etc.), is hard to fathom.  What evolutionary purpose does higher thought serve, what need does it satisfy?  Clearly, as the advances of humanity prove, it serves a very great evolutionary purpose.  It elevates humanity above all else in its sphere of existence.

If primal instinct provides the desire, and if higher thought provides the means (the will and the way), what can be derived?  First, let us divide higher thought into two sub-categories to enhance the theory.  Abstract thought, the first sub-division, is lingual in nature.  The ability to condense ideas, actions, items, and everything else to be had in the physical world into words is a great advantage.  Words allow for an accessible compilation of past experiences and thoughts, which can be easily referred to at a later point when they are needed.  They can also be manipulated with far greater ease than the physical world itself.  These factors allow for reason.  

Quantitative thought, the second sub-division, is numeric in nature.  As reason provides a system for understanding the world, quantitative thought allows for it to be interpreted, codified, and manipulated in the physical world.  Here, reason is the method, quantity the input.  For example, effect A operates as it does due to the interaction of input X and input Y.  Reason allows us to identify these parts.  Once we have done so, a quantitative calculation allows us to identify how best to alter X and Y to change the outcome.  Let us say that outcome B is preferable to outcome A.  Outcome A is a result of X=1 and Y=2.  Through quantitative thought, we can identify that outcome B can be produced if X=2 and Y=3.  We can then codify the numeric truth that A becomes B if X+1 and Y+1.  In this way, the effect (outcome A) has been controlled to the specification (X+1 and Y+1) of the controller to a more desirable effect (outcome B). 

We can now return to the question of what is derivative of the combination of primal thought, abstract thought, and quantitative thought. The answer has now become clear. Primal instinct provides the power for the whole process, reason provides the focus of that power, and quantitative thought provides direction for how the power should be used. What is derived from this process is a means of accomplishing tasks and goals far beyond the scope of any other cognitive creature in humanity’s sphere of existence. The applicability of this formula for control extends as far as this writer imagines human endeavor expanding.

I hope you all enjoyed these thoughts.