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If you were asked to think of something you never thought of before, what would be the most reliable way to do it? (lemm.ee)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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When I read about how most of our thoughts are repetitive, I wondered if it would be possible for us to have a thought that is completely new or original by will. Is there some way we can have unique thoughts whenever we wish to?

Please note that this question does not focus on our brain's mental capacity or free will to be able to think of something original. You could think of it something like asking you to paint something original; I am not asking if you are even able to paint in the first place, but instead how you would paint it if you could.

Also you should ideally be able to think of something new completely by your own in your consciously aware and normal self, without relying on external factors like taking inspiration from your surroundings or words from a recent/ongoing conversations, looking at the content open in your device, using any drugs or consumables, being affected by strong emotions etc.

Edit: Elaboration in last paragraph

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Depends on how unique the thought needs to be. You could simply count up from 0 and eventually you'd encounter a number you'd never thought of before, like 145,398, which I'm pretty sure is a number I've never thought about. You could do this forever and still be having technically unique thoughts.

The problem, I think, is that all thoughts seem to be a product of previous thoughts. Totally new thoughts are driven by external stimuli. We can, however, mutate an existing thought into a new one. I think this would be my process, take a common thought and change one aspect of it at a time until it's unrecognizable.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The problem, I think, is that all thoughts seem to be a product of previous thoughts. Totally new thoughts are driven by external stimuli. We can, however, mutate an existing thought into a new one.

This is an amazing interpretation of what I had in mind. Obviously you cannot easily think of something that would not exist in this universe, however you could create combinations or alterations of existing objects to form a particular scenario that you would not get to experience in real life, similar to how much scenarios are created in our dreams.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

That's my interpretation of the creative process behind fiction and invention also. You take a familiar concept in your mind and mutate it with the goal of either making something more efficient or effective (invention) or of creating engaging narrative (fiction).