[Mark] Certainly, a focal point of attention helps us perform tasks, but what do you think the rest of the brain is doing during this time, standing idly by?
[Arlo] You really are trapped on the biological level, as now you seem to equate "thinking" with the neurological activity of synapse firing. "Thinking" is the manipulation of abstract symbols representing some experiential value. We may not always think in "words", but we always think via some semiotic code; aka "language". This does not deny a certain pre-intellectual awareness, an aesthetic "abduction" (as Peirce would say), a sympathetic intuition (paraphrasing Einstein), but when you "think" you manipulating symbols. "Thinking" is much more than "neural activity", or nerve signal transmission. I would really encourage you at this point to forgo reading structuration theories, and instead read Helen Keller's The Story of My Life. "I was like that ship before my education began, only I was without compass or sounding-line, and had no way of knowing how near the harbour was. "Light! give me light!" was the wordless cry of my soul, and the light of love shone on me in that very hour. ... I knew then that "w-a-t-e-r" meant the wonderful cool something that was flowing over my hand. That living word awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, set it free! There were [pre-language] barriers still, it is true, but barriers that could in time be swept away." (Keller) Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org/md/archives.html
