The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
First thoughts
DarkMess
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I was thinking last night about thought etc., and no matter which theory of creation you believe in (Creationism, Thetans or Evolution) there is some logical point at which Mankind has his first sentient, intelligable thought.
My question is simple; what do people think that thought was?
My question is simple; what do people think that thought was?
DarkMess on
0
Posts
[/SigmundFreud]
It's not just sentient, but intelligable that I'm looking for; a thought that is clearly intelligent, could be explained to another sentient being and is not simply based on instincts or reactions to stimuli.
Also a good guess.
-- (Terry Pratchett, alt.fan.pratchett)
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
Or maybe it was about sex. Something along the lines of "women > rocks".
My point is, rocks suck.
If I was sleeping on rocks, that's probably what I'd think.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
And then they threw their poop at someone.
That's orientationist. You're unfairly assuming the first people were heterosexual. Maybe they were wondering where all the white MEN were at.
ahahaha that's fantastic.
For example, I think dogs can do that. They are certainly self-aware enough to know their position in a family or pack.
So I don't think that there ever was a "first thought," at least how you've defined it.
edit: Yeah, he made that face too.
And you're a sexist pig, all assuming that the first thought was a man's.
Male WASPs were the first sentient beings in the universe. Fact.
I can talk.
I can talk!
I can talk!
I can SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING".
Isn't that the definition of sentience, some sort of self-awareness?
though, it was probably something along the lines of "why is it bright and cold all of a sudden?"
That's the problem with words, I suppose; they have different meanings based on who you ask. I was thinking of it more in the way of the second definition here, i.e. being conscious of what you are perceiving and not just reacting to it based upon instinct, but a quick scan of a lot of online dictionaries brings up several different definitions.
I suppose, as people have hastened to point out, that when it comes to evolution the question is trickier but I'd still think that there would have to be a point at which some ape/homo erectus first became conciously aware of his surroundings, and not just aware in the same way that an insect etc. is. After all, the point of Evolution is generally that one creature mutates in a way which is beneficial and then passes this on to its children, right?
I like a lot of the answers so far, and the, quite accurate, point that was made that it needn't have been a man that had the first thought!
I don't believe in God, but if Creationism is true then the first thought might have been "What just happened?".
Wait...
Is it wrong that I laughed?
One significant issue is that intelligence, self-awareness, and the like, is not binary. Rather, it seems to be more appropriately considered a continuous value, ranging from "completely unintelligent, and quite probably dead" to "perfectly intelligent". It's also not really measurable in any real sense – what I may consider unintelligent may, to some, be clearly intelligent. Pets are a good example of this, actually.
That's not a bad description of the process of evolution, but I'm at a bit of a loss as to what your point is when you bring it up. Again, though, I don't think it's a given that we can divide cognition into "insect" and "human".
Also, I am reminded of the first (and final) thoughts of the whale in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
I'm rather reminded of the bowl of petunias's thoughts.
"Meh."
I wonder if it'll be friends with me?
Oh man, yes.
Sapience, people, sapience.