Neil Moffatt
Coleen Walter@NicelyManifest Your question led me to other questions. Thoughts are abstractions with roots in the physical-body and environment. Thoughts shape personality in the individual and the culture within a group.
Should we consider the possibility that some animals (elephants, rats, crows) may have culture or just dismiss that as anthropomorphism? Elephants mourn and grieve lost calves. Trees communicate through their fungal networks and seem to reach consensus about sharing resources. 1 of 2
@NicelyManifest 2 of 2
We marvel at the technical skill of animals - spiders and their amazing silk! But could some animals have a culture of their own? Maybe we just don't grasp their vocabulary and syntax.
We marvel at the technical skill of animals - spiders and their amazing silk! But could some animals have a culture of their own? Maybe we just don't grasp their vocabulary and syntax.
@coleenwalter I think we fail to want to see in animals what we see as defining features of ourselves. Panskeep spent a decade or more studying animal emotion - and warned that this was pointless by others - in order to then study human emotion. We share 6 basic emotional systems with animals, one of which is the rage circuit ...
You can see in dog eyes that there is a lot of sentience. That tends to correlate with thinking.
@NicelyManifest I was grateful to see an open ended question on Mastodon today. My answer was probably strange but that’s where the question took me.
@coleenwalter Thanks. Much of modern life and dialogue tends to be trapped in habits I feel.
Education systems do not help - they strait jacket children rather than expand and evolve them.
I have many dialogues with AI regarding the mind. Many very interesting responses. Recent one is how we do not consciously think - that thinking is the role of the subconscious. What we call thinking is enabling steering and vetting that thinking.
@coleenwalter Do you write? I ask as I used to write, often finding it cathartic.
@NicelyManifest I don’t write often. Sometimes I scribble about something that scares me but then I toss it in the trash. I prefer to enjoy the efforts of writers rather than doing the writing myself. If I make up a story I usually just tell it to my husband rather than write it out.
@coleenwalter But is this how you prefer things to be? Maybe judging what you write limits its enjoyment? What do you think?
@NicelyManifest I think it’s more I don’t need to keep a permanent record of my thoughts or stories. I like conversations or just listening to someone. It’s unpredictable and also impermanent. I wish there were more places for people to practice and experience oral storytelling traditions.
@coleenwalter Understood.
I talk with people wherever I go as I might have mentioned. Often, after an amazing connection, it occurs to me that a repeat meeting with this person would not be the same.
We need not attach to words or events or people quite as much as we might feel we should.
Mostly - some like partners that is different of course.