No Thoughts At All?

by Cadmar
(Richmond)

If one is in a sensor deprivation chamber and after a while emotions are ended, would that lead to having no thoughts in the brain?

My view is that the mind resembles an automated production line. It cycles continuously, while it is conscious. It intuitively selects "priorities" and triggers into consciousness the next one of the many thoughts running in many parallel systems.

Emotions cannot be ended. They can only be quietened. Under the circumstances, any one of a myriad sequence of thoughts can step into consciousness.

Sensory deprivation is believed to lead a level of disorientation. The possibilities are endless.

Editor

I think we're saying the same things that the neural patterns produce "thoughts" to a state in which we are conscious of (be able to sense the thoughts) and is also a small component to the entire functions of the brain. I read that the conscious component can be compared to as a small closet in a mansion of many rooms (the other functions of the brain).

I can also summarize all my thoughts as a product of my body's physical needs for survival which are: nourishment, safety, and the ability to reproduce. It is then a natural progression to make the claim that all my thoughts are variations to "I want". In essence, for some reason, the patterns of neurons are triggering my "I want" from essential needs to desires (things I desire).

So, in one sense, the body will always produce the neural patterns for the essentials "I need" for survival, but does not need "thoughts" to have this accomplished. In other words, to have no thoughts is to have no "I want". And to "I want" to have no "I want (thoughts)" will never work as how can a thought which is basically dead and is a product of these neural patterns change or end another neural pattern?

To me, the only way to end "I want" (which is thought) is to end the source for "I want".

What do you think? Am I simplifying too much? I wait for your insights.

Even the most complex ideas can still be expressed in simple terms. But, neural pattern recognition is more complex than "I want." Only death can stop all neural activity.

Editor

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No thoughts At All?
by: Cadmar

If the mind is an automated production line that cycles continuously (in a conscious state), then there must be some source for this energy. That is if a thought is a pattern of excited neurons then this pattern has no power to cause or trigger another thought. That means that the source for thoughts must come from outside the brain and through the sensors (all these sensory sources are outside the brain).

My view is that all nerve cells are recognizing patterns and responding, or becoming inhibited on an ongoing basis. As long as the brain is alive, the needed energy is available for this process.

Emotions can be viewed as sophisticated chemical release within the brain. Perhaps these chemical release are not the source for thoughts even though the brain senses them.

Emotions are triggered by neural activity in the limbic system - also an ongoing process, even while dreaming.

In a deprivation chamber would it not reduce these sensor sources for thoughts and hopefully a reduction in the amount of chemical release within the brain.

A deprivation chamber could trigger the emotion of panic.

If this is the case, then, there should be a small or little source for any pattern of thoughts. Eventually, will you not end up as having no source for any patterns of thought or the real subtle source or ability that has the energy to stimulate patterns of neurons?

In a deprivation chamber one can become disoriented because the the feedback loop is broken. The pattern of neurons reflect the on-going sensory sensation which will always be 100% accurate. Different amount of energy will have a different number and pattern of neurons. Because the brain does not have sensors then that ability to read the differences between the two patterns must come outside the brain in some capacity as an accute sensory for "vibration".

I hope this kind of gets to what I am asking?

Thoughts do not provide the energy for neural functions. They are the result of such functions.

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THE CONTENTS OF THIS WEBSITE

Mind Control Tips

Hidden Emotions

Pattern Recognition Processes Of The Mind

Artificial Intelligence & Robotics

At The Workplace

Once, Decades Ago, I Tripped Over The Divine

For me, the flash of insight into the sublime happened way back in 1989. It suddenly revealed how we think! We think the way we do, because of an algorithm! That astonishing perspective flashed into my view quite by accident, while transferring a Prolog AI disease recognition procedure to a Lotus spreadsheet.  I had inadvertently reversed the logic of the Expert System, instructing it to eliminate improbabilities, instead of selecting probabilities. Such algorithms are just repetitive procedures. Cold and logical lines of code. But, they yield dependable results. Algorithms are just mechanical tools. But, this algorithmic code was unique.

The capability of the algorithm was that it could sift a million books to identify a single idea. I knew the mind identified complex patterns when you just opened your eyes!  For the next few months, glimpses of probable neural accomplishments through instant pattern recognition kept waking me up at 3 a.m. I kept adding to the list on paper. The dots just kept connecting. Decades later, more possible links keep opening up new horizons - say, the seat of consciousness or the persistence of working memory. This algorithm could distinguish between good and evil. It could make us weep in anguish or gasp in wonder.  Could it be the fabled divine gift to life?

It worked in the mind. Gray's Anatomy was an exhaustive source and a starting point for me. Its 1500 pages listed the functions of virtually every mental organ. The algorithm could link them all into a single mind that could suture an artery, while recalling a tennis match. Starting at the input level, it focused your senses. The light from the heavens. The songs of the birds. The touch of a loved one. The fragrance of a rose. The taste of chocolate. We were blessed with millions of receptors, which flashed this magnificent perception of the world to the sensory regions of our cortex. There were association regions there, which could use the algorithm on this data to identify a pencil, or a word. We could separate the idea of a gun from the idea of a war in the abundance of incoming sensory patterns.

Object and event recognition. Algorithmic pattern recognition could act at every stage of mental processing. Things were happening all around us. There was a limbic system, where the algorithm could identify between good and bad happenings. It generated emotions. This mammalian region could drive us to attack in anger, or flee in terror. It was the limbic system, which held us in thrall. It filled us with despair, or tortured us in grief. It made us question the very meaning of life. Life was so unfair. Why did we have to suffer so?

Sadly, we lacked the capacity to naturally see our emotions and feelings. The limbic system was invisible to us. It was the algorithm, which caused the motor system to transform those emotions and feelings into actions. Hunger made us raid the frig. We went to work every day to avoid the pain of guilt. Love reminded us to pick up children from school. Hatred built the death camps. In the end, urges from the limbic system drove us out of Eden.

As a precious compensation, algorithmic pattern recognition ascended to higher levels. Our prefrontal regions gifted us with science and logic. Those skills enabled us to understand the vast structures of the cosmos. We built leviathans, which could sail the oceans and fly the skies. We explored the heavens. Our powerful civilizations conquered the continents and explored the cosmos. Even more, the algorithm also pointed us to the divine, which defied logic and definition. We sensed the order and beauty, which, like the laws of nature, existed from the beginning of time.

Pattern recognition dealt with subtleties. Reason and logic could not create great symphonies, or works of art. Why do we stand in awe of the sunset? Or find joy in a lilting song, or in the laugh of a baby?  Nerve cells recognized such patterns without our awareness and fired to initiate the skin tingling thrill. Who, but the Designer, could possibly want to hard wire us to thrill to the astonishing splendor of the design?

Over three decades have passed since my first glimpse of the truth. Like an ancient city hidden by forest cover, the vast and invisible city of the mind has many avenues linking its great palaces and temples. I also realized that those divine pattern recognition paths led to still spaces, untrammelled by the ravages of emotions and feelings.... Life was worth living! Even the great sages of the past advised us to still passions to empower the sublime within us. The divine stillness lives at the core. You too can find your home there.

The information provided in this website is useful for the modification of normal behavioral patterns. Please do get professional help, before applying the advice for the treatment of any abnormal behaviors. Copyright ©2008 by Ebbi Thomas. All rights reserved. This material may be freely published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.