Is Thinking?

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   tirelesstravelerposted 10 years ago

   What is your approach to thinking.  If you look at the title of this forum you may be wondering aka thinking.  Is thinking what? Did the rest of the title get deleted?  What is tireless thinking.  It a musing for the day or is their something serious on her mind?  This is entirely serious. 
   Think.
   http://townhall.com/columnists/thomasso … e-n1581910

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      Beth37posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      My first thought, before I even opened the thread was motive... your motive was to cause us to open this thread in order to satisfy our curiosity. My thought pattern almost always goes straight to motive. Don't know why, but motive is really important to me.

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      ytsenohposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Good subject.  We can generalize people by saying most of them don't think.  I think the problem is that most people don't listen, really listen.  Some people really lack awareness too, which is a product of not processing thought in an effective manner.  Your title actually reminded me of an old poem, and I can't recall the poet quickly, but there's a phrase in it that says, "let be, be the finale of seem."

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         tirelesstravelerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         So true.

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   JaxsonRaineposted 10 years ago

   Most people don't think. I'm convinced that's the only explanation for the state of our society.
   
   They have had neuro-pathways formed for them already, and most of their existence is just experience one kneejerk reaction after another.

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      Beth37posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Interesting.

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         JaxsonRaineposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         About 75% of people vote the same way as their parents did. Their way of thinking is formed by what they are taught.
         
         The brain is an interesting thing. When someone tells you a new thought, a new pathway is created in your brain. The more times that thought is activated, the more that pathway is activated. The more the pathway is activated, the stronger the pathway becomes. Think of it like erosion:
         
         You start with some relatively flat ground. Pour a little water in one spot, and it will form a channel. Pour a lot of water on that same spot, and the channel gets bigger and bigger. Same with the brain.
         
         The majority of what we consider 'thinking' is nothing more than the activation of existing pathways.

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            Beth37posted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Yes, that sounds right. I have met quite a few ppl who are slow to speak and decide things... they are grounded in what they believe yet open minded. I so admire these ppl.

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            tirelesstravelerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Very true.

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      tirelesstravelerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Or it is easier to just go with the flow than to think?

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   Ericdierkerposted 10 years ago

   I have met some real gifted athletes, and some real special students and some artists that seem born that way. OK there may be some genetic contributions. But I have never seen someone born knowing how to think. (I assume here we are talking of a reptilian brain type of thinking function) I mean to say it is not a "God Given" gift, from birth, meaning a stupid mother does not produce offspring that are stupid but she can teach them to be stupid like herself. Those offended by the use of the term stupid do not understand it and should offended -- get it ;-)
   
   Somebody has to teach us how to think. NO NOt what to think. How to think.
   
   We do not offer such courses in public schools. Parents normally do not stop and think about how they think so it is hard to pass it on. Is thinking natural? Yes but like running you have to learn how to do it, or like so many people they never run correctly.
   
   Thinking is an area of arrogance. They get Descartes backwards, I am therefore I think. Something like Sum ergo Cogito. Wrong.
   
   When our society grasps the notion of teaching people how to think we will start having an informed citizenry and dumb politics will die. And our governance leaders will begin appropriate behavior. But that will not happen until then.

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      Kathryn L Hillposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      ...meanwhile what are the university professors teaching future teachers?
      I dropped out early on.
      Before they could indoctrinate me with their lies.
      and their conjectures
      and their surmises
      and their theories...
      based on lies and conjectures and psychological theories.
      
      Open their brains and pour in as much knowledge as you can. Don't worry about whether your students are ready/ interested or not. Your job is to pour in as much information as you can from the second their day starts.
      
      Thats what I was told by an Educational Psychology professor. Thinking not required at all. In fact thinking might block the teacher's flood of pertinent info.

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   SpanStarposted 10 years ago

   I agree with this article.
   
   But I will go further than what the article has presented. In our modern age we cultivate the idea of not thinking. Take on the job descriptions for instance, in my life I have seen a number of these job descriptions that spell out everything to do short of telling you how long you can scratch your bottom.
   
   If there is ever a computer error do you really think it's the human they believe?
   
   Look at how we converse with one another here on hub pages grabbing other people statistics, focus on other people's articles. If one were to formulate a concept based upon an argument what might be the first thing you would hear? "Where Is Your Proof?"
   
   We implement and perpetuate this idea of not thinking.

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   Mighty Momposted 10 years ago

   Intriguing title.
   Is thinking, perhaps, as simple as turning one's brain "on?"
   Not learned but inherent in our humanness?
   Can we think without being trained or programmed?
   I think maybe we can and do, from a very young age.
   There are different kinds of thinking.
   Sometimes thinking is questioning.
   Sometimes thinking is problem-solving.
   Sometimes thinking is creative mental meandering leading to discoveries.. or nowhere.
   Sometimes thinking is judging.
   Sometimes thinking is a confusing jumble of intrusive ideas.
   That last one sounds very familiar to me.
   Time to stop thinking and turn the old tired brain... and the computer... off for the night.
   

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