From owner-freebsd-chat Tue May 28 11:31: 4 2002 Delivered-To: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Received: from invert.com (invert.com [209.164.21.15]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0193C37BB6F for ; Tue, 28 May 2002 11:30:06 -0700 (PDT) Received: (from mee@localhost) by invert.com (8.11.3/8.11.3) id g4SIUkP44436 for chat@FreeBSD.ORG; Tue, 28 May 2002 11:30:46 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from mee) Date: Tue, 28 May 2002 11:30:46 -0700 From: Mike Erickson To: chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Language in danger: Language loss Message-ID: <20020528183046.GA34045@quidquam.com> Mail-Followup-To: chat@FreeBSD.ORG References: <3CF17486.F06F3E6A@mindspring.com> <20020527104558.B43610@wantadilla.lemis.com> <3CF2710E.BE2710EC@mindspring.com> <20020528104724.B37937@lpt.ens.fr> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20020528104724.B37937@lpt.ens.fr> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.0i Sender: owner-freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk List-ID: List-Archive: (Web Archive) List-Help: (List Instructions) List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Loop: FreeBSD.org * Rahul Siddharthan (rsidd@online.fr) wrote: > Terry Lambert said on May 27, 2002 at 10:46:54: > > > I would argue that this issue is handled largely by reflex, with > > > relatively little conscious thought. What conscious thought has gone > > > into this process happened before the situation began, so your reflex > > > is going to be guided by your memory of the overall situation > > > immediately before the unexpected occurrence. > > > > You know, I was going to liken driver's training and playing such > > situations over in your head before the event itself, to a "kata", > > which is (basically) a martial arts technique for training reflexes to > > carry through into useful actions. But then I thought "Naw, they'd > > never buy that one". 8-). > > Actually, I would argue that all thought really occurs at some such > subconscious level, and when you're thinking "consciously" you're > really playing these thoughts back to yourself. You can force > yourself to think about a problem, but often the answer comes to you > as a sudden insight when you're thinking about something else (or > think you're thinking about something else). Training and practice > (in mathematics or computer programming or whatever) serve only to > streamline this unconscious process. Haven't you all stared at a math problem with a blank mind and had the non-trivial answer just pop out of your mouth? That's all the proof *I* need to believe that my brain is doing more than what I can observe directly. Or when you can't think of a word/concept/name/etc, and then the next day you randomly yell it out as your subconsious google finally returns a result... ;) The idea that thought is bound by the limits of language is not only rediculous, it's scary. mike To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message