A model for thought part -1

Submitted by infojunkie on Thu, 2009-03-19 13:37.
in
  • a Thought is the activation of one or more nodes in the disconnected graph of Rational Memory
  • links in this graph constitute logical / semantic relationships among thoughts
  • a Circuit is an activated path in a connected subgraph
  • a circuit is also a thought. for example, a sentence is a circuit
  • a link in this graph can spawn a new node - the thought that these two thoughts are linked
  • thinking means tracing circuits in the graph
  • knowledge is stored as connected subgraphs + circuits
  • organizing one's thoughts means inserting new thoughts in their relevant graphs by linking them to existing thoughts
  • there is an index of graphs and of circuits - they are called names.
  • names are also circuits that compress the original circuit. hence the difficulty of naming things
  • problem-solving: a problem is a set of thoughts that are not connected - a disconnected subgraph. Moreover, the goal circuit is incomplete: there are nodes with no values (or equivalently, links that point to a dummy node instead of pointing to the desired value). the solution is a circuit in the subgraph that has been connected during the exercise of problem-solving. the challenge of problem-solving is to connect the sub-graph *and* close the circuit.
  • creativity: the skill to link thoughts that are initially not linked. the skill lies in the strategic choice of linking those thoughts that will best suit future problem-solving. there are costs in linking thoughts: storage and processing. hence the thermoeconomics of thought.
  • understanding: given that we're dealing with an infinite number of dimensions of thoughts, any circuit defines a plane in the thought space (is that right?). understanding means finding a view-point in that space that stands below the circuit's plane, such that all nodes and links of the circuit are visible to the view-point. the view-point is related to the attention of the agent.
  • "my thoughts are spinning": chaotic circuits are being traced and no circuit is being closed
  • "can't wrap my thoughts around this": I cannot find a circuit for this problem
  • experience: a rich store of information, not stored in rational memory, but that can be queried. queries return sense perceptions not thoughts. sense perceptions can be transformed into thoughts.
  • what are links: logical operators, spatio-temporal operators.
  • what is the content of nodes? a bit. or a qubit ;-) represents being/non-being of that thought. all the rest is in the structure. Circle closed.