Thinking about thinking

[kuranes]

I reflect on things, including reflection itself etc. I rehearse possibilities and extrapolate probabilities of which possibilities I am more likely to encounter etc., but I don't think I address my subconscious much ( other than indirectly through dream and poetic metaphor etc. ) or it wouldn't be a SUBconscious. ( I am not one of those people who can drastically change his metabolic processes just by thinking about them. )

I am very interested in the subject of consciousness, though, and have been reading some interesting books lately on that and Qualia etc. I created several threads on this at INTPc. ( Ramachandran and others. )

[Aimahn]

Originally Posted by kuranes

I reflect on things, including reflection itself etc. I rehearse possibilities and extrapolate probabilities of which possibilities I am more likely to encounter etc., but I don't think I address my subconscious much ( other than indirectly through dream and poetic metaphor etc. ) or it wouldn't be a SUBconscious. ( I am not one of those people who can drastically change his metabolic processes just by thinking about them. )

I am very interested in the subject of consciousness, though, and have been reading some interesting books lately on that and Qualia etc. I created several threads on this at INTPc. ( Ramachandran and others. )

I am a little curious/interested in some of your thoughts on consciousness. I remember reading a couple of books about neuro-plasticity and how much conscious control you can have over some of your conscious processes. Pardon my ignorance but are those names you mentioned more spiritual, religious type people? I think there was a study relatively recently that looked at a bunch of monks and found remarkable evidence of how much control they had over the states of "consciousness".

[Nocapszy]

Compared against everyone I've ever known, I'll give myself a 10.
Compared to what I could be I'd give myself a 1.

[Aimahn]

Originally Posted by Nocapszy

Compared against everyone I've ever known, I'll give myself a 10.
Compared to what I could be I'd give myself a 1.

I think that response sort of highlights the difficulty in measuring it on a scale. Can you ever reach a point where you feel like you have maximized your meta-cognitive ability. It seems like it is necessary and somewhat desirable for it to be sort of a continuous loop. I think there needs to be a constant striving to reorganize as you experience more and receive more data and also on a comparative basis I'm sure everyone has a very unique and varied cognitive system.

[Grayscale]

Originally Posted by Aimahn

I do have one question though. would you say that you have a more clear and multi-purpose ordered mental state?

that is to say have you reached a point where your confident in fully utilizing your meta-cognitive abilities for a wide variety of things and are you very aware of all the processes?

Originally Posted by Nocapszy

Compared against everyone I've ever known, I'll give myself a 10.
Compared to what I could be I'd give myself a 1.

Originally Posted by Aimahn

I think that response sort of highlights the difficulty in measuring it on a scale. Can you ever reach a point where you feel like you have maximized your meta-cognitive ability. It seems like it is necessary and somewhat desirable for it to be sort of a continuous loop. I think there needs to be a constant striving to reorganize as you experience more and receive more data and also on a comparative basis I'm sure everyone has a very unique and varied cognitive system.

i am confident in my ability to be cognitively "resourceful", but i dont think it would be possible to ever reach a stopping point. you do, however, tend to take larger "leaps" less often, because as time goes in more things will fit into the existing pattern structure, and it is exponentially less likely that you will encounter a need for metacognitive expansion.

most of the time it plateus into a balance between application and introspective scanning, when the pattern breaks substantially then a closer, hyperanalysis can begin. of course, i have also considered the need many have (myself included) for reaching a point of "rest"... then, behind the growth of metacognitive awareness is also the development of ability to camouflage thinking within the pattern, so one must also be more tedious about spotting the inconsistencies when introspecting.

the brain can be tricky it is a constant battle, always striving to reach into the meta-conscious, needing the sub-conscious but always being wary of its assumptions. eventually I just say the hell with it and go play a game of twister.

[kuranes]

Originally Posted by Aimahn

I am a little curious/interested in some of your thoughts on consciousness.

Ramachandran is a scientist, but you're right about monks. I read that certain Zen practitioners constantly oscillate back and forth between Theta wave state and a waking state when in a certain meditative mode.

Thanks for your interest. When I have a little more time I'll expand.

[Martoon]

So if we're all here thinking about metacognition, is that metametacognition? Or metacognition cognition?

I'll have to think about that...

[evan]

meta^n cognition

[Hmm]

Originally Posted by Grayscale

this is also why i admire idealism, from a "thinking strategy" standpoint it is an effective approach, even if not always entirely factual, due to subconcious target fixation

That's horrible. Please leave idealism out of all of your "strategizing".

[heart]

Thinking about thinking is probably the most important thinking that can be thought.