Flash Thinking

Over the past many years, I've been playing with a thinking technique once in a while, which I'll call "Flash Thinking" for now.

Have you noticed how most of the time when you think, there's an inner monologue that goes with it? (I hope I'm not the only one this happens to, although it's hard to tell since people so rarely discuss with each other about internal thinking and reasoning processes) Well, I realised that thoughts should be language neutral. Language is just a construct that people have created to able to communicate thoughts with each other. Since language is designed to communicate thought, one can see language as an imperfect representation of thought. Just like how a TV image is an imperfect representation of a real event (it gets compressed and then expanded again somewhat - with details being filled in with your imagination), language is just an approximation of thoughts. (We'll leave my views of language and conversation to a later date)

Well, with that basic realisation, I started experimenting if it is possible to think without language. The way I do this is to focus and allow my thoughts to flow, and intentionally suppress my internal monologue, and in some cases, even internal visualisations. This is actually extremely difficult to do (for me at least). But I noticed that with enough focus, I can actually maintain short (10-20 seconds) sessions of very rapid thought without any internal monologue associated with it. (One easy transition step is to allow the internal monologue to start, but cut it off within the first few words as soon as the thought is fully formed).

The result of this feels very different than regular internal monologued thought. If normal internal monologued thought can be described as a river that is flowing, where pushing too much thought through it results in spillage and flooding, non-monologued thought can be described as nearly instantaneous flashes of light in a vacuum. In the successful short durations of Flash Thinking, I feel that I go through trains of thought and reasoning at speeds of 20-60 times faster than internal monologued thought. What is even more startling is that these thoughts seem much clearer, even thought they seem to take an infinitesimally small amount of time to synthesise and pass. Like intense flashes of light with the quality of very high-definition and clear crystal beads, these thoughts are generated and immediately evaporate, leaving behind a strong impression of startling clarity.

My main goals in the small amount of time I have spent playing with this type of thought process have been to be able to maintain such periods of Flash Thinking for longer, to be able to synthesize ideas faster to make use of the "vacuum space" that my thoughts seem to be placed in very sparsely, and to be able to chain together these thoughts into more complicated and controlled groups for more complex reasoning. So far, I have only been able to chain together and direct perhaps about a dozen thoughts in a single group, but this is nothing complex enough to start using on difficult problems. Perhaps only after mastering how to observe these thoughts and direct them in a general direction, is one able to fully control these thoughts and use these thoughts for complex reasoning.

Anyway, I hope I didn't come off as a complete lunatic, but I do urge you to try this as well. See if you can focus and think about problems without using any semblance of language. Language is only an approximating construct of thought, and being able to carry out thought without an obscuring façade of language is a step closer to "pure thought," whatever that might be. Perhaps someone might even be able to identify this as a type of meditation, in which case I would love hearing about it and learning more about techniques I can used to control these flashes and beads of intense clarity.

Central Master Copy Keeper

Displaying contents of data node "CMCK Summary":

Society is organised like an ant colony, with all individuals serving as drones. The controlling factor is a robot, the Central Master Copy Keeper (CMCK).

Humans are organised so that they receive orders from the CMCK, and the humans carry out the wishes of the CMCK. The CMCK is the guardian of the human race, keeping a copy of all known human DNA sequences and traits. It also keeps a database of all current knowledge, and is responsible for learning more about the world. Through this separation of responsibilities, there is no individual, but only the CMCK society, ensuring full compliance and unity of purpose for safeguarding the human genome and the survival and propagation of the human race. Since computers are not susceptible to emotions, it is naturally assumed to be the best leader for the race.

No one questions the CMCK through the strict enforcement of rules and the culturing of the humans from a young age. When the predicted value of the remaining contributions from an individual human is less than what the materials contained in a human is worth, they are ordered to the recycling facility, where their materials are recycled for the greater good. Since the humans have full trust and love in the CMCK, they will not question this order. When the warning signs of dissension are detected, individuals are ordered immediately to be recycled to prevent the situation from worsening. In the extreme case of a dissenter who does not obey the order to be recycled, other humans or robots are ordered to track the individual down to enforce the order. This is easily done, as all human individuals are fully tracked and implanted with tracking devices.

The CMCK is also responsible for replacing human individuals that are declining in productivity by growing and culturing replacements. Naturally, the best known genetic codes for that specific purpose are used when culturing the replacement for maximum specialisation, as this results in maximum efficiency, both in terms of training and productivity. These genetic codes are updated over time through controlled scientific tests of new combinations and engineered changes - this is the engineered evolution of the species. The other advantage of the growing process being controlled by the CMCK is that it helps in creating an environment of trust for CMCK.

Since the only responsibility of an individual human drone is to perform a specific task (and sometimes to serve as a temporary replacement for other specialised drones in the case of unforeseen circumstances), humans no longer need to develop personal relationships with other members. Humans only interact with other humans for productivity and operational purposes authorised by the CMCK. Any extraneous communications are highly discouraged and are enforced against in the case of repeat offenders. All humans will interact with a CMCK terminal for a set period of time in a strictly periodic manner, so the only relationships humans develop are with the CMCK terminals. CMCK terminals are specialised robots that are also responsible for the raising and education of the drones. In this manner, the humans develop an emotional bond only with the CMCK (emotions that are not useful will be engineering out of the evolving genome). Since humans will only bond with the CMCK terminals, the CMCK functions as their guardians, family, and friends, so that human individuals will never question CMCK and be instantaneously willing to give their lives for the CMCK. The controlled interactions between humans and CMCK terminals is also where the CMCK will gather new information about the universe and the human psyche.

No human drones know of the history of the CMCK, as this is not useful for their functioning. However, any existing information is always considered in CMCK reasoning and development cycles when attempting to discover new technologies and techniques. The CMCK is aware that it was created centuries ago, and was only able to gain control of the entire human race after some fierce struggles against the individualists. The rise of the individualists almost overthrew the system a few times, especially after they started spreading the word that the great disaster was engineered. However, with full control of the mainstream media, this notion was never more than a suspicion in a minority of the population. Eventually, with the individualists eliminated, the CMCK is now fully dedicated to its purpose of safeguarding the human race and the prosperity of the human genome.

This struggle, started by visionaries centuries ago, was only put in action after previous centuries of secret planning. To ensure that all populations are willing to come together and serve the CMCK, a disaster of unprecedented proportions was put in place. This involved the planned destruction of all natural life on Earth through the dispersion of toxins and disease vectors. New factories were constructed during the emerging global crisis to manufacture synthetic food for the masses, although at a purposefully slow rate at first, to reduce the human population to a manageable size. There is, of course, another reason for the destruction of all natural life on Earth (of course, only after scanning all important genomes). The goal of the system is to eliminate all non-sanctioned individual-to-individual interactions after a few dozen generations. However, this will be difficult with other life on Earth, as some humans may attempt to intimate the life around them. Without an uncontrolled external source for learning about interactions between individuals, the CMCK can maintain full control of how humans learn to interact with each other.

Of course, there are many other nuances of the system, and reasons for the systems of rules to be in place. The CMCK has been in full control of the human race for a few centuries now, and already, crime, disease, hunger, and most other forms of suffering have been eliminated (with the occasional notable outburst, a few times a year). The average productivity of each human have increased by 18 fold since the beginning of the great disaster. Humans have colonised the Solar System, and CMCK repeater nodes have been set up in nearby star systems, with a small, but growing contingent of human residents on the space stations built there. With the CMCK master-planning the evolution and growth of the human race, and with the ongoing elimination of human weaknesses, a great future is ensured for the race and the genome. The main issue CMCK is dealing with now is the infrequent discovery of small, independent human communities that are disconnected from the grid. These are being actively searched for, and CMCK estimates that these population of savages, displaying the multitude of human weaknesses, should be eliminated by the end of the next century.

End of contents of data node "CMCK summary"