Makes Sense to Me

Posted by blogmother on
Humans and some animals can think ahead. Many plants seem to be able to sense ahead.
Which human senses can we use to sense ahead? Are the senses separable from the act of thinking ahead? Is it kinetic?

Would we know it? Would the very act of thinking about it cause it to vanish?

I need dialogue here – or preferably sixalogue.

Comments

Kian said…
By 'think ahead,' it seems to me you mean to be able to accurately, or at least reliably, discern the delayed effect that a given, perceived cause will have. If that's the case, then in my opinion all the senses are at least potentially involved, in that it is through the perception of the world that causes are discerned. We generate moderately accurate models of the behavior of the natural world based on our perceptions of it, but our models are continually being corrected as we discover the myriad ways in which our expectations fail to be fulfilled. Our senses being the building blocks from which our world models are generated, they are also the sources of our predictions, but they're a step removed, meaning that different senses can seem to cross paths in the mix.
Saturday, May 20, 2006 2:55:00 AM
blogmother said…
When you say "cross paths" do you mean like crossing the streams, or like when we smell something from our past, visions rush in?

And if it is the latter (which I suspect) then the sense of smell must have been incorporated into that learning. But we don't recall actively and consciously smelling the smell that evokes.

Just as today I don't suddenly look up and say, "This table where I am sitting, listening to sorta loud music as I look out the window on a grey day smells this particular way." Yet in 5 or (more likely) 15 or more years I will catch a scent of something that will remind me of when I would sit at this table, listening to sorta loud music and looking out the window toward a grey day.

My smeller is working, but I am unaware of it, unless something makes me notice.
Saturday, May 20, 2006 7:28:00 PM
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