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thedaywalker
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15 May 2012, 9:36 am

are thoughts real?



naturalplastic
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15 May 2012, 10:04 am

thedaywalker wrote:
are thoughts real?


ofcourse they are real.
They are not tangible, but theyre real.



YourMajesty
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15 May 2012, 10:23 am

When you think them they're real, after that they're gone. Thoughts are the result of brain processes, and not just the process is real, but the output too, because we live in a partially abstract world, in which relations between objects for example exist, without having a physical form.



HisDivineMajesty
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15 May 2012, 11:07 am

If they're memories, though, they must have existed in the time between being created and being actively remembered.
Yes, I'll go for 'thoughts are real', or 'thoughts are just as real as everything else in the world'.



snapcap
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15 May 2012, 12:32 pm

Everything invented was a thought to begin with.


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Last edited by snapcap on 16 May 2012, 12:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.

techstepgenr8tion
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15 May 2012, 9:11 pm

Here's a few points to ponder:

Take for instance - we and our lives were built to happen since the beginning of time - the past is the earlier part of the DVD, the now is the now in at least one plank of our minds while everything else perceived is in the past the farther out from that given plank space and even more so as we look with our eyes out farther.

Kids often have imaginary friends - some of those relationships can get quite complex, even mimick real life to a point.

That imaginary friend or companion a child or occasionally even adults may have technically is 'real', was just as predestined to exist and 'act' in the person's mind the way it did since the beginning of time - hence when you were a kid the 'universe' (likely much more than just our particular local 'bang) not only had created you but created your imaginary friends and created their personalities as much as yours. In a way your imaginary friends were every bit as 'real' as you were.


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edgewaters
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15 May 2012, 9:18 pm

I would have to say they are, since they have a measurable physical presence in the form of electrical and chemical transmissions across synapses.



spacebrain
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15 May 2012, 9:53 pm

No, they are not real.

To complicate the question a degree; Are thoughts we have forgotten real? Or rather, does a tree make a sound when it falls and nobody's around? What is real to us as conscious beings, is that which we experience. But we see through the lense of our mind, which is skewed by concepts of time, and self-agrandizing of itself for it's complexity. A forgotten thought is a lost one, and ceases to exists. In that, what is real, is that which outlives those who may observe. But, if this universe came from nothing, it will probably return to nothing. Therefore, we harvesters of thoughts are as unexisting as the world that surrounds us. The only way then for our universe to exist would be for a god who can witness it, like we might catch a glimpse of a single raindrop falling and disappearing into a puddle.



Robdemanc
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16 May 2012, 12:42 pm

I would say they are more real than anything else because they are more provable than anything else.

You may look around and think the grass and the trees are real, but they are just your minds interpretation of the signals recieved from the eyes.

You may touch yourself and think I am real, but that is only the signals from your fingertips to your brain where you mind gives you the sensation of touching your body.

All these processes involve thought, so the most we can say is that thoughts are real.

No matter what you believe (materialist or otherwise) your thoughts are involved. You believe because you think you believe.....

You know what I mean?



ruveyn
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16 May 2012, 12:46 pm

thedaywalker wrote:
are thoughts real?


As real as the electrochemical energy that registers on an EEG.

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ruveyn
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16 May 2012, 12:46 pm

snapcap wrote:
Everything invented was a thought to begin with.


The electrochemical process of thought leads to the act of inventing.

ruveyn