Do humans have original thoughts? or is it all just the same set of ideas reused, rearrang
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I'm pretty sure each thought is at least a little bit unique. I doubt any two thoughts can be exactly alike, because the people thinking them will be different.
I don't think the human mind is capable of completely original thought.
Look at the way we delve into the answer to the question "how were we created?" No matter what solution we come up with, "God did it" or "Some stuff exploded", we always end up wondering what came before that.
I think everything in human thought has found inspiration from pre-existing concepts. Man didn't invent the wheel, he noticed that round things rolled and used it to his advantage.
An appropriate quote:
"If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants." - Isaac Newton
Look at the way we delve into the answer to the question "how were we created?" No matter what solution we come up with, "God did it" or "Some stuff exploded", we always end up wondering what came before that.
I think everything in human thought has found inspiration from pre-existing concepts. Man didn't invent the wheel, he noticed that round things rolled and used it to his advantage.
An appropriate quote:
"If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants." - Isaac Newton
I think original thought is a tough one. Are humans able to create entirely new concepts for which there is no evidence of on earth? Yes, they created religion, which took some entirely original thought. Before man there was no assumption or understanding of some higher power.
As for invention and innovation, well practically everything has an analogue in nature, from brains vs. computers, sonar or similar in sea creatures, to sea creatures adaptive camoflague vs. flat screen imaging nature thought of it first, and while it may not have evolved directly from seeing its appearance in nature and then adapted to human construction, it was still there, perhaps making it unoriginal.
I think humans have plenty of original thought in the process of concept creation - practically all of our knowledge is based off original thought and perspectives; maths, sciences, literature etc.
For inventions we often borrow from nature. For literature we borrow from those who wrote before us and so on, but without some sort of original thought human culture would not exist.
As for invention and innovation, well practically everything has an analogue in nature, from brains vs. computers, sonar or similar in sea creatures, to sea creatures adaptive camoflague vs. flat screen imaging nature thought of it first, and while it may not have evolved directly from seeing its appearance in nature and then adapted to human construction, it was still there, perhaps making it unoriginal.
I think humans have plenty of original thought in the process of concept creation - practically all of our knowledge is based off original thought and perspectives; maths, sciences, literature etc.
For inventions we often borrow from nature. For literature we borrow from those who wrote before us and so on, but without some sort of original thought human culture would not exist.
This is just one of those arguments for the existence of God (one of the better ones ill admit) but i believe the essence of being a Human is the ability to be original. It's jsut hard to be original these days becuase our sense are bombarded every second by the median (in all its forms). I guess it was easier to be original before all that...hence the wheel.
well , it all comes down on what does "original" exactly means , if it means a whole new idea which wasn't influenced by any other , then the answer is no , you can't be original , unless you -literally- live under a rock , but if means a more complex idea based on a simpler one or the other way around , then i think it's safe that there's a quite a handful of people out there who are original (whatever the hell that means)
The design process of the wheel was probably something like this.phi161 said:
"Hey, Karl..."
"Yes, Randy?"
"Check... Check it out, that Boulder is all like.... rolling down that hill..."
"Oh yeah... So it is, what's your point?"
"Well it seems to be going a mite bit faster than the guy running from it?"
"Oh? Who is it?"
"It looks like Geoff from hunting and gathering...Oof! Just got squished by the boulder..."
"Ah, we'll live."
"Y'know, those boulder's have got it right... I mean imagine if we could, y'know RIDE them?"
"Don't be stupid Randy, we'd fall off..."
"Well maybe if we make them flat and then put a hole in them..."
"Then they'd eb donuts..."
"... Here me out!, we flatten 'em, put a hole in them then using like... Logs or something, we stick em to another flat thing that we can sit on, then we ride them around..."
"... Ok, you got my attention, but what would we call this device?"
"... Ah!... Uh... Fuck..."
The name came some time later.
But really, mostly everything is made through inspiration first.
The originality really only comes in when you cosnider using said inspired design for something unconventional.
At least that's how I see it a majority of the time.
Perhaps this question can be answered using sweets.
The marshmallow, is an example of original thought. Whoever created that white soft fluffy thing that melts was a genius. There is no other food, or nothing on Earth than comes close to resembling a marshmallow. The name too, is fantastic.
Cookies on the other hand, cookies, while being the essence of pure awesome, are indeed a modified version of biscuits. The inventor of the cookie improved a previous idea. Whether this makes him `original` or not, depends of your point of veiw...or on the awesomeness of the cookie you happen to be eating.
The marshmallow, is an example of original thought. Whoever created that white soft fluffy thing that melts was a genius. There is no other food, or nothing on Earth than comes close to resembling a marshmallow. The name too, is fantastic.
Cookies on the other hand, cookies, while being the essence of pure awesome, are indeed a modified version of biscuits. The inventor of the cookie improved a previous idea. Whether this makes him `original` or not, depends of your point of veiw...or on the awesomeness of the cookie you happen to be eating.
isnt the OPs thought about all thoughts not being original infact an original thought
what about the internal combustion engine, surly that was an original thought
what about the internal combustion engine, surly that was an original thought
People hava original thought but it's rare becaues nearly everything has been thought at some point. However to each person many thoughts are original. I don't think anyone knows when a thought is or isn't original though, because we don't know what every other person has thought at any point of time.