Phat writes:
If I wrote a book and/or recorded my thoughts and ideas (or even music) then my thoughts would be preserved long after my physical body had died----right?
Ned writes:
Only if you think you have been preserved in a photograph taken of you. The "thoughts" that you can record in a book or other form are not much more of the actual thoughts that make up the conscious you than the photograph is your body.
Perhaps with a better recording medium it will be possible to talk about your "thoughts", in a more meaningful sense, being preserved.
A better term here might be "ideas" -- your ideas have been preserved and at the very, very most a tiny bit of the thoughts behind them.
Ideas, ideas....hmmmm
*ponder, ponder*
Webster writes:
Main Entry: idea
1 a : a transcendent entity that is a real pattern of which existing things are imperfect representations b : a standard of perfection : ideal c : a plan for action : design
2 archaic : a visible representation of a conception : a replica of a pattern
3 a obsolete : an image recalled by memory b : an indefinite or unformed conception c : an entity (as a thought, concept, sensation, or image) actually or potentially present to consciousness
4 : a formulated thought or opinion
5 : whatever is known or supposed about something a child's idea of time
6 : the central meaning or chief end of a particular action or situation
7 Christian Science : an image in Mind
-idea adjective
synonyms idea, concept, conception, thought, notion, impression meaning what exists in the mind as a representation (as of something comprehended) or as a formulation (as of a plan).
idea may apply to a mental image or formulation of something seen or known or imagined, to a pure abstraction, or to something assumed or vaguely sensed
concept may apply to the idea formed by consideration of instances of a species or genus or, more broadly, to any idea of what a thing ought to be
conception is often interchangeable with concept; it may stress the process of imagining or formulating rather than the result
thought is likely to suggest the result of reflecting, reasoning, or meditating rather than of imagining-- "commit your thoughts to paper". notion suggests an idea not much resolved by analysis or reflection and may suggest the capricious or accidental you have the oddest notions
.impression applies to an idea or notion resulting immediately from some stimulation of the senses the first impression is of soaring height.
It is clear that the progression of science lies in the ability to transmit and modify or refute ideas and concepts from one generation to another.
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