VARIEDNESS OF THE MIND

6 minutes read

Why don't we sit on the chair (for typing on the computer on the desk), in exactly the same fashion everyday? Why don't we wear our same-sized T-shirt in exactly the same fashion every morning? Why dont 2 soccer matches between 2 teams with each having the same players on the 2 occasions, and played on identical grounds yield the same result? 

Suppose your friend is sitting besides you. You poke his shoulder with your finger. He will say “ouch! What?” You do this again. He will be irritated again, but react differently - not exactly alike. But when I click on my File tab in Microsoft Word, everytime, the same menu will drop down; everything's the same every time. (Here also, it is not certain that even if you do this 100 times, the 101st time, the menu will pop down. But induction takes care of that.)


Why this difference? What is the reason for this “variedness” and “diversity” every time in the case of humans? What is the reason for this fixedness in case of the ‘File tab, Microsoft Word, screen, mouse, cursor'-system and there not being so in case of your ‘friend’s mind, his body, your poking hand’-system? Both have “codes” in them. Our brain is an organised entity which reacts in certain ways to certain stimuli. A poke is like a physical force acting from the side; the reactions should be the same on both the occasions if the speed and intensity of the poke is the same and at the same place on the shoulder, on the 2 occasions. 


Two reasons : 

One difference is MEMORY / “BAGGAGE” / CONTEXT. The first poke goes in memory, influencing the way the second poke is received by the system. There is a “baggage” of the first poke. There is a context generated by the first poke, contributing to the state of your system before the reception of the second poke, making the second reaction different. There is no such memory in the File tab for the clicks.*

Also, in real life, no two situations (at 2 different instances in time) are exactly alike. So the state of the mind on any 2 occasions cannot be exactly alike since the input signals from these surroundings that are coming are different, at least slightly, everytime. So my reactions to the same thing are going to be different on different occasions.


*Now, one might say that this can be done if the machine maintains a log of the activity (btw is the maintenance of a kind of a “log” of ‘what's happening’, consciousness?) of the clicks and “randomly” generates a slightly varied response everytime there is a click on the File tab. This would be like the friend’s different reactions on exactly similar pokes every time. But such machine randomness isn't really randomness because, due to the code you have created for enabling that process in the machine, the machine, in concept and principle has pre-occupations on what “random” change to generate every time; it's just that you the programmer aren't aware of those preoccupations and have this illusion of randomness.  

There is nothing random and varied and diverse in the mind. It's all a response based on the very initial state from which it started. Very complex to map and write down; but exists in principle definitely. 


Extending this, there is nothing random in the universe as a whole. The initial state of things has decided everything. It's just that we cannot put down all those variables and predict things. But the predictive answer exists. Just like the initial velocity and angle of shooting decides everything for a projectile motion - the range, time of flight, maximum height etc. 


The combination of machine, mind and the world (surroundings) in the universe is behaving in this predictable fashion every second. It's just that it is out of our human bounds to know of all of those predictions. 


Is this what they call destiny? Lets see if the creation of smart machines is there in this “script”!

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