A few years ago, drunk on the intoxicating notions of Game Theory, I came up with (what I thought to be) a clever Idea on Faith in God. Of course, I found out that the same thing had already been thought about by a seventeenth century philosopher. That and all the other glorious, yet already discovered ideas that I have come up with while growing up has really got me thinking about the concept of thinking.
Have we reached a point in human history where ideas have, quite simply, been depleted? Of course, the first reaction is no. There are new discoveries and inventions that occur on a daily basis. Books, Movies, Music, all of which require concept have evolved in fresh and innovative ways. Change is all around us; from the way buildings are constructed to the new (and highly shady) ways our finances are taken care of. So what’s the fuss about, you ask?
I am not thinking about these creations. They are extraordinary and they awe us – yes. But what I feel is that the underlying concept – the idea beneath each act of creation, has already been thought of before – just that there was no means of actually implementing it then. I am not talking about descriptive stuff (so don’t make statements like the ancient Greeks thinking about the Higgs-Boson). But the basic idea(let us continue the metaphor and say atomic physics – the idea would thinking about small stuff) has been established long back.
Is it that inconceivable? We can estimate that about 100 billion humans have existed . Put an average age of 25 years, and that we are awake for 12 hours/day . This works out to around 1250 billion years of thought – around 90 times the currently estimated age of the universe. For all our distractions and our required actions, we can churn out thoughts quite frequently. This applies for everyone -from the dumbest guy to the smartest. Besides, all people have something they are good at – and they would think about that. Does it really seem that odd that what you are thinking about right now – at least the essence of the idea in your head – has been thought of before?
When I listen to people talking about governance, art, science or just plain life and giving their two-bit’s worth, I am already thinking about something which is not taken into account – due to which any solutions that have not been implemented would fail. Whatever is happening in life represents a move towards equilibrium, or it would not have happened at all, right? So is there any point to thinking, at least in a broad aspect? Should we merely focus on specific details, ignoring universality?
My head hurts. So I will leave you with that thought. I’ve already had it, so it isn’t original.