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Do thought waves exist?

Iamme

Philosopher
I
Joined
Aug 5, 2003
Messages
6,215
Ever hear the expression that great minds think alike?
Ever hear or read up about synchronistic coincidences (syncronicity)?
Ever invent something only to learn it's been recently invented and you didn't know that?

You are not going to believe what I am going to tell me. You won't believe me and I can't prove what I am going to say. I am hoping you just believe me because I am not a liar (for the sake of lying).

I recently posted a topic or two in the religion forum here at JREF.The other day I had to do an inspection of a building whose siding has been under attack by woodpeckers. The apartment house is to be sold and an inspector is coming tomorrow. The woodpeckers have been on my mind. I thought that it sure is strange to have some creature that could evolve? so that it can beat it's head senseless without harm. And then I thought I'd be silly and start a thread entitled 'Woodpeckers prove the existance of God". Here, minutes ago, I go to the religious forum, and someone posted this very thing for a thread topic!!!! What?

What is the odds of this? A woodpecker. Not some other creature that can do amazing things or was given some remarkable defense system. Why was it the poster thought of posting the very thing (abstract thought/non-news related) I was thinking? about posting?
 
Behold the power of.... coincidence :)

Probably not an amazing thing that as spring begins, people are thinking of woodpeckers.
 
There are... it appears, 945,481 posts currently in the forum. Given the conversations in here and how likely it is to see an argument with an unusual evolutionary example come up... it isn't all that amazing is it?

But for what it's worth, I believe you. I don't think you are lying about your intent to post a thread similar to one that had just been posted.
 
Iamme said:
Ever hear the expression that great minds think alike?
Ever hear or read up about synchronistic coincidences (syncronicity)?
Ever invent something only to learn it's been recently invented and you didn't know that?

You are not going to believe what I am going to tell me. You won't believe me and I can't prove what I am going to say. I am hoping you just believe me because I am not a liar (for the sake of lying).

I recently posted a topic or two in the religion forum here at JREF.The other day I had to do an inspection of a building whose siding has been under attack by woodpeckers. The apartment house is to be sold and an inspector is coming tomorrow. The woodpeckers have been on my mind. I thought that it sure is strange to have some creature that could evolve? so that it can beat it's head senseless without harm. And then I thought I'd be silly and start a thread entitled 'Woodpeckers prove the existance of God". Here, minutes ago, I go to the religious forum, and someone posted this very thing for a thread topic!!!! What?

What is the odds of this? A woodpecker. Not some other creature that can do amazing things or was given some remarkable defense system. Why was it the poster thought of posting the very thing (abstract thought/non-news related) I was thinking? about posting?
Click to expand...
Phelps? You OK?
"ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZt, People, we have a annoucement. Don't take the brown acid."
 
Iamme said:
Ever hear the expression that great minds think alike?
Ever hear or read up about synchronistic coincidences (syncronicity)?
Ever invent something only to learn it's been recently invented and you didn't know that?

You are not going to believe what I am going to tell me. You won't believe me and I can't prove what I am going to say. I am hoping you just believe me because I am not a liar (for the sake of lying).

I recently posted a topic or two in the religion forum here at JREF.The other day I had to do an inspection of a building whose siding has been under attack by woodpeckers. The apartment house is to be sold and an inspector is coming tomorrow. The woodpeckers have been on my mind. I thought that it sure is strange to have some creature that could evolve? so that it can beat it's head senseless without harm. And then I thought I'd be silly and start a thread entitled 'Woodpeckers prove the existance of God". Here, minutes ago, I go to the religious forum, and someone posted this very thing for a thread topic!!!! What?

What is the odds of this? A woodpecker. Not some other creature that can do amazing things or was given some remarkable defense system. Why was it the poster thought of posting the very thing (abstract thought/non-news related) I was thinking? about posting?
Click to expand...

So you are considering the possibility of thought waves, i.e. ideas transmitted from one brain to another but not detectable by any known device. Given how many thoughts an individual has in a single day and how many individuals live on Earth, then there must be an ungodly number of thoughts flying around each day. How would a person be able to come up with a useable signal to noise ratio?
 
Re: Re: Do thought waves exist?

Ladewig said:
So you are considering the possibility of thought waves, i.e. ideas transmitted from one brain to another but not detectable by any known device.
Click to expand...
Actually EEGs do a nice job of detecting those waves.
Given how many thoughts an individual has in a single day and how many individuals live on Earth, then there must be an ungodly number of thoughts flying around each day. How would a person be able to come up with a usable signal to noise ratio?
Click to expand...
The real issue is how would the electrical waves that leak out of our brains contain any information.

Our brains contain an organized systematic connection of nerve fibers upon which electrical and chemical messages are transmitted and stored. But is the information in the electrical impulse? Or as is more widely believed and hard to argue against, is the information in the structure of the nerve fibers? The impulses are essentially the same and just as in a computer either an impulse goes or doesn't go. It's the path the impulse takes that determines the information.

So even though some electrical activity leaks out of our brains and can be detected by EEG electrodes connected to the skin surface, it is hard to hypothesize any way those 'waves' or impulses could transmit any information.
 
Re: Re: Re: Do thought waves exist?

Moreover, wouldn't any emissions get garbled by the massive (relatively speaking) amount of heat we radiate? That much meat isn't cold...
 
Can differant thoughts change the colour of face/skin differantly causing the changes in pattern/spectrum of reflected wavelengths which can interact with other person opposite to him?:)
 
Kumar said:
Can differant thoughts change the colour of face/skin differantly causing the changes in pattern/spectrum of reflected wavelengths which can interact with other person opposite to him?:)
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If the other person is cute, sure :)
 
Iamme said:
And then I thought I'd be silly and start a thread entitled 'Woodpeckers prove the existance of God".
Click to expand...

Prove it.

Oh, wait. You can't.

Thank you for calling.
 
Considering that the (silly) "woodpeckers defy evolution" is one of the favorites on the creationist's agenda, and you, lamme are a creationist, it is hardly surprising that you might think of it when about to examine woodpecker damages.

Considering that the (silly) "woodpeckers defy evolution" is one of the favorites on the creationist's agenda, and the creatinist agenda is an oft discussed subject here on the JREF forum, it is hardly surprising that the subject comes up.

Lamme, I think your coincidence is about as surprising as two drivers in seperate cars approaching a red light both think about stopping.

I think that there is a surplus 'm' in your nickname.


Hans
 
Iamme,

If I said:

'And then I thought I'd be silly and start a thread entitled "Do thought waves exist?"', would you believe me?

If you wouldn't, why not? Why do you think your coincidences are more trustworthy than mine?

OTOH, if you would, then I have an Eiffel Tower for sale. Cheap.
 
Oh, and in answer to the title question:

Yes, thought waves exist. They are what you measure when taking an EEG.

No, thought waves do not transmit thoughts between individuals. They produce very weak fields outside the cranium, and the human brain has very low sensitivity to fields of those wavelengths. In fact, the human brain is extremely insensitive t oall kinds of EM fields.

Hans

Hans
 
MRC_Hans said:
Considering that the (silly) "woodpeckers defy evolution" is one of the favorites on the creationist's agenda
Click to expand...

It is? I would argue that woodpeckers are very, very good evidence of evolution.

They have developed a way to catch the bugs that nobody else can get to: Shock absorbers and a hard, long, sharp beak.

In the beginning, they pry and hack gently away at the bark to get some bugs.
Then, those who can hack harder, get more bugs.
Thus, improving their chance of survival.
They have a niche with little or no competitors.

Yup, a woodpecker is a very convincing example of evolution.

What are the creationists' arguments??
 
El_Spectre said:
If the other person is cute, sure :)
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Yes, than that cute person can also understand it. It is how thought waves can travel, can lead to new thoughts, progress...or otherwise.:D
 
Kumar said:
Yes, than that cute person can also understand it. It is how thought waves can travel, can lead to new thoughts, progress...or otherwise.:D
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No, that has nothing to do with thought waves. It is communication through language, in this particular case, body language.

Hans
 
geez folks. If someone suggests a silly premise, wouldn't it make sense to address it rather than cut the guy down?

We're none of us perfect.

Besides, the babelfish already proved/cancelled the existence of god, so there! pbbbt!
 
MRC_Hans said:
No, that has nothing to do with thought waves. It is communication through language, in this particular case, body language.
Hans
Click to expand...

If we're gonna disect the joke (why?) nonverbal communication takes a lot more forms than just body language... I read somewhere that 90% of communication is supposed to be nonverbal.

Kinda makes forums like this a bit thin, no?
 
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