The need to "always be thinking".

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Moog wrote:

Well...thanks for the kind and encouraging words.

Nonetheless....I can only hope the reality of the situation is as kind.

I believe that erudition/intelligence (however anyone wishes to define both terms) has the potential to be far more deceiving than looks.

And much to my chagrin....I believe I may be living proof of that.

For now....i'd prefer to allow the verdict regarding my own erudition/intelligence to remain out.

I've discussed the whole matter countless times before on WP and I feel no need to do so again here.

At any rate....I don't want to hijack Marshall's thread.

Just not enough thought to divert my mind away from my misery.

Just not enough thought to divert my mind away from my misery.

Just not enough thought to divert my mind away from my misery.

Being extremely erudite or having a brain that can solve several algebraic equations at once in a matter of seconds doesn't equate to being a deep thinker. A parrot can do the former, and a computer can do the latter. Even idiots can have a high IQ score IMO. Deep thinkers merely have more curiousity than most and derive more pleasure in seeking understanding. That's the difference.

I get what you're saying and it defines me to an extent. I want to know the "whys" to every possible thing under the sun. But not necessarily because I derive pleasure in searching for, or even finding, the answers to every single thing. For example....I have no interest whatsoever in mathematics. I find the subject intolerably boring in fact. I would only find the study of mathematics (not that I study it currently) rewarding because I suck at it and therefore, mastering calculus or something would provide me with a inexpressible sense of accomplishment. A means to an end in other words. Still,
there are plenty of other knowledge-based things I derive supreme pleasure from for
their own sake. I can't say the same about chopping wood, exercising, taking baths, getting massages, dancing in nightclubs and an untold number of things people
seem to get some satisfaction from. To me....such things are neither a challenge or a pleasure for their own sake. They are just empty, mind-numbing experiences that make me feel like i'm in solitary confinement or something.

Same here. The only thing that makes the activity of chopping wood tolerable is to watch the perfectly neat little pile of split wood grow. If someone were to come by and immediately toss each piece of wood I split into a bonfire the task would be intolerable. For the same reason I don't like raking leaves off the lawn when the leaves are still falling. It's sort of like Sisyphus rolling the rock up the hill. There's nothing to show for his efforts since he must always roll the rock back down to repeat the task.

Ummmm Ok... why can't I delete the triple posts I made in this thread all of a sudden?

I don't know. I experienced the same thing before. Apparebtky the site doesn't let you delete your own posts when other people have posted after you.

The site seemed to be stalling a few minutes ago but I refrained from hitting the "submit" button multiple times. I just copy all my posts into the clipboard before hitting "submit" so I won't risk losing them if they don't show up.

I was almost certain it had something to do with the site stalling a few minutes ago. It sure didn't seem like I hit the "submit" button more than once.

I feel the same way, apart from the end.

Hopefully you're not alone and I've just discovered I'm not alone neither

I don't think that people don't think because they work too much : the vast majority of people who don't have a job, ie. students, jobless people, retired people... don't spend much of their time thinking or studying, they just... live their life. And their life isn't "wasting" their time with "hard things" like philosophy, history, economics, or anything. Their life is having friends, drinking, having fun in their own ways. And I can't understand that and I'm sure you can't.

The life as I see it is, I just don't care about other people, exept if I must work in cooperation with them to achieve my goals (for my studies or when I'll work with my co-workers). I can't interact with others "normally", I just can't, so I just try to do my best not to harm anybody and then I just do whatever I like doing : playing the guitar, reading books, surfing on the web, thinking, eating, sleeping etc.

You say the world isn't made for us. Well I think that, if in this world, you can spend some time of your life doing what you like, then the world is ok If other people don't like doing what you like, then whatever.

I think (almost) all the time, and think fast and hard. I over-analyze, and concentrate intensely. I don't have to be studying a subject, though. Lately when I talk about something it often goes often people's heads, and it's hard to find stuff to talk about. What sucks about it is I'm not extremely intelligent (I'm smart, just not super smart) and I spend time thinking about/studying things that are very complex. So thinking so hard often affects me negatively (anxiety, muscle spasms, tension headaches, etc).

I never thought there was anything strange about my ways of thinking, but upon explaining my trail of thought to people I've realized that I think very differently. Even just hearing me talk about what I think people seem to get stressed out

I think there comes a time where I kind of run out of fuel w.r.t thinking and doing things off on my own. I feel like I do need other people to enter into my experience to rejuvenate me. If I can't share my enthusiasm with anyone after a while it starts to dwindle. The trouble is finding people I can share with. Most people are nice enough, but I just don't feel like I can relate. Yet, without anyone to talk to, anyone who can share an interest with me, I begin to lose my enthusiasm for everything. Then when I don't have any interests and am just feeling incredibly miserable and depressed it's even harder to relate to things other people are into.

If I'm not thinking, I go nuts.

Yeah, well I guess I feel the same way. I'd love to find other people who share my interests, who like the same things... and I did found some. BUT I can't have a long relationship with anyone. I seriously don't know how social relationships work, how I could even make friends.

I've tried to explain myself what was wrong with me (or with others), so I wrote down my thoughts. My conclusion is : I don't like people. The few people I found who liked to talk about philosophy were alcoholic/massive drug users or simply too "impressionable" and they don't talk about stuff "serious" enough for me.

For exemple, if I'm in a bar, and I'm chatting about philosophy or sciences with someone, other people will start speaking with us and we'll end up speaking about football, or the weather or maybe their sucky jobs. And sadly, I lack empathy to care about their lives (but I try to be better, but it's so hard), I don't speak about my life because I think it's not interesting, or when I talk about it, it's to speak about serious things, draw conclusions from my experience etc. While they speak about their life just to... speak about it. (Well, most people do, some people really think and are capable of... speaking about deep things, but usually it doesn't last very long)

So the problem is that I hate speaking about trivial things, I must always speak about serious issues. If I can talk 10 minutes with someone about what I like talking about, the conversation always turn bad (for me) I think because then they'll like speaking about the stupid show they've seen yesterday, or a bad movie, or one girl's ass, or the weather, or who won the French soccer championship...

But instead of being depressed, well I just... don't care. I try to make the most of the rare intelligent conversation, I chat on internet chat and forum with smart (and weird ) people. And i'm having fun.

But I can understand why you're depressed !


(sorry for my bad english, I'm french)

Computers can not think. The utterly simplistic ways in which computers process information relative to brains does not only qualify them as non deep thinking, but also as non-cognitive. Not even close.