Gary Basin

[cross-posted from: http://garybasin.com/reason-as-attentional-prosthesis/] What are we doing when thinking, or reasoning? Often, thinking is goal-directed. There is some outcome we are trying to achieve or problem we are trying to solve. In hindsight, answers often seem obvious. “Why didn’t I think of that?” For the most interesting problems, there is...

Original post at http://garybasin.com/thinking-toys/ My mind seems to mostly act as an emotional problem-solving machine. It's trying to find paths to get to pleasure and avoid pain. Of course, this often requires solving abstract problems, as well. Watching myself, and others, identify and solve problems suggests the existence of underlying...