How We Share Thought
Understanding the role of transmission in macrothought
Here we are on election day, 40 years after my family immigrated to the U.S. All thanks to my father’s passion for America. Back in Portugal, he drove a taxi near the American Air Base in Lajes, Terceira. Because of that, he was aware of what America could offer his family. Interestingly, he didn’t speak English, nor did we own a television set. How did he grow this passion for America?
Let’s get back to my father in a minute.
I’m working to better understand thought and to help bring that knowledge to the world. The Web Of Thought (WOT) project is developing an information model of thought. The model will drive a Thought API to empower applications which I believe may be able to help. I’ve already described how thought is not what you think it is, why we need a model of thought, and why they are not your thoughts.
WOT is rooted in the work of Dr. David Bohm, whose efforts focused on thought within mind and body. I call the structure and movement of thought at the body level, microthought, and will cover it in future articles.
For now, let’s direct our attention to what Bohm called “the whole of society”. I see it as the movement of thought at the network level and call it macrothought, a term adapted from Micheal Kearny’s World View. Macrothought is about the transmission of thought between people and things (artifacts). By understanding the transmission of thought, I hope to both explain how I wound up in America, and to continue to define WOT.
As I mentioned, my father did not speak English, but others did, and they shared thoughts with him in his native language. Speech is an obvious way that thought is transmitted. We can all understand how his sister in Newport, RI, was able to transmit thoughts about the U.S. to him over a long distance call.
But, thought can also operate in subtle ways–so subtle we often don’t recognize them. One of these ways is through non-verbal postures and gestures. My father drove thousands of American servicemen over 8 years. I can easily imagine their confident swagger and their easygoing attitudes. All of these were likely transmitted to my dad without him even being aware of it. My dad’s views (thought) would have been changed by these very subtle transmissions. He likely became aware of what it was like to be an American, even though they could not directly communicate.
We recognize that confident thought is what produces the swagger in the air force pilot. Yet, we don’t as easily see that the swagger transmits thought to others. We share thought, and most often without even realizing it. This unrealized thought changes what we understand and how we feel about the world around us.
We also share thought through things, everyday objects that we create and use, which embody and transmit thought. I’ll describe how thought becomes embodied in Thursday’s article; for now let’s focus on transmission. For my dad, those objects were the ones the servicemen had and in some cases shared. Each item transmitted its functional thought, but it also carried with it a form of thought that shone a light on the wealth and prosperity of the U.S. and its citizens.
Even before my dad set foot in the U.S., he had an affinity for the American flag. It represented all the things he understood about the U.S. We recognize the flag has design thought built into it. The 50 stars and the 13 stripes have thought embodied into the material. But for my dad and many others, the flag became linked to more than those thoughts. So much so that when he retired and returned to his birthplace on the island of Pico, he took the flag of his adopted home and flew it proudly.
It was thought, recognized and unrecognized, that created a perception of America for my father. All the things he experienced transmitted new thoughts to him, and over the years those thoughts became linked to a symbol he cherished, the American flag.
We share thought in countless ways. None of us exist outside the Web Of Thought. We are the products of billions of thoughts, all of them transmitted to and from one another. When we don’t recognize that thought is being transmitted, and how it can influence us, then we are at the mercy of the thought which surrounds us.
I welcome your comments or contributions to this effort. If you know someone whom you think may have an interest in this project, please pass it along.
