What if you lose the power of thinking and imagination

[blazeofglory]

We talk, discuss, write, paint, sing and imagine just because we can think and imagine. I put across you my thoughts and imaginations. Imagine the moment we lose the capacity for imagination.

Man has great advantages over his fellow animal beings in that ma can imagine the unimaginable. Man can expand his horizon by imagining. I imagine at times about the possibility of another world, of a people, of a different religion, of a different God, of a different civilization, of an immortal world. It is really fascinating to imagine like that. Imagination is a luxury man is endowed with.

For many of us the sheer idea of God is connected with immortality. Many of us do not fear deaths just we are believers. Theists have that advantage over atheists. Many people feel relieved or get cured thru prayers or worships. I do not say there exists God or does not. We do not know this for sure. But what I can say for sure that prayers or worships can lessen our stress level.

The power of imagination or thought is boundless. Through waves of imagination we can grow and expand our existence. We write and read poetry and do painting with the ability to imagine.

Reality is limited whereas imagination is unbound.

I am afraid what will go with us the moment we lose the capacity to think or imagine.

With our growing mechanized life styles and thinking patterns we are gradually losing the power to imagine. I often foresee a moment when we will completely be caught up by the lost of imagination.

What do you think we will be when we will lose our capacity for thinking and imagination?

[BienvenuJDC]

I can't imagine what that would be like......I don't even want to think about it...

[billl]

Great post, Blaze, well said.

[JuniperWoolf]

It won't happen. The direction that the world is moving towards might be mechanized, but science and technology require more imagination than people realize. It's not mindless reaction to facts, science is all about innovation.


Many of us do not fear deaths just we are believers. Theists have that advantage over atheists.

Not necessarily. A lot of theists fear death. A lot of atheists don't. If you don't believe in an afterlife, then when you die you cease to exist. The idea of nothingness can be scary to some people, but it doesn't have to be. You don't remember what you were before you were born, so to your memory you were nothing. No one's afraid of once being nothing, so why should one day becoming nothing be frightening?

Actually, I can see how not believing in an afterlife could be an advantage. Rather than living for the next life, you’ll live for this one; get more done, have more fun, etc..

[genji]

Man has great advantages over his fellow animal beings in that man can imagine the unimaginable.

How is that possible? No man can imagine the unimaginable.

[BienvenuJDC]

It won't happen. The direction that the world is moving towards might be mechanized, but science and technology require more imagination than people realize. It's not mindless reaction to facts, science is all about innovation.


You said a mouthful...just think of these greats...

Edison, without an imagination who could have thought of the things that never existed before...

DaVinci...now that man, often thought of as an artist, was a great inventor... he had an imagination well beyond the norm!

[Scheherazade]

It won't happen. The direction that the world is moving towards might be mechanized, but science and technology require more imagination than people realize. It's not mindless reaction to facts, science is all about innovation.
You said a mouthful...just think of these greats...

Edison, without an imagination who could have thought of the things that never existed before...

DaVinci...now that man, often thought of as an artist, was a great inventor... he had an imagination well beyond the norm!I think that is exactly the point Juniper is making: Scientific innovation requires imagination and we don't need to go back so far in history to come across the fruits of scientific imagination.

The MP3 players, touchscreen phones, even the TV remote is a great example of people using their imagination and designing what they have imagined.

[wlz]

Skip over to the General Writing Forum.

"No one's afraid of once being nothing, so why should one day becoming nothing be frightening?"

shall I spell it out for you?

"What do you think we will be when we will lose our capacity for thinking and imagination?"

I think we'll all be wondering why we didn't take Blazeofglory's question more seriously.

[billl]

The MP3 players, touchscreen phones, even the TV remote is a great example of people using their imagination and designing what they have imagined.

Another thing to consider, though, is that, out of the many millions (billions, I guess) of people that use these devices, I think probably a fair number use them in ways that actually reduce time spent creatively. :drool5:

I guess a case could be made against books, too, but I do believe that books engage the imagination more than some of these others (although plenty of podcasts and books on mp3 might be considered an occasional improvement over the paper versions, in this case ). And then there's the fact that some of our connectivity maybe saves us time for being creative later on. (Actually, it seems ridiculous to me now that I have claimed this to be a fact, but it is a distinct possibility in many cases, and definitely not unheard of). Anyhow, tech isn't inherently bad, I don't think, but:

I think developers are (and maybe this could be unconscious, or accidental) more than happy to have their customers become simpler, more predictable, and more homogenous in their needs and in their uses of the technology (and more compulsive in their use, too). There are exceptions, and (with any luck) tipping points. However, I think it is an important issue, how technology can sometimes become addicting, and how people might be in danger of lessening (or perhaps even, to some degree or another, surrendering) their very selves to it. And we shouldn't expect the businesses creating the technology to necessarily be too mindful of it.