I like to be alert for thoughts that seem to be good themes for a blog post. It might come from years of teaching and presenting talks. It might be from more than 10 years of being fairly committed to writing a blog post each day. Being conscious of what I am thinking and being alert to possible themes might stem from the period about 1986-1988 when Lynn made some web pages for my college students to use. Once a teacher's class is scattered all over and can be submitting work and asking questions at any hour, a person can develop the habit of checking often to see if students have been active.
During my mornings these days, say from awakening about 6 or so to noon, an experience or a thought might suddenly seem blog-able. I am surprised at how a promising idea can evaporate and be impossible to retrieve so I try to jot down a word or two immediately.
I'm not trying here to be a novelist but more of an observer and reporter so what comes up may get mentioned regardless of low importance or lack of logical connection to other comments or reports.
Eagleman's "Incognito" made a deep impression on my picture of my thinking and of anyone else's thinking. He makes clear that we humans function in many ways outside of our minds. Our posture, movement, breathing and many other functions don't run through our conscious minds. They are beyond, outside of our minds. Just a few minutes ago, I started reading the beginning of The Knowledge Illusion by Stephen Sloman and Phil Fernback. The first few pages match the Eagleman ideas very well.
Because I like people and teaching, I have not spent much time learning about the things I use. I ride a mower but don't know much about its parts. I drive a car but ditto. Ditto the microwave and this computer and the router and the modem. I'd write that it is all Greek to me but I might know more Greek than motors or plumbing or electricity or even my own body.
Of course, not only do I not know much but my knowledge is always getting out of date without notifying me. While the hot, active, entrepreneur world is inventing and changing and modifying and updating, I am steadily forgetting. It was brought home sharply when I was told a barrier had been detected. I had frozen my credit report. Oh, that? That was quite a while ago. Wasn't it long enough ago that we can forget about it?
This morning I wanted to check Lynn's car window for a roadside assistance sticker. I am recently updated [a little] and know that merely having her purse in the car will enable to turn on the engine and raise the window so I can see her roadside assistance sticker.
Things are not like when I was a kid!
