I read that our minds are association machines. I think of "tuna" and that makes me think of Pablo Neruda and a poem of his about the "bullet of the sea". I think of "Grandma" and naturally, I immediately picture my own feisty little heavy-smoking grandmother. You almost certainly think of something different, maybe tuna sandwiches and your own grandmother.
Erez Aidan and Jean-Baptiste Michel in "Uncharted", a book about big data analysis, state that since humans remember and associate memories, their thinking is unpredictable. I looked up "unpredictable" and found many links but didn't run into much of substance. I have thought that committees are often unpredictable and by that, I meant surprising.
In a sense, any event is predictable. I predict that I will be swooped up by Martians before reaching the end of this sentence. Oops! Didn't happen. I think that "unpredictable" is often used to mean "not successfully predicted." Of course, unless some explicit and firm limits are set, predictions can be slippery or trivial. You may know the old Danish proverb "It is hard to make predictions, especially about the future." I can predict that this household will run out of milk one day but without a date, it is a rather empty statement.
This matter of the life history and memories affecting what comes to mind when a topic or idea is expressed seems to explain some of the power of a group discussion. I was amazed back in college at the humor and wit that was expressed by a group of college men watching some silly old movie. The movie wasn't much but the ideas, comments and quips stimulated by the scenes and by the quips and comments of others were wonderful.
