Wednesday 17 October 2012

Concept explosion 2045*


I can usually think of a situation in which a concept could have, for the very first time, emerged. Despite trying a lot, I couldn't do it for some abstract concepts such as "knowledge", "thought" and "consciousness", not at least without the scenario ending up implausibly funny.

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I always wonder, have I had other sets of concepts instead of the ones I now have, would my perception of objects and events be different than what it is now? (how would my world be like if I couldn't conceive of "knowledge"?)

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There seems to be a correlation between the number of concepts involved in human life and its complexity.  In the scientific arena, new concepts are created each day. With the limited memory capacity we have, if we were to keep and use all concepts we acquire, we couldn't function mentally. So, prioritization is essential - both in individual and collective scales - or we may end up with a pile of unnecessary, inessential concepts and if our ultimate goal is to understand/define life, with the increasing number of concepts, aren't we making it more impossible? 

Singularity makes sense.