Where is the mind?

[icerat]

Not content with questions like "why does my penis get big?" my little (soon to be) 4yr old son hit me with a tough one today. He was telling me about the heart and how he can feel it when he runs and how he saw on TV that it's connected to the brain.

Then he pauses, looks concerned, and asks me "where's the mind?"

How does one explain an emergent property to a 4yr old? :boggled:

[!Kaggen]

Not content with questions like "why does my penis get big?" my little (soon to be) 4yr old son hit me with a tough one today. He was telling me about the heart and how he can feel it when he runs and how he saw on TV that it's connected to the brain.

Then he pauses, looks concerned, and asks me "where's the mind?"

How does one explain an emergent property to a 4yr old? :boggled:

Interesting that he asked "where's the mind" not "where's my mind".

[KingMerv00]

As you already know, the question is invalid. It is like asking "Where is running?"

[icerat]

As you already know, the question is invalid. It is like asking "Where is running?"

While I know your point I don't think that's quite analogous, but I'm still clueless as to how to explain it ...

hopefully he's forgotten he asked for a decade or so ....:cool:

[Yoink]

As you already know, the question is invalid. It is like asking "Where is running?"

Wouldn't that be a pretty good starting point for an answer, really? "The mind is something your brain does, just as running is something your legs do."

[icerat]

Wouldn't that be a pretty good starting point for an answer, really? "The mind is something your brain does, just as running is something your legs do."

Good idea! Thanks.

[!Kaggen]

Wouldn't that be a pretty good starting point for an answer, really? "The mind is something your brain does, just as running is something your legs do."

My two year old told his mom the other day that "he wants to run with his body".

This all reminds me of the mad hatter's tea party in Alice in Wonderland I was reading to my 4yr old daughter this evening.

The power of words....

[KingMerv00]

Wouldn't that be a pretty good starting point for an answer, really? "The mind is something your brain does, just as running is something your legs do."

That was the exact point I was trying (and failed) to make.

[Malerin]

That was the exact point I was trying (and failed) to make.

We (correctly) use "mind", "thought", "memory", etc. as nouns all the time: "My mind is clear", "That's a good thought to have", "My memory is not what it used to be". How many times have you heard a stupid person called "mindless"? Have you ever heard a slow person called "runningless"?

[Ziggurat]

Then he pauses, looks concerned, and asks me "where's the mind?"

The front of the brain. No need to make your answer complicated.

[Soapy Sam]

So...where's this "back of the mind" people keep talking about?
The back of the front of the brain?


Out of curiosity (as a non-parent), icerat - how did you explain the penis business?

[DevilsAdvocate]

Then he pauses, looks concerned, and asks me "where's the mind?"

How does one explain an emergent property to a 4yr old? :boggled:Just hand him a copy of Kant's "Critique of Pure Reason".

Problem solved. You're welcome. :)

[DevilsAdvocate]

"Daddy, daddy! What is an amphibolous presupposition of a transcendental dialectic paralogism of a metaphysical a priori concept of pure reason?"

"Well, son, it depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is."

[icerat]

Out of curiosity (as a non-parent), icerat - how did you explain the penis business?

I just told him when he was bigger (all of him that is, not just his penis!) it was for helping him make babies and he was so puzzled by that I think he decided not to pursue it :)

[Dancing David]

While I know your point I don't think that's quite analogous, but I'm still clueless as to how to explain it ...

hopefully he's forgotten he asked for a decade or so ....:cool:

"I am not sure. It is considered part of the brain."

[Dancing David]

We (correctly) use "mind", "thought", "memory", etc. as nouns all the time: "My mind is clear", "That's a good thought to have", "My memory is not what it used to be". How many times have you heard a stupid person called "mindless"? Have you ever heard a slow person called "runningless"?

We also refer to 'god' all the time or 'Santa Claus' or the the 'free market'. They are all about the same as useless terms.

Except Sant abrings choclate.

[icerat]

"I am not sure. It is considered part of the brain."

I said something along the lines of "actually we're not sure, it's something that comes from the brain, but we're not sure how, maybe you can work it out when you're bigger!"

[kbm99]

There's no such thing as the mind. It's all in your head.

[KingMerv00]

We (correctly) use "mind", "thought", "memory", etc. as nouns all the time: "My mind is clear", "That's a good thought to have", "My memory is not what it used to be". How many times have you heard a stupid person called "mindless"? Have you ever heard a slow person called "runningless"?

We do that because it makes life easier and because of tradition, not because the mind isn't really a process.

[kellyb]

I would have said "In the brain".

[quarky]

Where are my emails?

[Ashles]

"Daddy, daddy! What is an amphibolous presupposition of a transcendental dialectic paralogism of a metaphysical a priori concept of pure reason?"


It's what happens when you are attracted to a pretty lady and is perfectly normal and health- oh wait wrong question.

[KingMerv00]

"Daddy, daddy! What is an amphibolous presupposition of a transcendental dialectic paralogism of a metaphysical a priori concept of pure reason?"

A yrreg thread title.

[roger]

Tell him:

Atoms obey TLOP (TLOP = The Laws of Physics)
You are made of Atoms.
YOU OBEY TLOP!

Ergo:

TLOP (God) makes/controls YOU makes/controls CAR

So in the same way that YOU are more conscious then your CAR, TLOP is more conscious then YOU.

It’s that simple.

[Loss Leader]

icerat - how did you explain the penis business?


To a four year-old? I told mine, "Sometimes your penis gets big, but you have to remember your penis is private. It's just for you and doctors, if they need to help you."

The concept of one's body being private seemed much more important to communicate at that age than anything else.

[KingMerv00]

...TLOP is more conscious then YOU.


How do you figure?

[Ziggurat]

So...where's this "back of the mind" people keep talking about?
The back of the front of the brain?

Yes, although we have a technical term for it: the middle. :D