Six Word Memoirs on Life Stories

maryjane31 says,

I would think in a person's brain.

canadafreeze says,

I don't believe there is such a thing as an original thought or idea. They're all out there and it's really a matter of who "gets" it first.

ctgoods2 says,

I believe people like einstein and hawking - had the creative freedom to think without the pressure to perform.

illuminatrix says,

@maryjane, that's what everyone takes for granted, but I'm not so sure. There's a big difference between mind and brain and if they do originate in there somewhere, then what the hell are they exactly?
I tend to think of people as unique pattern recognition filters (not just that, obviously). We each filter all the chaos of signals and synthesize unique combinations of things. Thoughts seem to be just clever recyclings and recombinations of already extant things, similar to what canadafreeze is describing.
ctgoods, we could all benefit from some of that. I read an article recently about the school system in Finland and there is precisely zero competition in the academic world, nor even any grades. It's remarkably easier to learn without the notion that it too is something to be won or to be mastered.
Obviously, I don't have 'the answer' (there are just notions and conjecture), but it seems like really truly novel thoughts are actually quite rare, but of course they exist. I think they come either from those unique minds totally unbound by normal conventions, or by quite normal minds in those rare moments of total clarity (free from distractions, rules, and mores). This doesn't even scratch the surface of this question, but it hopefully expands the dialogue.
Cheers for the feature on this one, Larry. I'm really keen to hear people's thoughts.