LoopHooligan

My question, ought to be on the face of it a simple question to answer...

Is it possible to think harder?

One can hit something harder, run harder, practice harder but is it possible to think harder?

If we think harder what are we doing?

For 'harder' please feel free to substitute any word that means making more effort and achieving a better result.

My own experience makes me think that I 'think' about something or I don't, that the only thing that can be said to contribute to me 'thinking harder' is not to have my conscience distracted from what I intend to think about by some thing else.

I've just thought of another question. How can I think about what I'm thinking? Am I looking in on myself?

Any 'thinking' on this subject appreciated.

braces_for_impact

I think that using proper critical thinking skills would be considered "thinking harder". It seems to stand to reason that actually going about verifiying claims, using thought experiments, and logicaly reasoning a premise would seem to require much more effort than accepting claims at face value or dismissing them as irrelevant out of hand.

This is probably why it's so rare....

Paddy

I don't believe that it is posible to "think harder". However, there are certain variables that may well determine the efficacy of such thinking, such as: attention span; interest in a particular subject; intelligence; dedication, and so forth. I think that it is possible for one to enhance these variables, in order to "think better" but not "harder".



Paddy

John Page

I thought very hard about this topic. Seems to me I was critical and used introspection, examining different angles instead of just reaching an offhand decision.

sweep

concentrating is one aspect of thinking harder. I recall in university when I had to reread the same sentence several times before it sunk in. So when I think harder I am concentrating. I am focusing and ignoring all other input, which is basicallly the same as what you already said.

Further, it is even harder not to think. To be aware of patterns that most readily enter the head, and ones that we are most prone

Mr. Sammi

LoopHooligan : One can hit something harder, run harder, practice harder but is it possible to think harder?

Possibly the effort of what you described above needed some thought effort, whether conscious OR unconscious, a bit more than the previous state. The new state was not the same as the old state.

It is possible to think "faster", and I have the means to help you do this, I am getting a downloadable version available. Perhaps you may be interested...


Think softer AND become stupid... (ha ha)


Sammi Na Boodie ()

LoopHooligan

Thanks everyone for all your thoughts...

Mr. Sammi

LoopHooligan,

Is it over? Does this mean we do not have to think about this anymore?

Sammi Na Boodie ()

Defiant Heretic

If you can think about multiple things at once, you aren't thinking very hard about any of them. If you need to concentrate on one topic in order to make sense of it, you're thinking harder.

If you need an example, try reading a random thread in MD, then one from Philosophy. That's the difference.

junkyardgod

I think being interested in the subject matter is key.

I can enter kind of a "zone" like state when I become very interested in somthing. I feel like I am working at a very high level of efficiency during these times.

jyg