thought debt & evolution

the consequences of keeping our thoughts private

At any given moment, an untraceable number of thoughts bounce swiftly around each other, sparking continuously into life & forming a cloud much like electrons around a nucleus.

Normally, the mind exists contentedly as a sealed container for these private thoughts, to protect them from individuals on the outside.

But sometimes, something else breaches the seal of the mind -

longing.

In this particular instance, I refer to the longing to share those thoughts with others.

evolution

In biology class during my freshman year of high school, we learned about two different approaches to evolution. Gradualism suggested that evolution occurred slowly over time, with changes discernible only in the long-term. Punctuated equilibrium, on the other hand, asserted that species would remain stable for a period of time, and evolution would occur in spurts.

I have always fallen more into the gradualism camp (perhaps due to my restricted abilities of perception, seeing only the present moment and, therefore, no large changes).

But in regards to thoughts, I feel that punctuated equilibrium provides a more apt model — with a caveat.

Punctuated equilibrium reflects the evolution of shared thoughts — the thoughts that emerge when their owners choose to share them. So, while the stable periods appear to have little progress in ideas, the thoughts have actually been evolving. The only difference is that they were developing in the privacy of their respective owners’ minds.

Mutation offers a similar model. Mutations occur constantly in DNA. But most of these mutations lack impact. We see the effects only when chance has accumulated to the point where the next mutation leads to a perceptible change.

The difference between biological mutation and thought evolution, however, is that we can control these spurts of progress. Mutations are instantly exposed to everything in nature, while we can keep our “mutating” thoughts to ourselves.

That control may not be such a blessing.

We choose not to share our thoughts for an infinite number of reasons, ranging from the practical (“I do not want to reveal this personal detail to an audience that could include business contacts”) to the emotional (“will people like it? will they like me?”).

the problem

Going back to the premise of this post, there is nothing inherently wrong with the choice to keep thoughts to oneself. I can be happily entertained by the thoughts that I keep inside my head.

The problem occurs when longing seeps into the mind. Then, the decision of privacy can lead to thought debt.

For example, I may want to share what I am thinking at this time, but in order for you to understand them, I need to back up and explain the thoughts that led up to this point.

As this hesitancy builds, I continue to curate thoughts in my mind, with the hope that one day, the artifacts will be polished enough to receive thought and consideration when shared.

But until the opening day, perpetually delayed, that beautiful gallery remains unknown and unvisited.

so, what to do?

Just open the doors.

Nature seems to enjoy putting changes to the test, so it is just one continuous integration environment. It never questions whether it should push out a new change — the changes are revealed as they happen.

Our thoughts are more similar to dynamic, changing organisms than they are to static, stiff statues. So, we might as well engage them with the thoughts of others to produce a vibrant, evolving ecosystem.

In fact, thoughts transcend the limitations of organisms because thoughts can be generated endlessly. We do not need to fear natural selection because if a shared idea does not survive under the scrutiny of others, then we can produce more to release into the wild.

We may not want to publish a constant, unfiltered stream of our thoughts (Twitter may be the largest example of gradualism in thought evolution), but we can still push evolution forward more quickly by quickening the pace of our punctuated equilibrium.

Fear, insecurity, and even inertia may hold us back from sharing our thoughts (blogging takes work!), but we can benefit each other by pushing those thoughts into the ecosystem, no matter how unpolished — or abstract — they may seem.