The first of the 7 core pillars of my knowledge ontology that I am presenting also happens to be the most dense.
The concept of Human Thinking is to understand what makes humans...well, human. And that, it turns out, requires a lot of thinking. Over 1,000 topics of thinking.
We are not the easiest creatures in the world to figure out. In fact, we're kind of a collective hot mess at the moment. We have a lot of things we need to make sense of...in a hurry.
And as much as we try to deny our very nature at times, and as much as we try to contort ourselves into more idealistic versions that fit into more compelling narratives, we can't escape who and what we are.
We are human, after all.
So What Are We Thinking?
Well, to start with, the fact that we can even think at a level that allows me to write this, and you to read it, gets us off to a good start. Wouldn't you say?
I am sitting here writing this after a day of earning an income applying my thinking to knowledge work: I use my brain, and my ability to think, to create value that I can exchange for the things that I need to live, such as food, shelter, and vinyl records.
That's quite something, considering the relatively short time the current iteration of our species has been around on this planet (or any other that we know of at the moment).
So we know we think. And we have to do it a lot. Probably way more than some of us want to, but it is what it is. We think, therefore we (think we) are.
So what exactly are we thinking?
Well, in some cases we think purely to survive. And even then, only some of that thinking is what we would consider 'conscious' or 'volitional' (intentional) thinking. Much of human thinking is automatic.
In other cases we have to consider choices and the tradeoffs involved with making decisions. In other cases we think about the world around us and how we fit into it.
And in rare cases, some of us actually really enjoy the act of thinking in itself.
How Do You Think It All Works?
As you could imagine, just coming up with 1,000+ topics about humans was a time and energy consuming adventure to go on.
And then to fully understand them, find patterns in them, link them, organize them, and structure them...yeah, this was an interesting exercise.
When I finally reached the point where I was comfortable with the initial release of the architecture behind the knowledge ontology, I found that the journey had shaped my understanding not only of the specific topics themselves, but in how they relate to myriad concepts across all domains.
When the dust settled, and after I had built out the network of atomic knowledge concepts and their relationships, I found that just by going through this process I had learned an incredible amount about myself, the people around me, the people I work with, and the people I share this planet with.
There is still work to be done on all of this...because there will always be work to be done with it. But this is what Human Thinking looks like at this moment in time.
Human, Human, Human...After All
I decided to rip the band-aid off and start with the most voluminous topic first because, well as a human myself I'm kind of fascinated by what makes us all tick.
The way I see it, if I understand how I work...and how others work...and how we all work together...well, maybe we can find a way to use this knowledge in a way that makes things work just a little bit better for all of us.
So after many hours of exploration, research, reflection, and surprisingly insightful conversations with ChatGPT before it became a dangerous sycophant, I have arrived at the following structure for Human Thinking:
- Being Human - What does it mean to "be" human? What do we mean when we talk about "the human experience" and how we sense, feel, and perceive things around us?
- Cognitive Architecture - Humans, the big brains we have in our heads, and how we use our brains to think, can be described in terms of observable structures. These structures, whether inside of us or projected externally, are describable as independent or interconnected cognitive architectures.
- Neuroscience - This one's all about the big, gray, gooey mass in our skulls that does some pretty amazing yet seemingly mystical things.
- Personal Growth and Optimization - How can we grow our potential and become the best humans we possibly can? I talk about brain hacking, life hacking, and other hacks, methods, and strategies for self-reflection and ongoing improvement.
- Philosophy - Why are we here? Because we're here. Roll the bones.
- Psychology - How do we think? What do we feel inside and why do we feel it? Why do we act the way we do? Human psychology is a fascinating topic, and as such this is the largest single topic in the entire Ontology.
- Sociology - What are the structures that shape our behavior? How do we interact and form relationships with each other? How do the people around us shape us?
- Spirituality - As someone who never considered themselves to be spiritual, studying human spirituality brought me to a new place. Not only did I consider my own spirituality as part of this process...I found it. And it's not what I thought it was.
- Systems of Human Thoughts - I could probably come up with better naming for this as it's not an "atomic" concept per se, but at the end of the day, "Systems of Human Thoughts" was my first attempt to formalize framework thinking, articulating cross-domain concepts and structures that we apply to our thinking.
Thinking Forward
It came as absolutely no surprise to me that Psychology had the most topics at 480 (!!!). My interest in psychology was first inspired 20+ years ago by studying User Experience (UX) early in my career, as UX is the intersection of human psychology and human-computer interfaces.
As I build out my own knowledge structure, I will be dripping daily "TIL" (Today I Learned) articles based on learnings related to a given theme or ontology topic.
Given the fact that we as LinkedIn platform users still buy in to the myth that this is a "professional" social network, I debated on focusing on "touchy-feely" stuff like human cognition, emotions, behavior, and such. Enter "Weekend LinkedIn."
As part of the subculture that I have observed emerging on this platform after we "clock out" on Fridays and before we clock back in on Mondays, the conversations (yes, thoughtful conversations do still exist on LinkedIn) trend towards personal issues and observations.
Maybe we feel "Weekend LinkedIn" is a sort of "safe space" for these conversations and we feel more comfortable engaging when we're not on the clock? Maybe the LInkedIn content policing eases up on weekends?
Maybe, maybe not. Who knows at this point with the platform's content distribution algorithm.
In any case, my thinking is that the weekends are when many of us have the bandwidth and capacity to think about ourselves and the people around us a little bit, so as part of my overall content creation strategy I am splitting Psychology and the rest of Human Thinking out into two separate themes:
- "Psych Saturday" - In my own little world that I've created for myself, the first half of my Saturdays are dedicated to self care and I fiercely protect this space. I personally call this space "Selfish Saturdays" and focus on mental declutter and making sense of what's happening in my head and the heads of those around me. So I will be dripping Psychology themed blog posts, Ontology updates, and curated content on Saturdays so that I can engage with the reflective "Weekend LinkedIn" crew.
- "Self Sunday" - I try not to use technology on Sundays, and it's the day of the week I take off from drinking caffeine, so it's best for everyone if I stay away from online platforms during cranky time. That said, I will be publishing other Human Thinking topics, with a prioritization on concepts releated to self exploration, reflection, improvement, and optimization.
I'm excited to see the proverbial rubber starting to hit the road. It has been a long, grinding journey to get here.
Now that I'm here, I wish everyone could feel what I do in my head right now and almost every single day. That's what I'm trying to get out of my head and get a little better at explaining through writing.
This is all part of my goal to document my own metacognitive processes for others to take and mold into their own frameworks and processes.
Thank you for joining me on this exploration, and please let me know your own thoughts on concepts or topics that you feel like grabbing onto along the way.
And as always, your constructive engagement and feedback is not just welcomed, it's cherished.
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