- Michael V. Ellis
- Overland Park, KS
- United States
Project Management Organization Operations Manager,
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What is the source of intuition?
My intuition has never failed me. I have recognized a intuition after a event and I have ignored it and 'paid the price'. Is intuition an advanced human capacity that we have yet to harness? Is it a mental process based on retained experience and associated probabilities? Or, do we process an event and enlist our creative mind to imagine and convince ourselves we were aware prior? Your thoughts
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Andrea Morisette Grazzini 30+
Intuition is a neurological process that synthesizes unconscious knowledges at the moment of neuralgic "crystallization" during which they are "called forth."
These knowledges can be organic or intrinsic, coming from a non-cognitive source. But, are generally strengthened by experience observing how they've worked out in previous moments of intuition. These serve as "data" that informs more intuition, which gets stored for recall for future use. On the lines of your thoughts on retention and associated probabilities.
I imagine what happens is something akin to trail, error and editing. In other words, early experiences of intuition might have been encapsulated by much that is or was not fully crystallized. The memory also stores these and prunes out extraneous observations, which in turn separates out paths less prudent, while it magnifies the magic moment of intuition.
In fact, I'd say your observation that when you haven't followed your intuition is a good example. Likely it magnifies probabilities and with increased practice at intuitive observing (as practice at anything), and the attendant separating and pruning processes, increasingly savvy navigation of situations illicit more trust for the process. Which in, turn, increases the successful experiences of intuition. And build upon it, again.
To boil this down: think of a baby. It doesn't have "intuition" about how to smile. But, it begins observing that smiles illicit smiles in return. And with them warm attentions. It begins to associate warmth and happiness with it's and others smiles, though a process of accidental, then increasingly intentional and soon, it intuitively (and neurologically) makes connections. All the while it is noticing patterns in people who smile. Which further inform when it's smiles will be most satisfyingly rewarded.
Andrea
Michael V. Ellis
What a very well written and thought through response to my initial question. The second paragraph in your response resonated with me, at least. It encapsulates my current belief and level of awareness on the subject, reinforced through all the wonderful responses people have contributed in this conversation. I spoke with an individual on the subject today and he referenced life ‘information’ (not just genetic) being exchanged from mother to baby in the womb, at the molecular and structural level. Your second paragraph aligns with that. Yet your closing paragraph, at least in how I read it, contradicts in some ways so I thought I would think through it out loud (posting here). I might be getting off track but I believe that a baby does know how to smile in the womb at a given level of development based on the life information exchange…and baby learns about happy and sad in organic and intrinsic ways based on the physical and emotional environs felt by the mother and the chemical changes that occur in the mother because of, or as a result of that. Now, it does sound logical based on your response and of the others here that the source of intuition, could precisely be a mother, who gained it from their mother while in the womb, who gained it from their mother while in the womb, and so on and so on. To the original source? Now we move into the BIG question...of which I will not even touch LOL. Did I just consume a minute portion of digitial storage capacity on TED servers to repeat what you already stated LOL.
Andrea Morisette Grazzini 30+
I think it's a fair Q to wonder if fetuses smile in utero.
My understanding. similar to yours, is they develop the smiling and laughing muscles. But it is believed these are spontaneous. In any case, babies begin to exhibit clear smiles at around 10 weeks old, and that these become more complex with time.
To support your thesis, there is some belief that fetuses react to maternal signals and chemical environs. . For example, a highly stressed pregnancy, it's believed, can lead to a more stressed baby. All of this would likely be somewhat related to the gestational period(s) during which mom is most stressed and what neurological systems are being developed in the fetus at that time.
Somewhat related to your thoughts, some time ago, I reacted to a TED Q regards why music is such a universally relatable form of communications. My thought is that beats and rhythms are a familiar experience for all humans, due to their time in utero. Namely, the beat of mom's heart and, their own. Which are naturally different, but yet, in synch. And the rhythms and sounds of other bodily systems that are in moms body would come through "loud and clear" to a growing babies ears.
When baby is born, s/he again experiences similar beats and rhythms, while feeding in parents arms. There are oxytocin exchanges that occur in both baby and parent, which spark endorphins, the "happiness" chemical in our neurologies.
Baby is also learning that other sounds, like crying and laughing elicit responses--both via it's own sensations and others' reactions.
So, again, I think these communications go from "inborn" and rather random or unintentional to increasingly practiced and increasingly sophisticated.
All to say, yes, I think you and I are on the same page here. And to answer your big Q: perhaps, yes, you and I are consuming data storage on TED servers. But we are also storing good data in our brains, which have more expandable capacity than TED :-).
Andrea
Debra Smith 200+