Impossible world projected
as possible. It's possible. Always and forever possible. But if it
remains forever mere possible, isn't that just impossible? Is there a
defining quality about the impossible? Or being outside the possible?
Islands. If there was an
island you wouldn't know. Here's an impossibility. If immanence is an
island. Could you reach it by drifting off, not knowing? Give it up.
Another impossible projection. It is impossible. You would like it to
be possible, so that it could possibly be real. Are there things we
should give up?
The fact that thought represents objects in a ‘disengaged’ and
‘stimulus-independent’ manner allows us to think about objects in their
absence. We can think about events that have not yet occurred and we
can think about events that will never occur; indeed, we can think
about events that could never occur. This capacity allows us to
anticipate the consequences of certain events in advance of their
happening and to prepare for them. If the anticipated consequences of
an event are positive then one might attempt to bring it about; and if
those consequences are negative then one can take steps to prevent it
from occurring. Thus, a creature with the capacity for thought can
control its environment in a way that a creature that is reliant only
on perception cannot.
--Thought, vsi, tim bayne
Last updated: 2026-07-29 11:01:48
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