Michael Mitchell: Archive

Concepts exist. I don't know what they're physically made of or what-the-fuck-ever, but I know they exist. Just think of something you don't know the word for. That's a concept which isn't fully formed yet. After you know the word, after you've concretized it, tied the mental to the physical, now you can think about it when you're not experiencing it. You can think of (imagine) a planet in some undiscovered galaxy that no human may ever be directly aware of, that no one's senses will ever contact. That's the "stuff" YOUR mind is made of: concepts.

Concepts are made of perceptions. Perceptions are made of sensations. Sensations are made of electrical impulses in the brain caused by reactions in nerves to stimulations caused by our bodies interacting with shit outside of our bodies. I don't know the science, but it doesn't make sense to me that we don't understand it, so I tend to not follow it like I don't read philosophy/psychology/religious/political books with bad titles. I'm not very interested in shit that's obviously wrong, unless it's very popular or influential.

It's really about control, not understanding or explaining how it all works. I'm in control of my mind and body, and physical reality limits that ability, so any knowledge of the way everything functions is beneficial, but it's ultimately just a means to an end, a means of gaining greater control over my existence and achieving my personal goals.

I chop down a tree because I want to build a house. I dissect a brain because I want to think better or cure some disease. Even merely satisfying a curiosity can be valuable, but the end, my happiness, must always be remembered, kept in mind, or that's when I get lost, even if I'm successful in the short-term. Knowledge for the sake of knowledge is actually self-destructive, so I don't dwell too much on shit I don't know unless I have a very good reason to.