It's not a simple, straightforward process. It's fundamental to the human nature and the fact that it is an unconscious act, I believe, doesn't make this act of speaking an incredibly easy one; rather, speaking and more so, speaking in different dialects and languages involve an incredibly complex set of mental processes. I think that it is just like transitioning from Java to Matlab to IDL to C++, all the different computer languages with entirely different sets of rules, instructions, and libraries (given that there may be some similarities).
As I ponder on a human's ability to communicate and to communicate in such varied ways, I feel amazed by the power of mind and consequently with the potency of its Creator. I have been trying to learn a new language, Farsi, which is to say that I am making my mind memorize a new set of rules of speech, and a new library of words, and to get used to of its dialect.
I had never thought of how I speak until this day; I just took it for granted. Today, as I was battling my solitude and gathering my thoughts to begin working on my next homework assignment, I decided to take new language lessons for a few minutes. I began reading the language book but then I paused and began reflecting on the operation of the brain.
For the languages that I already know and speak, the speech processing goes on so fast in my mind that I am able to utter sentences, after carefully thinking about them off course nearly simultaneously, in the order of just a couple seconds. It is amazing that when I want to say a word, I think about it, collect the words from my memory to put the thought into a sentence form, then instruct my mouth, tongue, jaw muscles, vocal cord, and all the supporting muscles to generate just the right movement to deliver the accurate, thought out message, and finally keep my ears on alert so that the brain could ensure through the analysis of sound's input to the ear that the message has been efficiently rendered.
Imagine, all of this process happening every second that we speak and still we don't try to estimate its value and just take it for granted. It was not until analyzing the process of programming my PC for executing necessary simulations that I was able to understand how systematically our mind functions. It is amazing to me how I can transition from Urdu to English almost instantly and and not stutter.
And once I introduce another language to the my mind's memory bank, I would have access to a whole new set of grammar rules, colloquial speech informal rules, basic and advanced vocabulary and so much more at my disposal, which I will be able to use swiftly to convey my thoughts by a different set of lips, tongue, and vocal cord movements to talk to an entirely different nation of people and to access an entire world of literature, written by past scholar of that language, which was hidden from me until I didn't know the language. There is already so much excitement for me to learn a new language, or to teach my mind a new set of instructions.
I am increasingly thankful to my Creator for creating me so fundamentally flawless in the act of speech, so that I can use this ability of mine to broaden my intellect and to carry out the logical analysis that human mind has been made for.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Friday, February 25, 2011
Impulsive Thought Process
I was entering the intersection, and this time with an increased caution, as my body had just recently received a blow of a terrible bike accident and had thus warned my mind of the agonizing pain that can result from its recklessness. Thus with enhanced care, my mind was processing tons of algorithms in the order of milliseconds I believe, to circumvent any possible accident.
I was riding the bike and had already sent a mental query to process the required bodily instructions to generate a right turning movement on the bicycle handle, as I steadily approached the curved intersection. As this turning instruction was in queue, to be processed in due time, I saw another bike rider approaching the intersection.
I should remind you here that I was only 30 feet away from the intersection when this thought process of deciding the appropriate movement at the intersection began in my mind. or in the technical terminology, when my mind began to process instructions and algorithms that would facilitate my safe crossing of the intersection. So here are the list of various case analyses that went in my mind within just the 5 second distance between me and the intersection (at the bike's speed of 13-15mph):
- I was reminded that I should follow all the standard traffic rules in order to avoid falling into an accident, which included moving past another incoming cyclist on his left.
- I saw that the cyclist had been maintaining a consistent adherence to his left curb, thus essentially not leaving any room for me to pass from his left, which means I had to prepare myself to pass him on his right.
- But before I make a final decision, my brain ran a set of further checks to verify the stubbornness of his consistency, including noticing the biker's appearance.
- I saw that the cyclist was Chinese, which made me to shuffle through my mental records pertaining to their character's steadfastness. I immediately recalled various stories from my dad that how devout they get in their work that they hardly feel nostalgic or keep other social ties. I recalled my Chinese friends who used to complete their homework well before time and much more. And immediately, my rank scale of considering the cyclist as stubborn in his movement jumped up.
- I noticed the eyeglasses on the cyclist, which made me think that the cyclist might be lazy in noticing my movement forward and his movement might be conducive to causing an accident if I show equal stubbornness of passing from his left.
- I saw his white hair which made me realize his longevity, and the resultant potential inefficiency in mental processing.
- I noticed his stiff grip on the bike handle which gave an impression of his naivety in bike riding, which alarmed my mind of adapting extra caution.
And while I was pondering on this bike rider and his associated features so that I can make a better decision of how to maneuver my bike as I enter the intersection, I was also keeping a hindsight at the other intersection exits to ensure that I do not have to worry about other riders.
So in lieu of the answers to my brief albeit comprehensive analysis about the bike rider, my mind decided to instruct my hands change the cycle's bearing to 45 degrees west of north, in order to pass the approaching rider on his right instead.
As expected, the rider showed a slight sign of confusion as he tried to avoid any possible accident between us but as he saw me changing my path, well clear of his trajectory, he continued on without any turns.
To my amazement, all of this thought process was executed within 5-6 seconds of time window. Moreover, immediately after it happened, my mind started to re-evaluate that in what areas was its mental processing lacking perfectness. And I asserted to myself that the next time, I should slow down my speed as well and do not change the trajectory when my distance from the approaching rider has decreased below 2 seconds in time.
I see that I processed so many instructions and evaluated their results against a developed criteria within the order of 10th of second. The type of multi-tasking our mind is intrinsically capable of doing is simply breath-taking.
As I still ponder on the brilliance of this natural computer that God has gifted us, I go in the state of awe and fail to fathom the enormity of its power when its potential is utilized to its fullest.
This impulsive thought process that goes on in our brains is second to only the top-notch super-computers which have hundreds of cores running the machine learning algorithms where instruction processing, results analysis, feedback processing and learning goes on simultaneously in the order of nano seconds. And, amazingly, still some humans were able to beat the best IBM Super computer, Watson" in some of the Jeopardy questions:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bH-FbztH8JQ
I was riding the bike and had already sent a mental query to process the required bodily instructions to generate a right turning movement on the bicycle handle, as I steadily approached the curved intersection. As this turning instruction was in queue, to be processed in due time, I saw another bike rider approaching the intersection.
I should remind you here that I was only 30 feet away from the intersection when this thought process of deciding the appropriate movement at the intersection began in my mind. or in the technical terminology, when my mind began to process instructions and algorithms that would facilitate my safe crossing of the intersection. So here are the list of various case analyses that went in my mind within just the 5 second distance between me and the intersection (at the bike's speed of 13-15mph):
- I was reminded that I should follow all the standard traffic rules in order to avoid falling into an accident, which included moving past another incoming cyclist on his left.
- I saw that the cyclist had been maintaining a consistent adherence to his left curb, thus essentially not leaving any room for me to pass from his left, which means I had to prepare myself to pass him on his right.
- But before I make a final decision, my brain ran a set of further checks to verify the stubbornness of his consistency, including noticing the biker's appearance.
- I saw that the cyclist was Chinese, which made me to shuffle through my mental records pertaining to their character's steadfastness. I immediately recalled various stories from my dad that how devout they get in their work that they hardly feel nostalgic or keep other social ties. I recalled my Chinese friends who used to complete their homework well before time and much more. And immediately, my rank scale of considering the cyclist as stubborn in his movement jumped up.
- I noticed the eyeglasses on the cyclist, which made me think that the cyclist might be lazy in noticing my movement forward and his movement might be conducive to causing an accident if I show equal stubbornness of passing from his left.
- I saw his white hair which made me realize his longevity, and the resultant potential inefficiency in mental processing.
- I noticed his stiff grip on the bike handle which gave an impression of his naivety in bike riding, which alarmed my mind of adapting extra caution.
And while I was pondering on this bike rider and his associated features so that I can make a better decision of how to maneuver my bike as I enter the intersection, I was also keeping a hindsight at the other intersection exits to ensure that I do not have to worry about other riders.
So in lieu of the answers to my brief albeit comprehensive analysis about the bike rider, my mind decided to instruct my hands change the cycle's bearing to 45 degrees west of north, in order to pass the approaching rider on his right instead.
As expected, the rider showed a slight sign of confusion as he tried to avoid any possible accident between us but as he saw me changing my path, well clear of his trajectory, he continued on without any turns.
To my amazement, all of this thought process was executed within 5-6 seconds of time window. Moreover, immediately after it happened, my mind started to re-evaluate that in what areas was its mental processing lacking perfectness. And I asserted to myself that the next time, I should slow down my speed as well and do not change the trajectory when my distance from the approaching rider has decreased below 2 seconds in time.
I see that I processed so many instructions and evaluated their results against a developed criteria within the order of 10th of second. The type of multi-tasking our mind is intrinsically capable of doing is simply breath-taking.
As I still ponder on the brilliance of this natural computer that God has gifted us, I go in the state of awe and fail to fathom the enormity of its power when its potential is utilized to its fullest.
This impulsive thought process that goes on in our brains is second to only the top-notch super-computers which have hundreds of cores running the machine learning algorithms where instruction processing, results analysis, feedback processing and learning goes on simultaneously in the order of nano seconds. And, amazingly, still some humans were able to beat the best IBM Super computer, Watson" in some of the Jeopardy questions:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bH-FbztH8JQ
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
