G+_George Kozi Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 Passing thought: If science is about knowing, and facts, and measuring, and verifying... then how can it accommodate intuition? We all have it, even scientists who deal in fact and knowledge and measuring and verifying. Intuition... an irrational hunch that is based on a gut feeling... So... the spark of genius... the original irrational impulse cannot be scientifically explained, can it? It is... dare I say it... kinda mystical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Scott Blackmon Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 I would argue "intuition" is based on past experiences, gained pieces of knowledge. A lot of people have a "feeling" something isn't right because there are pieces in place that they have seen before. I once knew a guy who a number of us made jokes about in terms of his awkwardness when it came to women. Made light of his creepiness. A year later, this guy was busted for crossing state lines with the intention of having a sexual relationship with a minor. Our intuition was based on a number of characteristics that we all saw in him. That was he last time I didn't trust my intuition. How often do we hear about law enforcements "intuition" in a given situation? All of it comes from experience and picking up on small cues we otherwise ignore. See those cues often enough and it's like pieces to a puzzle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Todd Hughes Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 As far as the notion of intuition, I think science can accommodate it pretty well, like Scott says, our past experiences and knowledge are a big part of it. From what I understand, our brain is very good at recognizing patterns and allowing us to make decisions based on those - without necessarily making us aware of the details of how it arrived there - it just "seems" right. Of course that intuition is not always correct. So science accommodates intuitive ideas by calling them "hypotheses." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Tyler Larson Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 Intuition is a mental heuristic for extrapolating future events based on previous associations and current observations. It feels like magic because your brain does it "in hardware", but the process is both predictable and fairly accurate for the moment-to-moment decisions that dominate everyday life. It's absolutely scientific, even though we like to pretend it isn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_George Kozi Posted June 3, 2015 Author Share Posted June 3, 2015 Although recognizing patterns, however subtle is part of the process, that doesn't explain intuition. Why? Because if it did, computers would be the most intuitive things in this universe... Perhaps intuition is about the yet unknown logic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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