Thank you for your article! I feel in awe finding your publication. This is the kind of subject I had hoped to find, and here you are.
I spend a lot of time in my mind, it sometimes feels compulsive, constantly trying to solve social issues, and how evolution of a human being works. I sketch concepts and try to lay it out. Feels simplistic, but it has many components.
awe and creativity are like motion pictures that run in my head, it’s like seeing evolution in another dimension. For me, I believe my ‘cognitive wonder’ came out of spending more time alone, and butting up against pain. It felt like it came out of nowhere, but then became part of me, and keeps building.
I also find myself experiencing cognitive wonder with complex ideas — specifically when they're elegant. To have an elegant theory of a complex concept entails understanding it so deeply that it can be explained in a neat, concise way. It has wide-ranging applicability and strong implications, but its explanation is surprisingly simple.
The theory of natural selection is a great example of this. The concept is so clear — and once you hear a couple examples about giraffes or tigers, you can quickly increase your understanding of biological traits across living organisms. And because the concept is simple and wide-ranging, you can readily integrate it with other fields -- medicine, economics, anthropology, etc.
That definitely gives me the feeling of things 'clicking' into place — vague, underdeveloped ideas get substituted by something that has so much more explanatory power.
Thank you for a great read, Tommy. I enjoyed the way you've encapsulated the concept and made it more tangible to not only grasp the idea, but how your main pillars join forces and provide a very interesting foundation for thought patterns to remain in wonder are the awesome, vastness we have in and around ourselves.
I really love the way you communicate higher level ideas. Science nerd here (specifically neuroscience), so following along with your train of thinking I find myself nodding along understanding what you're putting down!
I recently read an argument that the insights you gain on a psychedelic trip inspire wonder, but then you inevitably forget the idea. Or if you do write it down or record your idea, it's usually something mundane like "We're all connected," or "Love is the answer to everything."
I suspect that psychedelics simply trigger the emotional feeling of awe.
Leaning on Dr Lisa Feldman-Barrett, emotions are predictions for energy requirements. You feel angry because you have an unmet need and you need energy to fight/flight/freeze.
Awe is an energy prediction to start pondering an idea and meet the energy requirements for thought. There's a spike of dopamine to help this new thought become a strong memory.
I think that awe can probably be reproduced in a lab chemically if you get the right combination of hormones. (i.e. Dopamine, serotonin, adrenaline, etc.)
Disclaimer: I'm a layman so take the chemical ingredient list with a pinch of salt. If you're a neuroscientist, I'm sure you can explain it better than I can.
I don't doubt at all you can induce the feeling of awe using drugs or neural stimulation. A recent paper found lower default mode network activity during feelings of awe (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31062899/). To see if this is causal, you could try neural stimulation to disrupt those circuits and see if it induces awe.
The pandemic moved a lot of people online. I think one of the driving factors was cognitive wonder. On one hand, there was the vast majority scared and seeking safety. We were fascinated by the vaccine and wanted an end for it.
On the other hand were the anti-vaxxers. It was mind-boggling to see a group of people that didn't care for humanity and were too selfish to mask up.
There was a turning point when a lot of people became those same anti-vaxxers.
The idea that the virus was just like flu - certainly more virulent - but not deadly like the Spanish flu from the early 1900s. The modern corona virus ended up killing 3% of the population. Statistically, that's really nothing in the grand scheme of things. Mostly the old and the metabolically unstable - which is why the USA did so poorly. Everyone outside the state wondered what the fuss was all about.
Imagine yourself in the group that was full of fear. You didn't want to be a grandmother killer so you masked up and stayed home. But online you learn that the statistics don't match the narrative. If you're between 25 and 35, you're twice as likely to die from falling down the stairs.
It's a mind-blowing experience to have that sort of revelation.
Then the vaccine comes along and you get into the stats. You learned that it was causing internal bleeding - a cytokine storm - and a small percentage of people were dying. The anti-covid crowd is telling you that you're more likely to die of the vaccine than of the actual disease.
Now that it's all over, the stats show that the death rate of the vaccine is around the same as the contraceptive pill. It's a risk women all over the world take regularly.
It's vast, complex, and you need to allow yourself to accommodate a new way of thinking.
.. am all over this ‘social phenomena - my rule of thumb ? Seek out Exemplars .. had started reading Michael Lewis’s astonishing ‘The Premonition - A Covid Story - Michael Lewis & had read The Fifth Risk prior - back when Covid was launching world wide - was an old hand re Dr Larry Brilliant & his astonishing Pandemic Story re Smallpox & India .. holy hell.. ! Society today is ‘mapping Boston - late 1700’s ! I was shootin in Teaching Hospitals during SARS too & reams of Respiratory KOP’s - Key Opinion Leaders and Stakeholders too ! Though all times are historic - we’re ’living this one.. passengers on SpaceShip Earth .. 🦎🏴☠️🎬
& What if the DSM-5 had an initial & Primal ‘Differential branching point - Was The Election Stolen ?’..
further therapeutic explorations re Tinker Bell should ensure a satisfactory Outcome eh 🦎🏴☠️🎬
Have you read about UChicago research on ‘counter worlds?’ I think you’d find this ‘side benefit’ of wonder as part of what makes us resilient intriguing. Especially from an evolutionary perspective ;)
Your definition of cognitive wonder very neatly explains something I've found myself craving when I read but never had a definite term for before. I love when the imagination of another person blows open my own and feels like it creates a whole new web of connections invisible to me before then.
Have you ever read up on Henri Bergson's ideas on evolution at all? I recently read his Creative Evolution book, and his idea of the evolutionary divergence of intellect and instinct - having both started out from the same vital impulse - definitely instigated some cognitive wonder in me!
My fave Haidt book is ‘The Righteous Mind - why everyone (else) is crazy’, wherein he attempts to explain why people would rather drink cockroach juice than sell their soul in a non-legally binding contract (no joke).
Hope you have heard about the wisdom of Eckhart Tolle (www.eckharttolle.com) and John Astin's teachings on the Wellness of Being (www.johnastin.com) Stillness, Vastness, all of it. Enjoy!
.. such a ravishing ‘topic - better said - Ravishing even Intoxicating phenomena & reality ! Been there Had it Bought the t-shirt - got the Tattoo ! Saw Sputnik fly overhead ! My very first ‘memory of all - a horse nuzzling me all feathery whiskery wuffle snuffle oat flavour breathy.. instant visual KodaChrome Super 8 🦎🏴☠️
Thank you for your article! I feel in awe finding your publication. This is the kind of subject I had hoped to find, and here you are.
I spend a lot of time in my mind, it sometimes feels compulsive, constantly trying to solve social issues, and how evolution of a human being works. I sketch concepts and try to lay it out. Feels simplistic, but it has many components.
awe and creativity are like motion pictures that run in my head, it’s like seeing evolution in another dimension. For me, I believe my ‘cognitive wonder’ came out of spending more time alone, and butting up against pain. It felt like it came out of nowhere, but then became part of me, and keeps building.
yes ! 🦎🏴☠️🎬
Great essay!
I also find myself experiencing cognitive wonder with complex ideas — specifically when they're elegant. To have an elegant theory of a complex concept entails understanding it so deeply that it can be explained in a neat, concise way. It has wide-ranging applicability and strong implications, but its explanation is surprisingly simple.
The theory of natural selection is a great example of this. The concept is so clear — and once you hear a couple examples about giraffes or tigers, you can quickly increase your understanding of biological traits across living organisms. And because the concept is simple and wide-ranging, you can readily integrate it with other fields -- medicine, economics, anthropology, etc.
That definitely gives me the feeling of things 'clicking' into place — vague, underdeveloped ideas get substituted by something that has so much more explanatory power.
Loved this Tommy. The wonder shines through in your writing and I look forward to reading more. Thank you.
It comforts me a lot when I'm tired of boring and arithmetic science. Mathematical beauty would also be a good example of this.
Absolutely, mathematics is it's own enormous world
Thank you for a great read, Tommy. I enjoyed the way you've encapsulated the concept and made it more tangible to not only grasp the idea, but how your main pillars join forces and provide a very interesting foundation for thought patterns to remain in wonder are the awesome, vastness we have in and around ourselves.
Thank you for this! You've given me something further to contemplate :)
I'm glad you enjoyed it!
I really love the way you communicate higher level ideas. Science nerd here (specifically neuroscience), so following along with your train of thinking I find myself nodding along understanding what you're putting down!
I recently read an argument that the insights you gain on a psychedelic trip inspire wonder, but then you inevitably forget the idea. Or if you do write it down or record your idea, it's usually something mundane like "We're all connected," or "Love is the answer to everything."
I suspect that psychedelics simply trigger the emotional feeling of awe.
Leaning on Dr Lisa Feldman-Barrett, emotions are predictions for energy requirements. You feel angry because you have an unmet need and you need energy to fight/flight/freeze.
Awe is an energy prediction to start pondering an idea and meet the energy requirements for thought. There's a spike of dopamine to help this new thought become a strong memory.
I think that awe can probably be reproduced in a lab chemically if you get the right combination of hormones. (i.e. Dopamine, serotonin, adrenaline, etc.)
Disclaimer: I'm a layman so take the chemical ingredient list with a pinch of salt. If you're a neuroscientist, I'm sure you can explain it better than I can.
I don't doubt at all you can induce the feeling of awe using drugs or neural stimulation. A recent paper found lower default mode network activity during feelings of awe (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31062899/). To see if this is causal, you could try neural stimulation to disrupt those circuits and see if it induces awe.
Or just give everyone some acid
.. awe triggering .. psychedelics .. great questions & galaxies.. more please ? !
(I has bad trip / good trip tales of awe & am freelance fantasy debriefer.. grazing the fields of reality at large ..
indeed a Travis McGee wannabe ..& only lack a houseboat named ‘The Busted Flush .. 🦎🏴☠️)
or a Rolls Royce pickup truck ..
The pandemic moved a lot of people online. I think one of the driving factors was cognitive wonder. On one hand, there was the vast majority scared and seeking safety. We were fascinated by the vaccine and wanted an end for it.
On the other hand were the anti-vaxxers. It was mind-boggling to see a group of people that didn't care for humanity and were too selfish to mask up.
There was a turning point when a lot of people became those same anti-vaxxers.
The idea that the virus was just like flu - certainly more virulent - but not deadly like the Spanish flu from the early 1900s. The modern corona virus ended up killing 3% of the population. Statistically, that's really nothing in the grand scheme of things. Mostly the old and the metabolically unstable - which is why the USA did so poorly. Everyone outside the state wondered what the fuss was all about.
Imagine yourself in the group that was full of fear. You didn't want to be a grandmother killer so you masked up and stayed home. But online you learn that the statistics don't match the narrative. If you're between 25 and 35, you're twice as likely to die from falling down the stairs.
It's a mind-blowing experience to have that sort of revelation.
Then the vaccine comes along and you get into the stats. You learned that it was causing internal bleeding - a cytokine storm - and a small percentage of people were dying. The anti-covid crowd is telling you that you're more likely to die of the vaccine than of the actual disease.
Now that it's all over, the stats show that the death rate of the vaccine is around the same as the contraceptive pill. It's a risk women all over the world take regularly.
It's vast, complex, and you need to allow yourself to accommodate a new way of thinking.
.. am all over this ‘social phenomena - my rule of thumb ? Seek out Exemplars .. had started reading Michael Lewis’s astonishing ‘The Premonition - A Covid Story - Michael Lewis & had read The Fifth Risk prior - back when Covid was launching world wide - was an old hand re Dr Larry Brilliant & his astonishing Pandemic Story re Smallpox & India .. holy hell.. ! Society today is ‘mapping Boston - late 1700’s ! I was shootin in Teaching Hospitals during SARS too & reams of Respiratory KOP’s - Key Opinion Leaders and Stakeholders too ! Though all times are historic - we’re ’living this one.. passengers on SpaceShip Earth .. 🦎🏴☠️🎬
& What if the DSM-5 had an initial & Primal ‘Differential branching point - Was The Election Stolen ?’..
further therapeutic explorations re Tinker Bell should ensure a satisfactory Outcome eh 🦎🏴☠️🎬
Have you read about UChicago research on ‘counter worlds?’ I think you’d find this ‘side benefit’ of wonder as part of what makes us resilient intriguing. Especially from an evolutionary perspective ;)
I haven't. Can you suggest some reading on the topic?
Your definition of cognitive wonder very neatly explains something I've found myself craving when I read but never had a definite term for before. I love when the imagination of another person blows open my own and feels like it creates a whole new web of connections invisible to me before then.
Have you ever read up on Henri Bergson's ideas on evolution at all? I recently read his Creative Evolution book, and his idea of the evolutionary divergence of intellect and instinct - having both started out from the same vital impulse - definitely instigated some cognitive wonder in me!
This was a great read. Your exploration of the idea of cognitive wonder is something I'll think about for long. Great writing style too, mate!
My fave Haidt book is ‘The Righteous Mind - why everyone (else) is crazy’, wherein he attempts to explain why people would rather drink cockroach juice than sell their soul in a non-legally binding contract (no joke).
Hope you have heard about the wisdom of Eckhart Tolle (www.eckharttolle.com) and John Astin's teachings on the Wellness of Being (www.johnastin.com) Stillness, Vastness, all of it. Enjoy!
Lovely. Mind and heart opening. Perhaps you could write about punctuated equilibrium? I remember being fascinated by the construct when I was young.
Thanks, Susan
.. such a ravishing ‘topic - better said - Ravishing even Intoxicating phenomena & reality ! Been there Had it Bought the t-shirt - got the Tattoo ! Saw Sputnik fly overhead ! My very first ‘memory of all - a horse nuzzling me all feathery whiskery wuffle snuffle oat flavour breathy.. instant visual KodaChrome Super 8 🦎🏴☠️