Google enhanced cognitive churn

‘I’ get the impression that ‘my’ mindbrain is perpetually turning over and recombining facts and feelings. It does this to see patterns and thus to make sense of the past and predict the future. Some of this happens at the conscious level but most of it is in the unconscious. The stories that are generated are prioritized and the winner drives the reaction or response to external stimuli.

As an English speaking Scotsman of the 20th century I have a limited vocabulary for feelings, moods and emotions and there is a taboo against mentioning them. Facts are more readily dealt with as perceptions and concepts which can be subject to judgement and reasoning.

The cognitive churn is ongoing whether or not ‘I’ attempt to influence the outcomes. When there is no attempt to influence then I am little more than a robot driven by my genetic and cultural conditioning. When there is an attempt to influence then who is the ‘I’ and how come they want to go this way rather than that?

The underlying problem is with the concept of ‘agency’. A solution is to be found in the practice of ‘mindfulness’ which, amongst other things, involves thinking about thinking and noticing what ‘you’ notice ie being a witness to (while simultaneously being a part of) the output from the cognitive churn. This could be viewed as a form of enhanced cognitive churn.

The title for this short think piece came out of the blue while I was cruising the internet to clarify the difference between commodification and commoditization. I still have flushes of awe and wonder about the ICT revolution generally and the easy availability of facts in particular. Google as a search engine and Wikipedia as an encyclopaedia stand out as miracles – and there are many others.

Google the company has given its name to google the verb. To google you need not be using Google - but it is often a good place to begin. The list of meanings given below was generated by googling to enhance the cognitive churn relating to the cognitive churn.

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• Churn: to turn over and over in the mind: His brain slowly churned all the choices and possibilities.
• Cognitive: of or pertaining to the mental processes of perception, memory, judgment, and reasoning, as contrasted with emotional and volitional processes.
• Enhanced: to raise to a higher degree; intensify; magnify: The candelight enhanced her beauty.
• Google: to search the Internet for information about (a person, topic, etc.): We googled the new applicant to check her background.

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