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How much does a thought weigh?

6547 Views 19 Replies 11 Participants Last post by  invalidcomfort
- as in actual weight.

And what weight difference is there if say you're thinking about a single tree versus a whole forest? NO, I'm not crazy (well I am but it's all relative and that's another story) in this case I seriously want to know. Everything has weight to it right? Even a single atom weighs something. So... when your brain is engaged in any thought process, there are electrical signals running throughout your central nervous system. Those signals are made up of millions of micro-particles. What do the sum of all those parts weigh?

Hey, I drive a big truck that bounces my brain around inside my skull all day long. You'd go nuts too. :lol:

...coming up next: Immortality and how it will be accomplished in the distant future. :wink:
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Does a Hard Drive get heavier with more files added? What about RAM when you open a huge program?

8)
ComposiMo said:
Does a Hard Drive get heavier with more files added? What about RAM when you open a huge program?

8)
Hard drive, no - It stores information by changing the magnetic state of spots on each platter's surface. RAM may actually change weight since they're essentially a bunch of capacitors. The more data you add, the more electrons build up in the capacitors, adding weight. It wouldn't be much weight since electrons weigh practicly nothing... I read once that a single electron traveling close to the speed of light (around 670,680,000 mph) would have roughly the same impact force as a tractor trailer doing 60 mph.
Ok - maybe not the most informative comparison. ^_^

Storing memories might add weight to your brain. IIRC, the brain does so in the form of protein complexes in nerve cells, though I'm not sure if new complexes are added with each new memory, or if they're simply rearranged.
I immagine thoughts are mostly active processes in the brain with some short-term memory thrown in. As such, the brain would probably lose some weight by using up neurotransmitters and such.
[bull doo-doo]

IMHO

It's all about the equality of matter. It takes energy to use and store information, and it's intentionally left inert as a near weightless chemical matter. I think that the more we think, the more homogenous our brains become, take less and less energy to suppord the matter that becomes stored.

After all, matter's nothing but energy, right?

Therefor: Nothing every changes weight, it's all exchanged in equal amounts of energy. Then as the energy is used, settling the weight as matter; vice-versa.

[/bull doo-doo]

EDIT by stickershop for language
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OR....
What do you suppose the average air speed of a ladened swallow carrying a coconut would be?
invalidcomfort said:
[bull****]
[/bull****]
That would make sense if the human brain drew it's energy from a particle collider or similar effect. It takes a whole mess of energy to make a little bit of matter... That's what E=MC^2 is about. C is the speed of light - a big number. Mass * a big number = another big number... Energy in this case.
Unfortunately, our brains draw energy from far less potent chemical reactions, the chemical agents for which sit inert as you say, but they're not weightless. Once they've released their energy, the by-products of the reaction are passed out of the brain via the circulatory system - material leaves the brain as a result of thinking. Fortunately the reactants are replentished by the same circulating fluid, or our brains would quickly starve.
ollie said:
OR....
What do you suppose the average air speed of a ladened swallow carrying a coconut would be?
European swallow?
wow i think my brain just had a hemerage thinking about this.....yep i forgot my child hood thanks guys
ollie said:
OR....
What do you suppose the average air speed of a ladened swallow carrying a coconut would be?
African swallow?
Lumpy53 said:
ollie said:
OR....
What do you suppose the average air speed of a ladened swallow carrying a coconut would be?
African swallow?
But then how would he carry thus previously stated coconut? :D
dpending on what physical shape you are in during such immortality...

I mean, if its like in the highlander, where at whatever age you "die" you stay.. like he was 30ish when he was killed.. then he came back, since he was an immortal... so following that.. if I died tomorrow, but was immortal.. so I could "stay 32" forever.. then Heck yeah let me be immortal! think of all the cool stuff you would see!!

but, on the other hand if you continued to age.. and you were all old and decrepid... had to wear depends.. was confined to a chair... etc.. then forget that noise..

later

Sneak
You guys are making this way too complicated.

Heu, just lay your head on your pot scales (which Im sure you have, or you wouldnt even be asking this qustion to begin with! :p... j/k).

Once you've got your head stabilized, think really hard about soemthing and see what the scale reads. Subtract that from your thoughtless head weight and there you have it!

Oh, and as far as immortality goes, it would be OK like sneak said, if you were "young" and it worked like Highlander...that way, when and if you actually wanted to die, you could just have one of your highlander immortal buddies to chop off your head...so you wouldnt have to live forever if you didnt want to.
Perhaps if two swallows carried it together?
Nope that wouldn't work because the left wing of one swallow would interfere with the flapping motion of the right wing of the other swallow.

Hmmm... unless of course they flapped corresponding wings in sync.
dohcrxl said:
Nope that wouldn't work because the left wing of one swallow would interfere with the flapping motion of the right wing of the other swallow.

Hmmm... unless of course they flapped corresponding wings in sync.
What if the first one held the coconut in front and the other held the coconut from the rear of said coconut?

Man thats-a-lotto coconuts! :lol:

Heres another thought.......Would a man hear another man banging two coconuts together in a forest if there was a tree falling?(man thats deep) :wink:
Well, there are details missing... like how far is man 1 from man 2? Which is closer to the falling tree? How close is that man to the tree? How are the men positioned in relation to each other? Are they facing each other or do they have their backs to each other?Man ollie, you ask very loaded questions. :wink:

Oh you want deep? How's this? - Do you suppose that the reason why people like different colors is because... the way I see blue in my mind is different from the way the next person sees blue in theirs. Say for example I see blue the way you see red. In both our brains they register as the same color though to someone else they are not. So although we like the same color, according to the color charts we don't.

Actually, that wasn't deep; It was just twilight zone wierd. I retract.
Would that mean the color-blind are really the ONLY ONES that see colors as they really are?
dohcrxl said:
Oh you want deep? How's this? - Do you suppose that the reason why people like different colors is because... the way I see blue in my mind is different from the way the next person sees blue in theirs. Say for example I see blue the way you see red. In both our brains they register as the same color though to someone else they are not. So although we like the same color, according to the color charts we don't.

Actually, that wasn't deep; It was just twilight zone wierd. I retract.
I've thought about that many times before. How about I add something to it... Suppose the way someone else sees the color spectrum is COMPLETELY different than the way I see it. So they see colors that don't even exist in my mind. Imagine, colors that you've never seen before and can't even comprehend in your own mind. It's like a phase shift on the visible light spectrum.
crxfisher said:
dohcrxl said:
Oh you want deep? How's this? - Do you suppose that the reason why people like different colors is because... the way I see blue in my mind is different from the way the next person sees blue in theirs. Say for example I see blue the way you see red. In both our brains they register as the same color though to someone else they are not. So although we like the same color, according to the color charts we don't.

Actually, that wasn't deep; It was just twilight zone wierd. I retract.
I've thought about that many times before. How about I add something to it... Suppose the way someone else sees the color spectrum is COMPLETELY different than the way I see it. So they see colors that don't even exist in my mind. Imagine, colors that you've never seen before and can't even comprehend in your own mind. It's like a phase shift on the visible light spectrum.
Actually, this rings more true than anything else. Reason? Because we each have our own indivdual perception, that has been fooled to think that said color is "blue". Say you had no part in society, and thought that red was blue, well red would actually be red. Add on top of that, you would have no concept of colors. The launguage makes colors, not the perception.

Color blind people don't see color, they see shades that they associate with colors that people say that they are..

Not so bull doo-doo this time :p
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