Intuition: What is it and how does it work?

[daedalus 2.0]

It's being brought up a lot here as a way of knowing.

Vision works because light enters the eye and reacts with the rods and cones in our eyeball, which is connected by the optic nerve to the brain (I'm sure I don't need to get too technical, since I have already explained vision 100 times more accurately then I expect an explanation for Intuition).

So, how does Intuition work? What part of the brain does it operate? How is the knowledge transmitted?

How do you know if you know something (by intuition) or just have a warm, happy but wrong belief about something? What are the rates of Intuition being correct? How do you test to see if you have it, have it a little, have it a lot?


Now, I don't expect any solid answers, and that should tell us something.

If someone claims knowledge of a vague concept (God) by "explaining" it with another vague concept (Intuition, ESP, Psychic powers, chi, etc). Then what have they explained? What have they claimed knowledge of?

If I tell you my Gostach tells me there is a Roostolcok somewhere. Do you know what I mean? What does your Gostach tell you?

[QED]

The trouble is, intuition often works. Why it works in these cases (as I understand it), and why it sometimes surprises us when it does, is that unconscious processes are constantly at work on shared sensory data and presenting our conscious minds with conclusions that seem to come "out of the blue" now and then. Malcom Gladwell (in his book titled Blink) describes how a fire chief is suddenly minded to evacuate all his fire-fighters from a domestic blaze just moments before the entire ground floor collapses into the basement. Gladwell describes how several unusual subconscious observations meant that the chief "knew what was going on" even though, at a conscious level, he didn't -- not until the urgent idea to call everyone out popped into his mind. One of the "clues" was that even though the fire seemed to be relatively small (confined to the kitchen) it was not responding to the hoses. In fact, the real blaze was located throughout the basement and the lack of response along with some other subtle hints was quietly coming together "outside" the chiefs conscious mind, until the intuition burst into his mind.

This is well understood as consequence of the architecture of the brain (check out Gladwell's book for reference), but the impression it gives us is that we can get reliable, factual, information without apparently being informed. Unfortunately this can be a false impression when we join other strands of information -- but the delivery system (into our consciousness) is the same and we tend to give the source the credit.

[McCulloch]

Intuition: What is it and how does it work?

There is some neurological research going on regarding this question. No hard and fast answers yet.

I do know that intuition is very useful. It can be used to generate ideas and options. It cannot be used to validate results.

[WafflesFTW]

Read the book "blink." It pretty much answers your question. I don't know who the author is. To summarize ill say that the conscious is not the only part of the brain at work. The unconscious is even more calculating; It takes in all the info from the environment and relays it to the conscious; Hence the intuition.

[McCulloch]

Read the book "blink." It pretty much answers your question. I don't know who the author is. To summarize ill say that the conscious is not the only part of the brain at work. The unconscious is even more calculating; It takes in all the info from the environment and relays it to the conscious; Hence the intuition.

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking (Paperback)
by Malcolm Gladwell

[Cathar1950]

I just re-found a book I read back in 74-75 called "Symposium on Consciousness".
I got interested and just finished a book called the "Cultural Animal" which had many refrences that looked promising for some further leads. But the Sub-conscious mind seem to do most of the work and we seem to like that as learning and mastering things let thats part take over so we don't have to think about it.
Maybe the conscious mind is just there for our amusement and possibly to share meaning and filter as needed. Interesting stuff.

[micatala]

Intuition: What is it and how does it work?

There is some neurological research going on regarding this question. No hard and fast answers yet.

I do know that intuition is very useful. It can be used to generate ideas and options. It cannot be used to validate results.

True. But even even mathematics, intuition can be very powerful, leading to a correct answer in a flash. Yes, we would go back and validate the result logically, but in many cases we would never have found the result, or at least not at that time and possibly for many years, without someones flahs of intuition.


Just a digression, let me ask the forum to provide their opinions.

Are mathematical theorems invented or discovered?

The Pythagorean Theorem, the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus, the recently proved Poincare Conjecture? Were they invented by human minds or were they out there waiting to be discovered?

[McCulloch]

True. But even even mathematics, intuition can be very powerful, leading to a correct answer in a flash. Yes, we would go back and validate the result logically, but in many cases we would never have found the result, or at least not at that time and possibly for many years, without someones flash of intuition.

Some of the greatest ideas humanity has had were the result of flashes of intuition. But also many very mediocre ideas were as well. That is why they must be validated rationally and logically before they can be accepted as fact.

Just a digression, let me ask the forum to provide their opinions.

Are mathematical theorems invented or discovered?

The Pythagorean Theorem, the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus, the recently proved Poincare Conjecture? Were they invented by human minds or were they out there waiting to be discovered?

I think that these truths are true whether or not humans figure it out, therefore I would go with discovered rather than invented.

[Cathar1950]

Intuition: What is it and how does it work?

There is some neurological research going on regarding this question. No hard and fast answers yet.

I do know that intuition is very useful. It can be used to generate ideas and options. It cannot be used to validate results.

True. But even even mathematics, intuition can be very powerful, leading to a correct answer in a flash. Yes, we would go back and validate the result logically, but in many cases we would never have found the result, or at least not at that time and possibly for many years, without someones flahs of intuition.


Just a digression, let me ask the forum to provide their opinions.

Are mathematical theorems invented or discovered?

The Pythagorean Theorem, the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus, the recently proved Poincare Conjecture? Were they invented by human minds or were they out there waiting to be discovered?

I am going with both.
It is a human construct that is always being discovered in even if it is personal. the use of our language and reason as it evolves with our experiences is always looking for connections and testing them out.
I will let the grown up talk now.

[daedalus 2.0]

Intuition: What is it and how does it work?

There is some neurological research going on regarding this question. No hard and fast answers yet.

I do know that intuition is very useful. It can be used to generate ideas and options. It cannot be used to validate results.

Yes.

I read "Blink" and have seen studies on how the body can pick up signals before the conscious part of the brain can process it.

A major aspect of the studies, and Blink, is that all this information is sensory (Physical/Material).

I forget if Blink or the study gave the examlpe of a person walking into a room in which there is a dead body. "Intuitively" we know something is there. In fact, the sensory experience (smell, probably the most likely culprit) triggers something in the body a increases your pulse and breathing. THEN, the brain say "omg, that's the sign that I should be freaking right now!"
At which point you become consciously aware and afraid.

It's as if your brain reacts to the sensory (Material) input, and you are like a passenger in the car, commenting on the experience.


Now, if we call this process Intuition, fine. The problem is, it can be horribly wrong, too.

A scent can spark the neural cascade, but if could be a misfire, or mistake. It still needs to be verified by actual evidence.