Ways of Thinking

In regards to the slides about Ways of Thinking, the slide that peaked my interest was the Ted Talk regarding patternicity; finding patterns where there is both meaningful patterns, and no patterns all together. I worked at a forensic psychiatric hospital for 4 years. Discussions with the clientele would pretty much go from normal conversation to 'the government is feeding us straight mind controlling protons,' in a matter of 5 sentences. This paranoia is nothing more than an increase in patternicity.

What really intrigued me was the science behind it; dopamine levels are directly related to patternicity. Consuming things that alter dopamine levels, prescribed or recreational, leads to all kinds of patterned concepts. From psychoactive medication that sedates paranoia, to peyote which helped indigenous North Americans to perform certain rituals. It was just a concept I never thought about.