i was just bored sitting here waiting on my next class and wondering. people all the time are saying "i just had a random thought" but is the human mind actually capable of being random?

I say no, but discuss discuss

well, i think that something in the mind must had braught it to the surface, so its not techincally random, but i guess that if it has nothing to do with the place/thing they are/doing then it might be seen as random/pointless
😐 🙂

Can you truly say anything is random? There are lots of things in this world which are far to complex or hard to understand, so they appear to be random to us, but are they? There basicly is no definate answer, but I for one would say yes, you can have a random thought (although frankly its never happened to me, my mind just goes off on a tanget quick like lightning). Basicly as far as I'm concerned if anything is to complex to fully understand, there is some element of randomness involved.

Double dino to micro crimp!!!

If by random you mean out of order, than yes. By that I mean: I'm thinking about the assignment that I have to hand in, plan on how to do it and then suddenly I think 'red polka dots look so much more nicer on black than pink ones' - that's what I call random.
But whether it came to my mind randomly or was sparked by something - it's a completely different matter.

Current avatar features Badou from Dogs.

im defining random as, sort of what layhe said about polka dots. where the mind picks something completely different to think about completely without any reason, like an underlying thought, to lead it to think that. Kinda of like a cd player actually picking a random song on the random setting, there are no basis for the next song other than the one it's currently on.

personally i think theres too much underlying thoughts and stimuli from the outside world for the mind to be random, but it can appear so at times seeing as we can't process most of the information our minds are flooded with(sight, sound, etc)

If you follow the definition of random then no, a human mind cannot have 'random thoughts'.

If you want to use the less strict idea of

Quote from Layhe

If by random you mean out of order then I'd still feel that the answer is no. Subconsious direction and trains of thought that you might not be aware of are still far from random and follow logic. In the same way that dreams supposedly reveal thoughts and emotions.

Then again, I can't flood you with psychological investigations proving such, I just like to try and sound clever.

Quote from Juneau

Then again, I can't flood you with psychological investigations proving such, I just like to try and sound clever.

Don't we all like to do that? xD

I don't think your brain can be random though. Something just stimulates that specific memory, and brings it up.

source: animenewsnetwork

Join SRoMU Scanlations or visit #SRoMU at IRCHighWay.

On the outset, I think it's possible. But maybe subconsciously, no. But to check, you'll have to look into brain chemistry and psychology.

I do not think that being random is possible.
When I say/do something so called random, I am only
random to the other person, who was not inside
my head making that idea/thought/whatever.

um...maybe?? i dunno...i tell my friend a story of wut happ 2daii and then 2 seconds later im talking bout cows....no idea how that had anything to do with my story....but ya...

As if handcuffed, I'm bound to the memories of you...

Functionally/effectively random, yes - a thought pops up with no logical or conscious connections. However there were almost certainly some unconscious connections being made, so it's not truly random...

"[English] not only borrows words from other languages; it has on occasion chased other languages down dark alley-ways, clubbed them unconscious and rifled their pockets for new vocabulary."
-James Nicoll, can.general, March 21, 1992

Try sleeping only few hours a day, for few weeks...and you'll get to know what a mind randomness is >.<

[img]http://img.userbars.pl/69/13603.gif[/img]
Still the [color=red]bad[/color] cop.

True randomness is most likely inexistent, at least outside of quantum mechanics.
And even then, some physicist argue that the phenomenas described by quantum mechanics only appear random because we lack the required knowledge to be able to predict them. (Albert Einstein was one of those who believed so...)

For the human mind, I personally believe it isn't capable of being truly random. Just as much as computers are also unable to generate perfectly random numbers, that is why we rely on pseudo-random number generators. The human mind is just a much better version of a pseudo-random generator than we could ever hope to achieve in the next 100 years. It still doesn't mean it really is random. It just looks random enough to fool us.

A nice interesting test I saw before (in french... so it might not have the same effect in English), made people do seemingly random math, and then answer a question. And everyone almost always answered the same thing on that question. (The question requested that you think of a random tool and color, almost everyone who tested it thought of red and hammer)

Quote from Stealth

A nice interesting test I saw before (in french... so it might not have the same effect in English), made people do seemingly random math, and then answer a question. And everyone almost always answered the same thing on that question. (The question requested that you think of a random tool and color, almost everyone who tested it thought of red and hammer)

I've seen a test like that in Polish. You were asked to do maths, too and then to think about a vegetable. 98% of people answered carrot. I guess that proves that we cannot be random. Although I think the whole 'can we be random or not' is more the matter of what makes us think/do random things.

Current avatar features Badou from Dogs.

Wow, what a great and thought-provoking question.

I think that our minds are capable of random thought, just not while we're concious or able to control our thoughts. I mean, I've had some crazy dreams before involving things that I had NEVER experienced before (or read or heard about) that I just couldn't explain or figure out. I mean, it couldn't have been a memory that was being recalled, unless it was some hidden/repressed memory, but I doubt I had a traumatic enough life to have any of those.

I also figure it this way: When babies have they're very first thoughts, can't those be considered random? It's not like they have any memories to tap into yet, so those thoughts had to come from somewhere.