the ultimate online exercise system!

I was struck by a concatenation of thoughts yesterday (honestly!). I had just finished reading a summary of Karl Popper’s thought (the greatest scientific philosopher ever, in my ‘umble opinion; a balanced synopsis appears here, with useful links to other sites), I’d just seen an article on psychological research into the basis for neurolinguistic programming (again, good summary in Wikipedia), and I was watching the dog dreaming on the sofa.

There he was, woofing away, eyes open, paws fluttering. And suddenly a number of things came together. I have often wondered how it is that a large dog can spend 23 hours out of every 24 sparked out on the sofa/floor/cushion/comfy resting place of your choice and actually retain enough bodily functions to stay alive. And it came to me: that’s how they do it. For dogs, that one hour of activity a day is enough to fuel the dreamtime that keeps them in shape for the rest of the day. That’s why they exhibit such impressive muscle tone and bouncy energy while they’re physically up and about. Because inside, even while they’re apparently sparko, they’re actually galvanising themselves every few minutes – through dream activity.

This thought was prompted by a couple of articles I had been reading about psychological research, notably a study by Ellen Langer into the effects of deliberately acting, dressing and feeling 20 years younger than you actually are (you’ll find a useful description here, although the reference I read was in The Times). In principle we all know the importance of “acting as young as you feel”, but it’s always nice to have the principle supported by empirical evidence of positive results!

Visualisation in sports and NLP

Both kinds of activity (sports and neurolinguistic programming) have made visualisation into a hot topic among those ambitious to develop themselves and further their careers. But watching the dog effectively doing exactly the same thing as a professional athlete – and doing it more profoundly and effectively – was a real eye-opener. It made me wonder whether that isn’t in fact one of the secrets of the human intellect – we’ve managed to externalise what animals do naturally, internally and unconsciously. Yes, we dream, but most of our dreaming has been transferred to the “real” (physical) world, where we busily convert our dreams into external realities.

Evolution of the mind?

This consideration reminded me of what I’d just been reading about Popper’s view of the scientific process: that scientific theory is in fact produced by the creative imagination in order to solve problems – science is, in fact, about problem-solving rather than the intellectual pursuit of empiricism.

This view of science fits rather well into the hunter-gatherer viewpoint that has begun to (re)gain favour among health and fitness specialists, and to my mind makes sense from an evolutionary perspective. The purpose of science is ultimately pragmatic: to optimise your response to environmental stresses with a view to prolonging survival, building a sustainable community and bringing up your progeny.

The thought that the problem-solving mindset of the modern scientist might, in its early phases, have originated in the dream activity of something resembling a dog amuses me. And yet, I think there’s a high probability it’s a reasonable assumption.

What interests me more is where the dream activity comes from in the first place. Is it, in fact, something inherent in the counter-entropic (negentropic) thing that is life? Is it limited to the brain? Or does it spring from something at the deep cellular level? Something that drives organisms to work, to be active, to stretch their limits even when they are apparently at rest?

There’s no easy way to answer that. And mindful of Popper’s doctrine of falsifiability, I shall cease my conjectures, at least for the time being. But… but… but… I can’t help thinking that greater insight into the earliest stages of pre-intellectual activity would enormously enhance our understanding of and appreciation for the many other life-forms that share our environment.

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