Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!uupsi!cmcl2!panix!yanek
From: yanek@panix.uucp (Yanek Martinson)
Subject: Re: how many distinct thoughts can a person have?
Message-ID: <1991Jun19.195149.19583@panix.uucp>
Date: Wed, 19 Jun 91 19:51:49 GMT
Distribution: usa
References: <1991Jun19.033316.18773@athena.mit.edu>
Organization: PANIX Public Access Unix, NYC

In <1991Jun19.033316.18773@athena.mit.edu> mlevin@jade.tufts.edu writes:


>at one point, he states something like: "the number of distinct human
>thoughts is uncountable." Does anyone have any arguments for or
>against the idea that the number of possible distinct human thoughts
>(or mental states) is uncountably infinite? Note I do not mean
>"astronomicallly large" - I mean infinite (and perhaps uncountably so)
>in the strict mathematical sense. It seems plausible to me; does
>anyone have a good argument either way?

If you assume that all thoughts or mental states are physical events, states
and connections of molecules in the brain then, because the number of molecules
in your brain is finite, and states of every individual molecule (it's position
charge, orientation, chemical bonding, whatever) are finit, then the number of 
possible permutations is very large, but finite. Most likely uncountable using
today's technology, but not infinite.