A question which "Google" did not answer...

I encountered a question which really made me think and wanted to know what the answer could be. As humans we have been facing a whole lot of queries which lead to all the inventions and discoveries in this world. The most useful these days could be the Internet. Communication, Entertainment, Networking, Socializing and the opportunities are inexhaustible. When we think of Internet most of you will agree you will start thinking about it with Google as a standard. There were many search engines since the beginning of the Internet but Google seems to have taken the world in its way. But the question which my friend asked me made me search an answer for it in the Google when I could not think of an answer, but even Google did not have an answer for it.

The querry was very simple.

What are the basic unit of thought?

Suraj, my colleague, with a smiling face asked me during the lunch hour while we were having our grub. The thought itself is shocking as I had never thought of it. If that thought can be measured then how can it be done? I suggested thinking of time as a base for thoughts as all our thoughts are about time and phases in our lives which have a time stamp - past present or future. But to that the retort was at that instant. The thought spans even a fraction of a second. So could the unit be nanoseconds or milliseconds. But the complexity increases. What if it is devoid of a timestamp as that is also a possibility?

In thoughts we can have many attributes images, symbols, concepts and the like.

Image: A visual, mental representation of an event or object
Symbol: an abstract unit of thought that represents an object or quality; anything that stands for or represents something else
Concept: a label for a class of objects or events that have at least one attribute in common
Prototype: a representative example of a concept
Rule: a statement of relation between concepts

And so time cannot be a measure used to describe it. Then I continued my quest for an answer. That’s when I stumbled upon a way to express a thought - in a sentence. A thought can be a simple sentence or even a complex one. It can be active or passive. Even when we research on language we come across a definition for "Sentence". Not as the sentence as in punishment but an element of language grammar. A sentence is commonly defined as "a complete unit of thought." Normally, a sentence expresses a relationship, conveys a command, voices a question, or describes someone or something. It begins with a capital letter and ends with a period, question mark, or exclamation mark.

Thought the answer has not satisfied me this could be it. My quest continues but for the moment I rest my case and believe that thoughts can be measured in a sentence. Sometimes thoughts can span into many sentences, paragraphs or even volumes. May be they are the higher units of thoughts.

When you search for a thought in google you might come accross things like:

"Thought" generally refers to any mental or intellectual activity involving an individual's subjective consciousness. It can refer either to the act of thinking or the resulting ideas or arrangements of ideas. Similar concepts include cognition, sentience, consciousness, and imagination. Because thought underlies almost all human actions and interactions, understanding its physical and metaphysical origins, processes, and effects has been a longstanding goal of many academic disciplines including, among others, biology, philosophy, psychology, and sociology.

The only thing I can tell you is to think about it in as many sentences as possible. The quest continues...

- vaazhka bhaaratham -