BrainDump

Thoughts are Viruses.

Let me explain.

These are the basic characteristics of viruses (both biological and technological):
1. Viruses self-replicate. They make copies of themselves.
2. Viruses spread from one host to another host, but require some external mode of transfer.
3. Viruses are only effective if the host is vulnerable to them. Hosts can have immunities.
4. Viruses can change their host through infection.
5. Viruses are not alive, but they can evolve.

Now that you understand the basic characteristics of a virus, you'll better understand how these ideas apply to your thoughts. I'll describe the correlation between viruses and thoughts below, subdivided by the viral characteristics listed above.


1. Viruses self-replicate. They make copies of themselves.

When I tell you a thought I've had, that thought is copied from my mind to yours. And now, I have that thought, and so do you. My thought has replicated. Now you can share it with your friends, and their friends can share it with their friends, and so on. The thought can duplicate infinitely.


2. Viruses spread from one host to another host, but require some external mode of transfer.

When I share my thought with you, it is able to spread from my mind into your mind. However, the thought can't transmit itself, it requires me to communicate it to you in some way. Whether that is through words, music, pictures, or physical interaction (such as hugs, kisses, violent acts, sex, etc.), it is still communication. Communication is required for the transfer of thoughts, and communication enables thoughts to be shared.


3. Viruses are only effective if the host is vulnerable to them. Hosts can have immunities.

Plants and animals have immunities and vulnerabilities to biological viruses. Computers have immunities and vulnerabilities to digital viruses. Likewise, we humans have immunities and vulnerabilities to thoughts. Consider the following:

"Clouds are made from dirt and that dust left over in your pencil sharpener after you've emptied it out."

You and I both know that this is bullshit. This is an obvious lie, and therefore we are not likely to believe it, nor to give it much thought. You and I are immune to this thought, and therefore we are not likely to share it with other people. This thought will fail to reproduce and spread, just as a biological or computer virus will fail to reproduce and spread if the target host has immunity.

Now consider the following:
   
"Jesus Christ died for our sins, and through Him we are forgiven."
   
Whether you believe this thought or not, you cannot deny that it is one of the most widely accepted and agreed-upon ideas in all of history. In the viral sense, it has spread widely, due to the vulnerability we all have to thoughts of this kind. Which leads me to point 4...


4. Viruses can change their host through infection.

When a virus enters its host, it is capable of changing that host in various ways. These changes can be beneficial or detrimental, they can do good or they can do harm. Thoughts are very much the same. They have the potential to change our lives, whether for good or worse.

Thoughts can change you in many ways. First we'll discuss the biological side of things.
   
Your brain consists largely of neurons. These neurons help transmit ideas and emotions throughout the brain, through neurotransmitters. When you experience a certain thought or emotion, those neurons make connections to other neurons. When you stop thinking a certain thought or feeling a certain emotion, those connections grow weaker and can break. The more you think about something, the stronger the connections become.

It is in this way that thoughts can actually change your brain, physically. When you get a thought that affects you strongly, one you think about often and apply to your life in some manner, your neurons actually shift to accomodate that thought. They make and break connections to better enable that thought to exist in your mind. So when someone gives you a new idea, they are in fact actively changing the physical structure of your brain!

Now, let's look at the psychological side of things. When you get a thought and apply it to your life, your other thoughts, it has the potential to inspire, to improve your life. It also has the potential to depress and destroy you, depending on how you take it.

If I convince you that you're worthless, your thoughts will tend to shift to worthlessness, and it could even affect you to the point of suicide.

But if I tell you that you're beautiful, wonderful, and capable of anything, that you're a delightful and amazing person, and that I love you... You are more likely to feel good things, be inspired to do good things. You will feel better about yourself. Those thoughts can save your life.

Thoughts, just like viruses, have the potential to change you in profound ways.
   
And thoughts, like viruses, have the ability to adapt and evolve... Which we'll discuss next.
   
   
5. Viruses are not alive, but they can evolve.

According to scientists and biologists, viruses are not alive. They do not undergo all the actions and processes necessary to be deemed "alive." Yet they can evolve, just like any life form.

Likewise, thoughts are not living, but can evolve just the same.
   
When you consider a certain thought, you are likely to apply it to other thoughts. When this happens, one of three possibilities can occur:

A.) The new thought might replace the old thought.
    ("The Earth is flat" became "The Earth is round.")

B.) The thoughts might coexist peacefully, having no real effect on each other.
    ("The Earth is round" coexists with "I like chocolate.")
   
C.) The thoughts might combine, complimenting each other and becoming a new thought.
    ("I like chocolate" and "I like strawberries" becomes "I should try chocolate covered strawberries.")

When your thoughts replace other thoughts, this is evolution. Old thoughts that get discarded are no longer important. Their neuron-connections are discarded, and the thought is no longer shared with others. Meanwhile, the new thought takes over and grows stronger, making new neuron-connections and being shared more often.

When your thoughts combine with other thoughts, this is also evolution. When Thought A and Thought B combine, they create the new (and possibly more viral) Thought C. This allows for further evolution, when Thought C is shared with others. Thought C might be even more popular than A or B, and might spread everywhere. (After all, Chocolate Strawberries are pretty popular, yes?) Just like a strain of virus in the wild might mutate and become more viral, so can thoughts change and become more influential.


So there you have it.
   
Thoughts are viruses, by definition. They can be shared, and they can change everyone they're shared with. And they can evolve.

And now I've spread my own virus to you. Whether you're immune to this idea or not, it has changed you, even if only temporarily. This idea has changed the physical structure of your brain, and has likely affected the way you see things in some way. And the more you think about it, the more it will change you. You'll find that it is applicable to many aspects of your life, from religion to community, from work to play, from social to personal.

Consider the idea that the Bible, Koran, and Torah are three of the most long-lasting, influential, and popular compendiums of thoughts that mankind has ever known. These books describe many thoughts that have drastically changed the lives of billions. You could say that these are some of the most viral thoughts ever conceived. Whether you agree with or believe in them or not, you cannot deny the power and influence they've had over people for thousands of years.

Hope this all makes sense to you. Feel free to spread this to everyone you know.

I've spent far too long away from my keyboard, far too long without typing or writing or creating anything new. This isn't good for me. One of the things I try to do is keep myself balanced. My passions include both logical and artistic endeavors, from writing software to writing poetry, from logic puzzles to art. I enjoy creativity and learning, and I try to keep those balanced.

But recently I've found myself leaning too far to the left-brain, the logical side of life. While my creativity is still around, it's typically focused into software projects and thoughts about science and psychology. There isn't much effort going into the artistic side of my life, and I feel there should be.

That is one of the reasons for the creation of this blog. One of the other reasons is that I'm joining the Navy, and wanted a place for my friends to see how I'm doing. But the main reason for this site is just to get my creative flow back, to start putting words down, and to get inspired.

I've had a few thoughts recently about books and stories I'd like to write. And while I know I'll probably never finish a full-length novel any time soon, I would like to try my hand at the short-stories. I just need to find my starting point, and a little inspiration.

Anyway... Here's to hoping this site will bring out my creative side.

Allie and I were going to go see the Dresden Dolls tonight in Dallas. She's been excited about this for a long time, and I was too. She'd already bought the tickets, and everything was set...

And then, this morning, at 4 AM, she woke up in pain. And it kept getting worse. For 3 hours she dealt with it without any medical assistance, until her mother finally took her to the hospital and she was given pain meds. (Not that she avoided going to the hospital -- she waited 30 minutes before telling her mother about it, then her mother took an hour getting ready to go, then for an hour and a half they waited for the doctors at the hospital.)

She had kidney stones. At her age, that's rare. Usually you're older before that happens.

Anyway.

So she had kidney stones. Lots of pain. At 10 AM she calls me (having been given morphine) and lets me know that she was at the hospital with kidney stones, and that she may not make it to the show. Well, the show was the last of my worries, with her having kidney stones and all. But after assuring me that she was okay, she told me to try to find someone to take to the show.

So I called all three of my friends, and then called a couple of hers, and nobody could go that didn't already have a ticket. But, gladly, Allie had started feeling better.

So she decided she felt okay to go. Yay! And we were going to see Bree, our friend who we hadn't seen in a year. It looked to be a good day.

But, after a few hours at the show (before the band even started playing), Allie started feeling bad again. So we went home, and left Bree and her family and friend to enjoy the show without us.

I don't feel bad about it, except I know that Allie was really looking forward to that show. I don't mind that I didn't get to see it; there will be other opportunities. I'm just glad Allie's feeling better.

But overall, today wasn't a very good day for her. I'm glad I could be there, but I hope tomorrow's better.

Tomorrow I visit my grandparents and we start paying off my debt. Excitement!

More news as it arrives.

I'm now an officially ordained Minister in the Universal Life Church, and as such, I've started my own church, called the Legion of Life (LoL). All are welcome to join, regardless of religious affiliation (or lack thereof).

The ULC is purely non-denominational, and accepts people from all faiths and religions.

So, now that I'm a Minister, I can legally perform weddings, baptisms, funerals, and any manner of other religious ceremonies (except circumcision, which I'll leave to the doctors).

No joke. This is totally for real.

You can call me Reverend Iceschade now.

And join my church, the LoL.

So, correct me if I'm wrong, but one of the possible side effects of having sex is nine months of gradual weight gain, strange cravings, back pain, and finally, a brand new baby. I mean... That's how I was born. And I'm willing to venture that's how you were born as well.

Why is it, then, that so many kids these days have this strange idea that they're immune to the whole pregnancy thing, and that they can have unprotected, consequence-free sex whenever they want?

It's quite alarming, really. Through my entire four years in High School, I heard of maybe two or three teen pregnancies. I know that there were plenty more than I heard of, but it still didn't seem that drastic.

But recently I've been hearing about teen pregnancies with alarmingly higher frequency. It seems like once a week there's someone new that I used to know that's getting pregnant. And more often than not, it's someone who really has no business getting pregnant or raising a child (usually because they're still so damn childish themselves). Sometimes it becomes a success story, and they grow up some and become a decent mother, and sometimes the father sticks around to help them out because he actually gives a damn about the kid and the mother. But in most cases I've seen, the father decides to flake out and be a jerk about things. Shirking his responsibilities instead of manning up and helping out.

It's getting to the point that it's no longer surprising that someone new is pregnant. Rather than "oh my God, someone's pregnant!" it has become "I wonder who's next in line?" And then, when the next teen pregnancy rears its head, the questions become "I wonder what she'll do... Keep it, abort it, or adopt it?" and "Will the dad stick around or be a douchebag and skip town?"

One thing that scares me about all these teen pregnancies, though, is the fact that so many of the teen mothers knew each other, and knew about each other's pregnancies. They'd hear about one, talk about how sad it is that the boyfriend skipped town, how tragic it will be when she has to give it up, and how "goodness, that person should have known better, at least used protection!" And then a month later you hear that the same person making the comments about the first is suddenly pregnant as well. It's that whole "it'll happen to them, but never to me" mindset, I guess.

Seriously, though, you'd think that after the first one, the rest would start taking steps to prevent pregnancy for themselves. When Sue sees Jane get pregnant, you'd think that Sue would get on birth control, or start using condoms, or stop having sex. I mean, that's common sense, right?

But... I guess not. Common Sense seems to be lacking in this part of town.

At least we know Children of Men won't be coming true anytime soon.

Alright, boys and girls, here begins my brain-dump. You don't have to read it, you don't have to like it, you don't have to care. But you can, if you want. Obviously, there will be more to read later on, so check back whenever you want.