Mohamed Ghouse Nasuruddin :
Man’s thought process is the result of a combination of his biological, hereditary neuro mechanism, the environment, belief system, educative process and technology. The biological neuro mechanism refers to the human DNA, which at its inception is made up of the parents’ chromosomes, thus inheriting their behavioural traits and known as the genotype.
When the genotype interacts with the environment it becomes known as phenotype. Its DNA would mutate for the organism (Man) to survive in the specific environment. The environment, both natural and man-made, plays an important part in shaping man’s thought process which manifests in his behavioural pattern.
The natural environment was the dominant determinant of man’s thinking process and thought patterns in the early stages of human evolution. His thinking was developed through experiential learning by way of interacting with the natural forces. Initially, his reactions were determined by the dictates of the forces for he was ignorant of their working mechanisms.
In reacting to the physical environment, man thought of ways, consciously or intuitively to adapt or to surmount the challenges. Whether he was at the mercy of these environmental challenges or able to cope with them depended on his level of thought process and thinking capacity.
Thus, to rationalise his existence he ascribed spiritual supernatural powers to these natural phenomena. As his main preoccupation was with survival, he had to create the ecosystem to enable him to exist and bring meaning to his life. He did this by developing a matrix of harmonious interaction between himself, his surroundings (environment) and his animistic belief to create a conducive lifestyle using the basic primitive technology at his disposal.
Besides the physical and cerebral aspects of his ecosystem, man’s thought process is also influenced by his belief system, values and knowledge. The interplay of these factors formulates his organisational set-up. Depending on the prowess of his thought process, his organisational set-up ranges from the rudimentary to the complex. Through time, man improves his thought process from cumulative experiential learning that provides him with the thinking to develop mechanical technology to utilise the natural resources for his benefit.
From the original thinking for survival, man creates and develops scientific and conceptual thinking aided by the technological tools he created. Such tools or technology have become a crucial and integral part of his ingenuity to create a conducive living environment.
The level of man’s ingenuity as an expression of his thought process creates his tangible and intangible ecosystem. With this he engages in the process of discovery and rediscovery to construct, deconstruct and reconstruct the ecosystem to advance the comfort of his existence. Once man become organised in a societal matrix his man-made ecosystem influences his cerebral dynamics. He places priority in utilising environmental natural resources to serve his needs.
The preservation of the natural environment becomes secondary to his need to create the infrastructure to suit his lifestyle that invariably results in the depletion of the natural resources. Man’s material greed factors prominently in this destructive equation, sacrificing his moral and ethical integrity.
With an advanced thought process, the result of having accumulated knowledge that allows man to be creative and innovative in using the environment for his physical needs as well as creating expressions for his spiritual and aesthetic needs, the nature of his organisation becomes sophisticated and civilised.
His civilisational progress and advancement parallels his development of technology, which services his needs and creates new ones. His thought process creates the technology which forms the basis of new technology, which constructs his ever-changing existence.
Currently, the scientific thought process is given prominence by way of computational and innovative thinking for they develop the technology that generates man’s materialistic lifestyle. Literary, creative and abstract thinking that are the domain of the fine arts, humanities and social science, though pertinent, are only given secondary emphasis. For they could not produce the kind of technology that could produce man’s material needs. What would man’s thinking process be in the future and how will it affect his existence?
In future, technology such as artificial intelligence, robotics and other digital algorithms will aid in man’s thought process. It enhances the thinking process by taking over mundane tasks and even computational and conceptual thinking allowing man to be more innovative and to explore the quantum and the metaphysical realm.
However, these technological advancements will also adversely affect man’s traditional skills as well as subvert his imaginative capabilities as in the case of virtual reality. Further, most housework, transportation, manufacturing and service industries, educational and health services employ a range of semi-automated or fully automated digital and/or robotic appliances.
What is the prognosis of man’s future thinking ability and thought process?
Will it regress to a level of subservience to machines or will it evolve into a higher level of cerebral conception and perception beyond the normal physical conscious confines in which the mind expands the thought process exploring the uncharted recesses of man’s creative and innovative dimensions.
One thing is certain is that the evolution of man’s thought process will be in collaboration with technology that will relieve man of mundane algorithm allowing him to explore in depth the yet mysterious and unchartered realm of his cerebral and physical existence.
(The writer is with the Centre for Policy Research and International Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang. Courtesy: New Straits Times)
