The Physical Acts of Thinking

Abstract thoughts exist like quantum possibilities - formless and undefined until they interact with the physical world. It's in the collision between these abstract thoughts and physical action that real thinking emerges.

The Materialization of Thought

We struggle to think purely in abstractions. Instead, we need some form of physical action to crystallize our thoughts. Paul Graham talks about those who "write to think," but writing is just one manifestation of this phenomenon.

While working with clay, I've noticed how my hands become an extension of my brain. There's a continuous dialogue between mind and matter - each manipulation of the clay shapes not just the material, but the thought itself.

The clay doesn't just receive the thought; it participates in its formation.

The Space Between

Conversation offers another arena for thought materialization. The real thinking often happens in the gaps between exchanges - like music emerging from the spaces between notes rather than the notes themselves.

Perhaps this explains why humans are inherently social creatures - we need conversation to think. Even in isolation, we create conversational partners. Consider Tom Hanks in Cast Away, manifesting Wilson the volleyball as a thinking companion.

ADHD and Information Density

For those with ADHD, traditional reading and writing present unique challenges. The brain often races ahead while the eyes struggle to keep pace. Every page feels like it could be condensed into a sentence.

But this reveals something important about effective writing: it should be modest, providing information at the reader's natural pace. Everything else is pageantry - which serves its own purpose, but one that's more about the writer than the reader.

The Compression of Meaning

Language often feels inefficient, like trying to send a large file through a narrow pipe. But we're evolving new forms of compressed communication. Memes, while seemingly trivial, can pack entire narratives, emotions, and cultural contexts into a single image. A well-placed movie reference or GIF can convey what might take paragraphs to explain.

A single "This is fine" dog meme carries the weight of entire philosophical treatises on stoicism in crisis.

This isn't just about entertainment. It might be the early stages of humanity developing more dense forms of information transfer. Just as computer science gave us file compression, perhaps cultural evolution is creating new algorithms for compressing meaning itself.

What's fascinating is how this evolution might actually be circular rather than linear. Ancient writing systems like Egyptian hieroglyphs and Sanskrit weren't just primitive precursors to modern alphabets - they were sophisticated systems that combined visual and linguistic elements to create dense meaning. A single hieroglyph could contain a sound, a concept, and a cultural reference simultaneously.

Imagine a modern hieroglyph that combines the visual density of a meme, the motion of a GIF, and the semantic layers of an emoji - all rendered in real-time based on context.

With current technology - augmented reality, machine learning, and digital displays - we could potentially create a new visual language that builds on these ancient principles while incorporating our modern need for dynamic, context-aware communication. Not a replacement for traditional writing, but a parallel system for when we need to pack more meaning into less space.

Acknowledgments: This essay was written in collaboration with Claude AI (Anthropic). While all core ideas, concepts, and original material are mine, Claude assisted with structure, editing, and refinement of the text.