Spectrums (a thought experiment)
This might be an interesting thought experiment on language.
Or perhaps on how our minds read groups of words.
Could also have psychological aspects, or something.
Philosophically, the ability to see the relationships between things, and subtle grades of difference is essential. Seeing everything as black and white is not only boring and inaccurate,
but may be at the root of fallacies and biases and perhaps conflicts.
Anyhow
The rules of the experiment:
Come up with a list of anything.
Then put it in some kind of order, a spectrum in word form.
An example:
Yellow - Amber - Orange - Vermilion - Red - Magenta - Purple -
Violet - Blue - Teal - Green - Chartreuse - Yellow
(The primary, secondary, and tertiary colors in the order of color wheel.)
Another example:
coffee - breakfast - brunch - morning tea - second breakfast - elevenses - lunch -
late lunch - afternoon tea - dinner - supper - milk - midnight snack
(Meals and snacks in chronological order, with help from a handful of hungry Hobbits).
The name of the list could be included or not included (if its to be a riddle).
Example of a riddle spectrum:
Glass Onion - Penny Lane - Help - Love Me Do - Revolution #9 - Its All Too Much
(Songs by the Beatles. But in what order? Alphabetical? No. Chronological? No
Top 6 personal favorite songs? Not really Shortest to longest? No, its random;
but you get the idea).
A fairly simple experiment / game but oy, the infinite varieties and variations. The mind boggles.
If this somehow reminds you of some other linguistic, logic, or mathematical concepts
please share, explain, and discuss.
I would say that its better not to make the lists too political, controversial, or oddly perverse
( but I dont want to lie).
Ok ready set take a nap have a snack GO! Spectrum all the things! :nerd:
Or perhaps on how our minds read groups of words.
Could also have psychological aspects, or something.
Philosophically, the ability to see the relationships between things, and subtle grades of difference is essential. Seeing everything as black and white is not only boring and inaccurate,
but may be at the root of fallacies and biases and perhaps conflicts.
Anyhow
The rules of the experiment:
Come up with a list of anything.
Then put it in some kind of order, a spectrum in word form.
An example:
Yellow - Amber - Orange - Vermilion - Red - Magenta - Purple -
Violet - Blue - Teal - Green - Chartreuse - Yellow
(The primary, secondary, and tertiary colors in the order of color wheel.)
Another example:
coffee - breakfast - brunch - morning tea - second breakfast - elevenses - lunch -
late lunch - afternoon tea - dinner - supper - milk - midnight snack
(Meals and snacks in chronological order, with help from a handful of hungry Hobbits).
The name of the list could be included or not included (if its to be a riddle).
Example of a riddle spectrum:
Glass Onion - Penny Lane - Help - Love Me Do - Revolution #9 - Its All Too Much
(Songs by the Beatles. But in what order? Alphabetical? No. Chronological? No
Top 6 personal favorite songs? Not really Shortest to longest? No, its random;
but you get the idea).
A fairly simple experiment / game but oy, the infinite varieties and variations. The mind boggles.
If this somehow reminds you of some other linguistic, logic, or mathematical concepts
please share, explain, and discuss.
I would say that its better not to make the lists too political, controversial, or oddly perverse
( but I dont want to lie).
Ok ready set take a nap have a snack GO! Spectrum all the things! :nerd:
Comments (14)
Wow, that was fast! Hope I can guess the order of your list nearly as quickly.
Fruits and vegetables, from hard to soft? Sweet to sour? Hmm :blush:
No need to answer now. Let others sweat it out lol. :sweat:
:monkey:
Toads, owls, ocelots
Elephants, ants, seagulls, yaks
Thanks for playing along. You win a years supply of Turtle Wax! (turtle not included).
Your turn (but it doesnt necessarily have to be a riddle, as mentioned above).
This one is funny even without an answer. (Bonus points for humorous lists and answers :grin: ).
Question: Before my brain overheats, do these puzzles happen to probably need Google to solve, or can the average person probably do it alone? Absolutely no problem either way! Just curious if I should Google the atomic weights of water, helium, and Hanover :chin:
Before googling atomic weights, see my edit. ;-)
(I think my riddle starting with Panda probably stretched the concept of spectrum past its breaking point just in case anyone is wondering lol).
I tried not to impose too many rules because no one likes an imposer! I couldnt sleep last night at all (which is rare since melatonin usually knocks me out) and tried to lull myself to bed with word games.
That didnt work, but this strange idea arrived. It was probably deep in my memory, stolen from Games Monthly magazine.
Kundalini is a prototypical / archetypal spectrum.
(mentioned in another post in relation to awareness and the nondual.)