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Welcome to the first Friday’s Food for Thought post in 2010. As many of our readers know, we like to take a somewhat humorous/creative take on various topics that tie into the concept of GEOINT. This week, with two major events happening in the Intelligence Community (X-mas bomber and CIA Afghanistan bombing), we thought we would bring up the theme “New Threats, New Thinking.” Now more than ever this concept has to come into play as the IC faces new, unique and unknown challenges every day. So, this post is all about “thinking.”

Definition of Thought
As critical thinking is vital in the Intelligence Community, we thought we would dive into the actual definition of “thinking.” According to Wikipedia, the definition of “thought” is representative reactions towards stimuli from internal chemical reactions or external environmental factors. The word comes from Old English. In common language, the word thinking covers numerous diverse psychological activities. It is sometimes a synonym for “tending to believe,” especially with less than full confidence (“I think that it will rain, but I am not sure”). At other times it denotes the degree of attentiveness (“I did it without thinking”) or whatever is in consciousness, especially if it refers to something outside the immediate environment (“It made me think of my grandmother”). See the full definition here.

Most Renown Thinkers in Western Philosophy
If a number of people were asked to nominate their candidates for a shortlist of the most dramatically influential philosophers, philosophic writers, and great thinkers, in the modern history of western philosophy it is more than likely that the resulting shortlists would contain some names very consistently and other names less consistently. Such philosophers as René Descartes and Immanuel Kant are definitely in the very first rank of great thinkers in terms of their enduring and pervasive importance in the history of western philosophy. Their works in many ways have provided a platform from which later philosophies developed. We take the view, however, that a number of other philosophers, philosophic writers, and great thinkers, deserve a place on a shortlist of the most dramatically influential philosophers, philosophic writers, and thinkers, in the history of western philosophy, in preference to even Descartes and Kant, as the works of these “others” seems to be more immediately related to dramatic alterations in peoples lives. Check out the full post from the blog Age-of-the- Sage here.

Thinking Like a Genius
Even if you’re not a genius, you can use the same strategies as Aristotle and Einstein to harness the power of your creative mind and better manage your future, according to the Study Guides and Strategies. There are nine simple steps to take to further enlighten your mind and unlock your genius potential. Click here to learn more.

Information Society – What is On Your Mind
As always, we try to come up with a music video that ties onto our theme. As such, we came up with the 1988 song from the one-hit-wonders Information Society called “What’s On Your Mind.” Here’s an interesting mash up of that song. Enjoy.

Happy Friday!

Tags: Friday's Food for Thought, Genius, GEOINT, GEOINT 2005, Information Society, Intelligence Community, Kant, New Thinking, New Threats, Philosophy, Pure Energy, René Descartes, Think Like a Genius, What You're Thinking