if (you want to understand yourself) then (read this)
The Simple Programming of the Mind
Summary: Your mind is a collection of if then programming.
IF (this) THEN (that)
The if statement is famous in programming. It is rather simple: if (condition) then (action).
If the condition (this) is met then the action (that) is performed.
If (a = 8) then (write “success”) means, if variable a is 5 then the screen displays, “success”. If clauses are simple and intuitive.
In programming they are the foundation for the complex software running everything around us. But they run something much more important than your laptop, your smartphone, the bank software, the energy system or any other software.
If statements run your mind.
Actually, that’s not quite correct. Rather:
Your mind is a collection of if statements.
Behaviour, perception, cognition and your very model of the world and yourself are numerous nested, interweaving, if statements.
Behaviour
The human mind is mostly many clauses like this:
if (trigger + context + anticipatory dopamine) then (behaviour)
