How Random is "Random"?

(this picture is taken from www.random-art.org, where pictures are made by a computer program. You can check how it works here)

Last night I was having a very random but fantastic conversation with carissa from Switzerland, almost none of the things that we talked was planned, and we actually realized that in the middle of the conversation. One if the things we talked was about the situation that generates us some "random thoughts". And how these thoughts are sometimes become important ideas.

At that point of time, I started to think and searched whether these "random but important" thoughts are actually random or not...So, how random is "random"?

A definition of the word "random" that i found in http://www.wordreference.com/ is "lacking any definite plan or order or purpose; governed by or depending on chance".

According to Geoffrey Miller, a psychologist at University College London, a natural randomising mechanism in our brains could possibly be a very specialised way in generating fresh and new ideas. He said that it might work by increasing the volume of the quantum mechanical noise in synaptic activity.

So it's like how computers generate numbers that for us look random (pseudo-randomness) by feeding the numbers it generates back into a program that is too complex to be done by an outsider.

I think everybody had some experiences with this "random thoughts" that suddenly pop-up in our minds. Thoughts that made you say "hey...what if...." or "hmmm, why don't we...", etc. :-)

Then i thought that these thoughts might come in a specific mood. But then again I remembered my self having these thoughts in a different and or diverse situations. Sometimes when I'm excited, sometimes when I'm tired or lazy, or even when I'm sad.

But i believe that there must be a specific situation (not mood) that stimulates this randomising mechanism in our brains to generate these thoughts. Maybe when we are challenged, or maybe when our brain is under-used so some parts of the brain starts working in its uncouncious ways. In short...I don't know, because this is actually also one part of the "random thoughts" i have, and i just decided to write it here.

If you're still reading what i wrote here (you're an awesome reader!!!), please put a comment and tell me whether you find this post useful or is it just another random (and not important) post?

Finally i want to put a funny quote about the word "thought" :

"i thought a thought that i thought i had thought but the thought that i had thought wasnt the thought that i had thought i had thought so maybe if i had thought the thought that i thought i thought i wouldn't of thought so much"

with a random smile,
ali

ps:
if you're random enough, count how many times did i write the word "random" and "thought" :-))))))