I'd like to paraphrase a common quote:

I think, therefore I can.

Yes

But how do you know someone has not "thought that thought" before?

Then it was an original thought when they came up with it. Therefore the concept exists.

And, uh, my subconscious is fairly creative. I think it's had a few. I'll have to post about some of my crazy dreams...IF I CAN EVER POST AGAIN!!!

Stupid blogspot.
Now it's "up." But it doesn't like my password anymore.

My thought, EXACTLY!!!

I do not know if there is such a thing as an original thought, but I do know that a completely unique thought has been a personal goal of mine since I was barely conscious.

Who knows if it is possible...our thougts are influneced in so many unnoticed ways by the world around us.

It is nice to know that other people waste their time thinking about this kind of weird stuff too.

If you think you have an original thought or idea, and read about it in a book or magazine, does that article deminish or negate your idea (or thought) as original?

Are we truly influenced, so completely, by our surroundings that our thoughts are merely emalgamations of our existence? We take a little seed of thought here and a little seed there and come up with a third "hybrid thought" which seems to be divorced from either of the "root" thoughts.

Is it possible that your "original thought" was someone elses thought too? Sure! Why not?

What is thought but mental invention? Inventions, such as the Automobile, Telephone, Radar, and the Light Bulb are all examples of inventions claimed by more than one person or organization. Does it make Edison's work and inventiveness any less original to find that an Englishman used a carbon filament for illumination years before? I don't think so.

"Let's Not Quit Our Thinking "

Ponder this and ponder that.
Ponder all below your hat.
Art or Sport and Mechanics too,
Can give you pause before you're through.

Don't give up if it's been done
From any Sun you can see more Suns.
They differ in their form and size,
But about them may orbit, uniquely, a prize.

Your thoughts are hither and thither and yon.
They dart or change like the setting sun.
When two collide they mix as though stirred.
And the new thought you think is an original third.

If you have 1000 thoughts a day and live 75 years you have a lot of thoughts, but so do the other 6 000 000 billion people on earth as well as those all passed away.
Combinatios might be original or the context in which something was thought of. I myself have set up the world's first self serve auction ( I think but I wouldn't be surprised if somebody else has already done something very similar.
Kind regards,
Ansgar John Brenninkmeijer

I would conclude that we cannot have a truly original thought. One that is not influenced in some way by our experience. I think our minds are tied to that. Even an "original" invention such as the car or light bulb were based on previous concepts (carriage, candle). I don't think our minds can "jump" beyond what we can experience.

Who can tell me what the closest thing is to original thought..
Would you say this is the realization and becoming aware of something that you did not know before.
Possibly if you become aware of something and come to a new realization you can start a new trail of thought (A original one)

Any attempted original thought is simply a modification of an old one or a new application of and existing one, similarllly an invention is just a modification, addition of, or a compilation of existing stuff. A genuine invention would contain an original thought(s)