# Queries Into the 4th State of Matter
I stirred from my slumber. Like a jolt of electricity, I suddenly had an idea. Despite being groggy and half-awake, I was energized to pose the following query.
"Hey Google. What happens when current is turned on itself?"
"On the website planned parenthood.org they say, 'Your penis or clitoris may get erect, engorged, and sensitive, and you may feel wetness on your vulva or vagina, or on the tip of your penis.'"
What?
I was confused. It must have understood my query as being "turned on", as in arousal. A quick google search confirmed my suspicions.
That wasn't exactly what I meant. I was more interested in how lightning is formed. This was the vision that took hold of me when I was energized to pose my query. I imagined that was how plasma was formed. Plasma, as in the 4th state of matter, or how lightning is formed in a thundercloud.
Why was I interested in the answer to this query however? In order to understand how I arrived to the state of mind I was in that produced such an energizing thought. Indeed, not only had it woken me up, but it gave me enough energy to get out of bed and write down my thoughts as well. Such a powerful thought must be significant enough to at least record.
Therefore, in order to better understand how I arrived to the state of mind that facilitated such an idea, I looked into the most recent videos I had watched on YouTube before going to bed. Just how understanding how clouds form and ionize to produce lightning, so too I wanted to understand how the brainstorm that was my mental state was formed.
Here are the last few videos I watched, which I found supremely inspiring.
- The Year's Biggest Breakthroughs in Math and Computer Science (opens new window)
- The Year's Biggest Breakthroughs in Physics (opens new window)
- The Year's Biggest Breakthroughs in Biology (opens new window)
- Art in the age of machine intelligence | Refik Anadol (opens new window)
I think the last two videos are most likely to have induced the "current" idea. I was especially inspired by the artist Refik Anadol. However, it was in the first breakthough in the Biology video that I think is what inspired my query:
The Hidden Power of Neurons.
One quote in particular stands out to me.
So while it may be tempting to think about the human brain as a computer, it's maybe more accurate to think about it as a hundred billion tiny supercomputers.