# ideas (cognitive)

a meaning that is in mind about something not here

- Computed level: L23 (depth in the emergence graph, not abstraction)
- Status: review  ·  Domain: emergence  ·  Arena: ideas

## Emergence
**Emerges from:** [mind](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-mind.cognitive), [meaning](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-meaning.significance), [mean](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-mean.signify)

**Through:** the mind forms a meaning about something that is not here

**Novel properties:**
- mental representation
- absent referent
- intentional content

## Examples
- Newton conceived the idea of universal gravitation while formulating the laws of motion in 1687. *(physics)*
- A neuron fires in a rat's hippocampus when it imagines a path through a maze it hasn't run. *(neuroscience)*
- Ada Lovelace wrote algorithms for Babbage’s Analytical Engine, envisioning computing beyond calculation. *(computing)*

---
*Canonical: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-ideas.cognitive*  
*Structured data: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-ideas.cognitive.json*  
*Every definition provably resolves to space, time, energy and pattern.*