The Speed Of Thought

A perfectly rationalistic person might out of habit or lack of psychological energy take a few moments, or longer, to discover or recall particular logical truths.  Perhaps, if another person has so adjusted to rationalistic thought over days or years, they might be relaxed enough with their deep familiarity that identifying logical truths new to them can occur within fractions of a moment (this kind of speed is accessible from the start, though, depending on the person!).  There is nothing logically impossible about either this dramatic speed of thought on one hand or an actual rationalist having a hazy mind on the other.  Even for non-rationalists, there is nothing impossible about thinking being done very rapidly--an example even people without true knowledge (which can only be obtained by logical proof with no assumptions) might experientially relate to is reading prolonged texts very rapidly after looking at them.

Sometimes, one might interact with people who disparage someone strictly for the alleged unintelligence displayed by requiring a few seconds or longer to think of something, whether it is more about them fighting to concentrate despite exhaustion or psychological conditions or truly about them having difficulty with grasping abstract logical necessities in the moment.  If they are having such difficulties, though, it is absolutely not as if the only possible reason is that they are irrational.  For instance, a holistic rationalist might still have memory problems, which does not intrinsically prevent someone from recognizing or savoring at least some logically necessary truths, like the axioms I frequently mention.  This is yet another way people can confuse some irrelevant trait like mental quickness for intelligence, which is in reality nothing other than the intentional, accurate mental grasp of the laws of logic.

What an irrational person concludes or starts from does not align with the objective truths of logic, and so they are irrational one way or another, but it is not the exact speed at which they arrive at a conclusion that is the inherent problem.  The issue is that they have made assumptions or neglected certain necessary truths.  Now, it does not require 10 minutes to realize while first thinking about the matter that logical axioms are true, as they are epistemologically self-evident because them being false still requires that they would be true.  Becoming aware of how to logically prove one's own existence likewise does not have to longer than a moment or so, although logical axioms are more fundamental than one's consciousness.  It is certainly not that an entirely indefinite amount of time is ever necessary for anyone to realize what is self-evident or to discover/remember any other given ramification of a concept whatsoever.  The truth is that there is no specific speed of thought that makes someone rational, despite how enormous lengths of time are objectively unnecessary to realize or embrace many things.

It really does take only a few moments for a great many philosophical facts, from the only truths that cannot be false to very particular logical truths which are not self-evident, to be recognized by someone who is sincerely trying to align with reason unshackled by assumptions.  Thinking about even the most abstract or precise of necessary truths can be actively engaged in at incredible speeds, so that someone might be able to think about multiple logical truths and how to prove their necessity in under a single moment or two.  For anyone who struggles to pinpoint or recall vital truths within such miniscule timeframes, though, there is no irrationality except where there are assumptions, philosophical negligence (such as by never coming to logical axioms), or failure to live according to what is known to be true.