I Think: A Platonic Dialogue by MC Complete

Daniel: Why do you think we think?

Clement: What do you mean by think?

Daniel: I mean, talk to ourselves in natural language.

Clement: Talk to ourselves internally?

Daniel: Right, not out loud.

Clement: What do you mean by why?

Daniel: Well, in a few places, you seem to imply that the Joyce Machine is a search engine.  Bird calls and Plato's Aviary and all that.

Clement: Surely, thinking accomplishes many different things and works in different ways.  But I am suggesting that one of the main functions of thought (in this sense), perhaps the original function of thought, is the search function.  Soul-searching, you could say.

Daniel: I've been thinking that the Joyce Machine (in this sense) is more of a YouTube than a search engine.

Clement: What do you mean?

Daniel: It's about content creation, not search.  There is no Central Birdkeeper who has to call the birds; the birds ultimately express themselves in our behavior one way or another.  They don't need an intermediary.  They're kind of like demons.  Thinking isn't a method of calling birds; it's a method of creating new birds.