Gravity of Mind

iPod Magic - Deceptions This is a great act, but more...

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 20:04:43 -0400

iPod Magic - Deceptions

This is a great act, but more valuable for its lesson.

Alice Dreger: Is anatomy destiny? Alice Dreger works with...

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 11:36:44 -0400

Alice Dreger: Is anatomy destiny?

Alice Dreger works with people at the edge of anatomy, such as conjoined twins and intersexed people. In her observation, it’s often a fuzzy line between male and female, among other anatomical distinctions. Which brings up a huge question: Why do we let our anatomy determine our fate?

http://www.ted.com/talks/alice_dreger_is_anatomy_destiny.html

On emotional evolution

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 16:11:00 -0400

The interpretation of emotions, more so than the emotions themselves, are a human invention, an adaptive technology, but because of our personal relationship with them, we refuse to see them as such. We use emotional classifications the same way we use language, computers, or cars and like these technologies they must be analyzed, re-evaluated, and updated regularly in order to coincide with or to actively engage with the modern era. Emotions evolve within human societies as do physical features evolve from species to species. They are a means to an end, a social vehicle, and yet until we see it this way we may remain ignorant to their complete effects on the individual and to our ability to change them as a people. By reinterpreting sensations we reconstruct civilizations.

-j

Steven Pinker Animated - Language as a Window into Human Nature

Sun, 05 Jun 2011 17:40:33 -0400

Steven Pinker Animated -

Language as a Window into Human Nature

Aaron O’Connell: Making sense of a visible quantum object

Fri, 03 Jun 2011 13:21:00 -0400

Aaron O’Connell: Making sense of a visible quantum object

Reality as a Mirror

Thu, 06 Jan 2011 17:51:00 -0500

I think Mirrors provide some great insight into subjective ‘Truth’ or ‘Reality’.

Mirror fun:

Imagine we place a person in front of a mirror. The person sees an image reflected on the mirror’s surface. This image is unlike a picture in a painting because it is dynamic. It stays relative to the individuals position in relation to the mirror. If the person moves, so does the image. Now lets add another person. Person A and Person B are now both experiencing the same Mirror, but in the mirror Person A sees a blue book shelf on the eastern wall and Person B sees a Brown Coffee table near the center of the room.

It seems that the mirror has two different images on its surface, but to each individual there remains only one. If we add a 3rd person, a 4th person, a 5th and a 6th, the mirror will continue to host a separate image for each individual. Yet still, there remains only one image per viewer.

Now, what happens if we take everybody out of the room? If there is no one left to interpret the reflecting light, what does the mirror’s surface ‘look’ like? We know when Person A stands in front of it, they see Dynamic Image A, and Person B sees Dynamic Image B, C sees C, D sees D, and so on. If everyone leaves what happens to image A, B, C and D? They must remain on the mirrors surface, but without perspective, these images are no longer discernible from each other. The images are no longer Dynamic in perceived time. All images, from every angle, exist at the same time on the mirror’s surface. An infinite image.

What we see in this mirror is an illusion of dynamism that is produced by the interaction of an individual’s perspective and the mirror’s infinite image. So every image seen in the mirror is just one interpretation of what the mirror is, and no matter how close you stand to someone, you will only see one of these images. It will always be yours.

Now i suppose that it would be silly for Person B to Argue to Person A that there is no Blue book shelf, just because he does not see it. subjective perspective

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REALITY AS A MIRROR: ‘Reality’ can be imagined as an infinite reflection, like a mirror, that takes shape, and is given ‘meaning’, only when provided a perspective. And because of its Infinite quality, Reality has the ability to host a separate Dynamic Image, or meaning, for each individual.

Evolution: It’s more than genes, it’s networks and systems

Fri, 17 Dec 2010 23:12:00 -0500

This article gives great insight into the evolutionary process. A Must read. (Thanks Erik)

You can read the whole article here http://pandasthumb.org/archives/2010/07/its-more-than-g.html

Most of you don’t understand evolution. I mean this in the most charitable way; there’s a common conceptual model of how evolution occurs that I find everywhere, and that I particularly find common among bright young students who are just getting enthusiastic about biology. Let me give you the Standard Story, the one that I get all the time from supporters of biology.

-Radiolab- What Does Technology...

Wed, 15 Dec 2010 14:53:14 -0500

-Radiolab-

What Does Technology Want?

http://www.radiolab.org/blogs/radiolab-blog/2010/nov/16/idea-time-come/#

I love this question. It goes hand in hand with Michael pollan’s ” gives a plant’s-eye view talk”

I feel that this is a current trend in Modern thought. The question, ‘What does this thing That is not human… Want? What is its evolutionary motive?’ The great thing is… That we have really only started talking about Plants, Animals, and Technology. What about Rocks, Stars, and empty Space? What about the Questions or needs that the Big bang had?

Is the universe trying to understand itself? I ask this because in my opinion Plants, Animals, and Technology… are just Some of the Senses of the universe. Tools to analyze and solve problems.

I think this is a great mindset, because it forces me to rethink GOOD AND EVIL, forces me to rethink NATURAL VERSES UNNATURAL, and most of all it forces me to rethink, my place, or my specie’s place, in the whole scheme of things. As a Human being, I now feel Just as destructive as a forest fire that clears the dead trees and re imagines the surrounding landscape, I feel just as Unnatural as Gasses combining to form a self sustaining star, and i feel just as EVIL as the big bang that Just wants a few simple questions answered.

RANTS!

An Introduction

Wed, 15 Dec 2010 12:06:00 -0500

Hello world. This is a test. I aim to use this blog to exercise my ability to communicate Ideas, and express opinions. If you like well written and formulated essays… you should just ignore the posts you may find here. WOOHOO!