Posted by garns at 08:37 PM. Filed under: Whatever
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Saturday, July 26, 2008
I'll post pictures of my kitchen remodeling project here.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
"Epigenetics is the study of heritable traits that are not dependent on the primary sequence of DNA. That's a short, simple definition, and it's also largely unsatisfactory. For one, the inclusion of the word "heritable" excludes some significant players ? the differentiation of neurons requires major epigenetic shaping, but these cells have undergone a terminal division and will never divide again ? but at the same time, the heritability of traits that aren't defined by the primary sequence is probably the first thing that comes to mind in any discussion of epigenetics." (Pharyngula)
"OCZ Technology has laid claim to being the first company to bring a "brain-computer" interface to the retail market and they have aimed it squarely at the gamer. The device is called the NIA, which is an acronym that stands for Neural Impulse Actuator, and instead of buttons, sticks, gyroscopes or motion sensors, it reads the body's natural biosignals and translates them into commands that can be used to control PC games. "
Mirrors Used to Explore How the Brain Interprets Information
"Whether made of highly polished metal or of glass with a coating of metal on the back, mirrors have fascinated people for millennia: ancient Egyptians were often depicted holding hand mirrors. With their capacity to reflect back nearly all incident light upon them and so recapitulate the scene they face, mirrors are like pieces of dreams, their images hyper-real and profoundly fake. Mirrors reveal truths you may not want to see. Give them a little smoke and a house to call their own, and mirrors will tell you nothing but lies." (NYTimes.com)
- They are using mirrors to study how the brain decides what is self and what is other, how it judges distances and trajectories of objects, and how it reconstructs the richly three-dimensional quality of the outside world from what is essentially a two-dimensional snapshot taken by the retina?s flat sheet of receptor cells.
- Subjects tested in a room with a mirror have been found to work harder, to be more helpful and to be less inclined to cheat, compared with control groups performing the same exercises in nonmirrored settings.
- people in a room with a mirror were comparatively less likely to judge others based on social stereotypes about, for example, sex, race or religion.
- Physical self-reflection, in other words, encourages philosophical self-reflection, a crash course in the Socratic notion that you cannot know or appreciate others until you know yourself.
- Our gregarious great ape cousins ? chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans and gorillas ? along with dolphins and Asian elephants, have passed the famed mirror self-recognition test, which means they will, when given a mirror, scrutinize marks that had been applied to their faces or bodies.
Can Machines Think? Interaction and Perspective Taking with Robots Investigated via fMRI
Krach S, Hegel F, Wrede B, Sagerer G, Binkofski F, et al. (2008) Can Machines Think? Interaction and Perspective Taking with Robots Investigated via fMRI. PLoS ONE 3(7): e2597. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0002597
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Educational Policy and the Extended Mind
"I am suggesting that ?innate? intelligence no longer makes a whole lot of sense?although it still makes some sense, just like running?once we accept an externalist, ?extended? theory of mind." (The Ends of Thought)
Sorry, But Your Soul Just Died
"From neuroscience to Nietzsche. A sobering look at how man may perceive himself in the future, particularly as ideas about genetic predeterminism takes the place of dying Darwinism." by Tom Wolfe
Helen Fisher studies the brain in love
"Why do we crave love so much, even to the point that we would die for it? To learn more about our very real, very physical need for romantic love, Helen Fisher and her research team took MRIs of people in love -- and people who had just been dumped." | Video on TED.com
Monday, July 14, 2008
When Human Rights Extend to Nonhumans
"If you caught your son burning ants with a magnifying glass, would it bother you less than if you found him torturing a mouse with a soldering iron? How about a snake? How about his sister?" - NYTimes.com
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Posted by garns at 07:20 PM. Filed under: Arts
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Tuesday, July 08, 2008
?All I know is that I know nothing.?
"In this week?s eSkeptic, Priscilla Sakezles discusses the famous words most often attributed to Socrates, ?All I know is that I know nothing.? claiming that it is indeed a misquote." Skeptic: eSkeptic: Wednesday, June 25th, 2008
Sunday, July 06, 2008
The Mirror Neuron Revolution: Explaining What Makes Humans Social
"In recent years, Iacoboni has shown that mirror neurons may be an important element of social cognition and that defects in the mirror neuron system may underlie a variety of mental disorders, such as autism. " (In recent years, Iacoboni has shown that mirror neurons may be an important element of social cognition and that defects in the mirror neuron system may underlie a variety of mental disorders, such as autism. (Scientific American)
Friday, July 04, 2008
"When I first started reading Paul?s work about Hume and free will, I couldn?t believe that Hume was a full blown compatibilist. In particular, I wondered whether Hume?s true views about free will might have been kept somewhat hidden, like his views about religion, until after his death. So I did some digging, and actually exchanged some lengthy emails with Paul about the topic, focusing on Hume?s later works." (>-- The Garden of Forking Paths --<: )
Thursday, July 03, 2008
Seedmagazine.com
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Not all psychopaths are criminal
"So what is it that makes criminal psychopaths get into trouble, while non-criminal psychopaths do not? The researchers speculated that criminal psychopaths may be steered towards criminality by their backgrounds, in particular a lack of early parental supervision, deprivation and having a convicted parent." (BPS RESEARCH DIGEST)
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