Posts tagged with “mind”

January 29

My dad on the neocortex

My dad just sent me the following:

On the neocortex,I came up with the ultimate theory ! All creatures function very well without it,they don’t walk into walls,manage to get food,procreate , procreation being the ultimate purpose for being (perpetuation of the species). However,the only time they "feel good" is:
1. Post postprandial satiation.
2. Post coital extasy(mission accomplished)
3. Heat,proper body temperature,hence reptiles happily froliking on rocks.
The sole purpose of the neocortex,therefore,is to be the "feel good" center of the humans.Through billions of synapses we manage to feel good about the crazyest things,music,rollerblades, blowing ourselves up for a cause,believing ! Because we wanted to feel good so badly, the brain developed neocortex and don’t let anybody tell you otherwise. Any other function is completely irrelevant in the big realm of nature, it’s just that evolution took one of it’s many dead end side trips, armadillos being another !

Now, technically, none of this "life" stuff is necessary in nature’s terms, is it? You could be a paramecium with no nervous system at all and be just fine as well.

But let’s roll with him for a moment. If the sole purpose of the neocortex is the feelgood center, then why would it evolve in the first place? We wouldn’t have a sense of wanting to feel good in the first place to have required its existence. Perhaps if we found a bunch of suicidal lizards back in the day before the neocortex, i would more readily buy it.

But…it’s still a fun idea to write about. Vonnegut would be proud. ;)

02:10 PM | 0 Comments | Tags: ,

Your brain on fiction

From Cory at Boingboing:

”A forthcoming journal article in Psychological Science reports on the research of scientists from the Dynamic Cognition Laboratory at Washington University in St. Louis into what brain activity takes place while we read narrative stories. The study concludes that our brains simulate the action in the story, echoing it as we read.”

Further proof that the brain is active during the imagination of events and characters that occurs while reading in the same areas as when it thinks it or does it in the real world. Yet another in a long line of experiments (including the much talked about mirror neurons) that allude to the brain having a single system of representation that is used in many forms. I’m always shocked it takes the science world this long to come to conclusions like this which would seem rather obvious to others. I have to admit I’m always surprised that the research world is surprised by this, and even more that it took them this long to get this far. No offense to you tireless neuroscientists, of course.

Click the image for boingboing’s post on the study.

10:16 AM | 0 Comments | Tags: , , ,
January 20
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A great series of self-induced hallucination experiments, courtesy of the <a href="http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/graphics/011109_hacking_your_brain/">Boston Globe</a>. These would be fun to have characters try. That, and they certainly help to reveal some basic truths about the association-bound brain, particularly dreams, and our internal map of our body.
01:29 PM | 0 Comments | Tags: , , ,
October 23
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This is almost too fantastic for words. A banjo player helping guide neurosurgeons by playing the banjo while under the knife. Thank you BoingBoing.
10:32 AM | 0 Comments | Tags: , , , ,
October 02
<p><a href="http://www.susannahertrich.com/html/feartuners.html"><img src="http://www.susannahertrich.com/img/FT_ani_04.jpg" border="0" width="500" /></a></p><p>Cute, but I think it could be done better. As in, tied more directly with actual science. And then applied to a character who is given these "implants" and put in a taxing situation beyond his wherewithall to adapt to. Imagine if you had a new sense all of a sudden, that ilicited strong emotional reactions, yet you didn't know yet what it was sensing. Interesting. Click the pic for more.</p>
04:43 PM | 0 Comments | Tags: , ,
September 08
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<p>I've worked it out. There are 5 to the fucking-bloody-helleventy billion possible phenomenological states of the mind for every human that has ever lived and had a thought every half-second. In other words, infinite. Final proof that there is no need for a soul to exist for the experience of life to be completely and ineffibly subjective for each and every one of us. The soul is dead, long live Queen Brainium. </p><p>Maybe this will go into a story as exposition. Maybe it will simply inform a character who is obviously obsessed with such tinkerings. Stay tuned to find out! </p>
10:37 PM | 1 Comment | Tags: , ,
August 01

SciAm on storytelling

Sounds interesting. Note to self: read it.
05:20 PM | 0 Comments | Tags: , , ,
June 20
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June 11
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June 03
Everyone gets the same input. It's how we decode those inputs over time. The divergence of the compound variations becomes our individuality.
— me
07:01 PM | 0 Comments | Tags: ,
April 04
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Jill Bolte Taylor: My stroke of insight
05:03 PM | 0 Comments | Tags: ,
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Christopher deCharms: Looking inside the brain in real time
04:49 PM | 0 Comments | Tags: ,