Interesting Links and Articles

• The Philoctetes Center Multidisciplinary Study of the Imagination "was established to promote an integrated, interdisciplinary approach to the understanding of creativity and the imaginative process."


• I'm not looking, honest! "[Kazuhiro Yokota, of Osaka University in Japan, and his colleagues] managed to do what had previously been thought impossible: they probed reality without disturbing it. Not disturbing it is the quantum-mechanical equivalent of not really looking. So they were able to show that the universe does indeed exist when it is not being observed." (The Economist, Mar 5th 2009)


• IBM plans 'brain-like' computers "'We are attempting a 180 degree shift in perspective: seeking an algorithm first, problems second. We are investigating core micro- and macro-circuits of the brain that can be used for a wide variety of functionalities.'" (BBC News, Friday, 21 November 2008)


• The coming evangelical collapse "We are on the verge – within 10 years – of a major collapse of evangelical Christianity. This breakdown will follow the deterioration of the mainline Protestant world and it will fundamentally alter the religious and cultural environment in the West." (Michael Spencer, Tue Mar 10, 2009)


• The Happiness of the People "America's current leaders seem to be leading us down the path to European-style social democracy. But although it makes for pleasant lives, the European model stifles human flourishing and erodes the civic and cultural institutions and habits that make for a vibrant, sustainable, and satisfying way of life. Moreover, critics of the European model are about to get a boost from scientific discoveries in neuroscience and genetics that human nature is not malleable, which will undercut the foundations of social democracy. The answer: American exceptionalism, in which individuals freely unite to construct a civic culture. What follows is the text of Charles Murray's Irving Kristol Lecture, delivered at AEI's Annual Dinner at the Washington Hilton on March 11, 2009." (Charles Murray, March 12, 2009)


• Is That Your Final Answer? Study Suggests Method For Improving Individual Decisions "Dialectical bootstrapping is a method by which an individual mind averages its' own conflicting opinions, thus simulating the 'wisdom of the crowd.' In other words, dialectical bootstrapping enables different opinions to be created and combined in the same mind." (ScienceDaily, Mar. 14, 2009)


• The Equality Trust "believe[s] that in order to gain substantial improvements in the real quality of life of the populations of developed countries it is necessary that differences in income and wealth are greatly reduced. [...] However, differences in income and wealth will only be reduced when there is a widespread public understanding of the benefits which greater equality can bring to all of us. "


• Living Well is More Important then Organic Fruit "Please go out there and do. Live. Don’t be the same as yesterday. Don’t live vicariously online. Don’t use language that has no meaning or talk ideas you don’t really live. Don’t hide. Don’t copy others or live their ideas or life. Don’t fear doing your thing. Don’t fear doing. Instead of reading a decorating magazine, paint that room. Instead of thinking of baking, do up a cake. Run, walk, bike. Put that self help book down and pick up yourself."


• 'Eye for an eye' approach does not pay, study "Living by the motto 'an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth' makes people less happy and successful, a study has found." (John Bingham, 25 Mar 2009)

Interesting Articles

Philosophy's Great Experiment (Prospect, March 2009) - A dynamic new school of thought is emerging that wants to kick down the walls of recent philosophy and place experimentation back at its centre. It has a name to delight an advertising executive: x-phi. [(Experimental Philosophy)]

Pakistan's Sufis Preach Faith and Ecstasy (Smithsonian magazine, December 2008) - Sufism is not a sect, like Shiism or Sunnism, but rather the mystical side of Islam—a personal, experiential approach to Allah, which contrasts with the prescriptive, doctrinal approach of fundamentalists like the Taliban.

Is time an illusion? (New Scientist, 19 January 2008) - Physicists have long struggled to understand what time really is. In fact, they are not even sure it exists at all. In their quest for deeper theories of the universe, some researchers increasingly suspect that time is not a fundamental feature of nature, but rather an artefact of our perception. One group has recently found a way to do quantum physics without invoking time, which could help pave a path to a time-free 'theory of everything.' If correct, the approach suggests that time really is an illusion, and that we may need to rethink how the universe at large works. 'It is not reality that has a time flow, it is our very approximate knowledge of reality that has a time flow. Time is the effect of our ignorance.'

Dial H for Happiness: How Neuroengineering May Change Your Brain (Wired.com, March 3, 2009) - Schneider has agreed to give me TMS. Specifically, he will use it on a part of my brain that controls movement: the motor cortex. He ushers me into an overly large black leather chair. Except for the large, two-lobed paddle hanging from the back, which is connected to an impressive power supply, the chair resembles something a therapist might use. A few inches over my ear is the part of my brain that controls my hand and arm. Schneider holds the coil there and activates it. The muscles in my scalp contract automatically, and it stings. My hand is jumping with each loud snap from the TMS machine.

13 Unsolved scientific puzzles (Times Online, February 27, 2009) - Author Michael Brooks has investigated some of the most puzzling anomalies of modern science, those intractable problems that refuse to conform to the theories. Here he counts down the 13 strangest.

Doubting Darwin: Debate Over The Mind's Evolution (All Things Considered, February 20, 2009) - [S]ome Darwin skeptics are focusing on the human brain. They say a higher power must be involved; otherwise, how could a bunch of cells produce such complicated mental processes as consciousness or subjective experiences? How could something like free will be the result of evolution?

Are Our Brains Becoming 'Googlized?" (Search Engine Land, Nov 14, 2008) - 'emerging computerized technologies may have physiological effects and potential benefits for middle aged and older adults,' and that 'internet searching engages complicated brain activity, which may help exercise and improve brain function.' This is a long way of saying that being online helps keep those little gray cells busy. The level of brain activity was compared to that of reading a book. With internet usage, a significantly bigger piece of neural real estate lit up on the fMRI indicating that more parts of the brain were engaged.

Realization of Relative Reality Leads to Self-Inquiry

From the Wikipedia article on the Interpretation of quantum mechanics:

"... the world around us seems to be in a specific state, yet quantum mechanics describes it with wave functions governing the probabilities of values. In general the wave-function assigns non-zero probabilities to all possible values for a given physical quantity, such as position. How then is it that we come to see a particle at a specific position when its wave function is spread across all space? In order to describe how specific outcomes arise from the probabilities, the direct interpretation introduces the concept of measurement. According to the theory, wave functions interact with each other and evolve in time according to the laws of physics until a measurement is performed, at which time the system will take on one of the possible values with probability governed by the wave-function. Measurement can interact with the system state in somewhat peculiar ways..."

According to quantum mechanics, the very act of measuring influences the value that is measured. Replace a few words and you have: "The very act of looking influences what we see."

We see with our eyes which passes images to our brain. Our mind interprets the visual stimulus: "That painting is ugly," or "That girl is cute."

In addition, if we assume that the brain produces the mind, then the instrument itself is a part of this quantum system. Infinite recursion anyone? Anyone?

I hope this idea frustrates and confuses you. I hope you experience doubt about your own thoughts. I hope you ask yourself, repeatedly, "Who am I?" with genuine curiosity.

All scientific, philosophical and theological questions lead to this one simple question. Without pursuing its answer all else is naught.