Clipmarks | wildcat's 'mind' clips

Kluge: The Haphazard Construction of the Human Mind

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:57:38 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks:
Trial-and-error evolution
According to Gary Marcus's Kluge our brains are an engineering nightmare, says Steven Rose

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

The fallibility of the human mind is a source of continual frustration to philosophers, artificial intelligencers and evolutionary psychologists. Our memories are weak, we are credulous and easily led to believe improbable or impossible things, our language is not optimally constructed. We have problems with probabilities, and are logically inconsistent. We make choices that are apparently irrational and not in our own best long-term interests, and certainly not in those of our genes. Thus - according to Marcus - we prefer instant gratification to the chance of greater, longer-term benefits. We get drunk, embark on non-procreative sex for mere pleasure, and may even sacrifice our lives for some perceived cause that has nothing to do with increasing our inclusive (genetic) fitness.

His chapter on language as a kluge, full of grammatical and linguistic incongruities, is particularly strong, although his basic argument is almost drowned in a flood of examples

Tags: kluge, human mind, evolution, book review

Animal Intelligence and the Evolution of the Human Mind

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 11:50:26 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: Subtle refinements in brain architecture, rather than large-scale alterations, make us smarter than other animals

Clip Source: www.sciam.com

The human brain lacks conspicuous characteristics—such as relative or absolute size—that might account for humans’ superior intellect.

Researchers have found some clues to humanity’s aptitude on a smaller scale, such as more neurons in our brain’s outermost layer.

Human intelligence may be best likened to an upgrade of the cognitive capacities of nonhuman primates rather than an exceptionally advanced form of cognition.

As far as we know, no dog can compose music, no dolphin can speak in rhymes, and no parrot can solve equations with two unknowns. Only humans can perform such intellectual feats, presumably because we are smarter than all other animal species—at least by our own definition of intelligence.

Of course, intelligence must emerge from the workings of the three-pound mass of wetware packed inside our skulls

Thus, researchers have tried to identify unique features of the human brain that could account for our superior intellectual abilities

Tags: brain, mind, evolution, intelligence

Is Google Making Us Stupid?

Sat, 02 Aug 2008 15:39:40 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.theatlantic.com

"Dave, stop. Stop, will you? Stop, Dave. Will you stop, Dave?” So the supercomputer HAL pleads with the implacable astronaut Dave Bowman in a famous and weirdly poignant scene toward the end of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Bowman, having nearly been sent to a deep-space death by the malfunctioning machine, is calmly, coldly disconnecting the memory circuits that control its artificial »

brain. “Dave, my mind is going,” HAL says, forlornly. “I can feel it. I can feel it.”

I can feel it, too. Over the past few years I’ve had an uncomfortable sense that someone, or something, has been tinkering with my brain, remapping the neural circuitry, reprogramming the memory. My mind isn’t going—so far as I can tell—but it’s changing. I’m not thinking the way I used to think

I can feel it most strongly when I’m reading. Immersing myself in a book or a lengthy article used to be easy.

Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages

Tags: google

The Zombification Of Philosophy (Of Mind)

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 16:06:20 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: Massimo Pigliucci is Professor in the Departments of Ecology & Evolution and of Philosophy at Stony Brook University, NY.

an interesting view , go read it

Clip Source: www.scientificblogging.com

David Chalmers is a famous philosopher of mind. His fame rests in great part on his 1996 book, The Conscious Mind: In Search of a Fundamental Theory. It’s too bad that the crucial idea behind the book, dualism, is hopelessly flawed, and -- more surprising yet -- that Chalmers got away with one of the most idiotic thought experiments ever, which a lot of people inexplicably seem to think is oh-so-very clever.

Let us start by recalling what dualism is: in philosophy the idea traces back at least to Descartes (though some would consider Plato a dualist), and his contention that while everything else in humans and animals is “mechanical” (i.e., made of matter), the mind is an exception, since it’s made of some kind of distinct mind stuff (he was pretty vague about exactly what this mind stuff might be, and so is Chalmers, incidentally

I think a lot of scientists do a disservice to themselves and to the public by not taking philosophy seriously

Tags: calmers, zombies, philosophy, consciousness

The Mind Ball

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 11:10:21 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.techeblog.com

Mind Ball, by NovelQuest, is essentially a "two person game controlled by players' brain waves." Video after the break.

To win at Mindball, however, you need to produce theta waves (4-8 Hz) which are associated with drowsiness and alpha waves (8-12 Hz) which are associated with being relaxed.

[Video]

Tags: mind, ball, game, brain

Mind over Matter

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:07:21 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

From the Hollywood film Firefox to the television show Heroes, science fiction writers have always dreamt of the day when humans could control machines with the power of thought alone.

Now British scientists are turning the vision into reality with a device that allows objects to be manipulated with brain waves.

The prototype, developed at Essex University, can already be used to play simple computer games. By imagining a movement, the wearer of the hat-shaped device can tell the computer to move an object around a screen or a robot around a room.

The researchers hope their technology will eventually allow people to move wheelchairs and drive cars with their thoughts.

How I translated my brainwaves into motion

The development came as the video games maker Nintendo disclosed that it wanted to build on the success of the motion-sensitive technology used in the best-selling console, the Wii, by developing games that can be controlled by thought.

Tags: mind, matter, brain waves

Thought control: it's the computer world's latest game plan

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 11:44:22 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: “This is the tip of the iceberg for what is possible,” said Tan Le, another of Emotiv's co-founders, during a recent press demonstration. “There will be a convergence of gesture-based technology and the brain as a new interface - the Holy Grail is the mind.”

Clip Source: technology.timesonline.co.uk

First came the joystick. Then came the motion-sensing Wii remote. Now get ready for another radical and rather unsettling leap in video games technology: thought control.

Satoru Iwata, the president and chief executive of Nintendo - which is expected to sell about 25million units of its successful Wii video games console this financial year - has no doubts about the next gaming boom. “As soon as we think something in our brain, it will appear within a video game,” he told The Times in an exclusive interview.

“You'll probably need to wear some kind of hat or helmet or something.”

As far-fetched as it sounds, Mr Iwata's claim - which brings to mind the plot of Craig Thomas's bestselling 1977 novel Firefox, about a mind-reading Soviet fighter aircraft - is already coming true: the world's first thought-controlled game is expected to be launched by the Sydney company Emotiv by the end of this year.

Tags: gaming, neuroscience, mind, emotiv

Keep Your Mind’s Eye on Cybernetics

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 13:01:48 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: “Chance favors the prepared mind.”

Clip Source: www.jumpthecurve.net

Imagine sitting in your home and being able to control a device in a different room, a different city or even a different country by thought alone. Sounds impossible doesn’t it? Well, accordingly to this fascinating article from Popular Mechanics, advances in the field of cybernetics are occurring so rapidly that such things may be possible in the not-too-distant future.

Consider this: a monkey in North Carolina can already send a signal to Japan (where it controls a robot) faster than it can send a message from its brain to its own muscles. One immediate practical application of this technology may occur in the field of surgery whereby a surgeon could control a small robotic device faster and more precisely than she could move her hand. In a field like brain surgery such a distinction could make a big difference.

consider how such mind-machine devices may change how we perceive and interact with our environment in the future

just “think” your bot to do it

Tags: cybernetics, mind-machine interface

'Mind's eye' influences visual perception

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 10:14:20 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: ..even a single instance of imagery can tilt how you see the world one way or another..

Clip Source: www.physorg.com

Letting your imagination run away with you may actually influence how you see the world. New research from Vanderbilt University has found that mental imagery—what we see with the "mind's eye"—directly impacts our visual perception.

"We found that imagery leads to a short-term memory trace that can bias future perception," says Joel Pearson, research associate in the Vanderbilt Department of Psychology. and lead author of the study. "This is the first research to definitively show that imagining something changes vision both while you are imagining it and later on."

"You might think you need to imagine something 10 times or 100 times before it has an impact,"

Our results show that even a single instance of imagery can tilt how you see the world one way or another, dramatically, if the conditions are right."

"These findings are important because they suggest a potential mechanism by which top-down expectations or recollections of previous experiences might shape perception itself,"

Tags: 'mind's eye', visual perception, brain, imagination

Can a Robot, an Insect or God Be Aware?

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:43:26 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.sciam.com

Our intuitions about consciousness in other beings and objects reveal a lot about how we think.

Can a lobster ever truly have any emotions?

Or a sophisticated computer? The only way to resolve these questions conclusively would be to engage in serious scientific inquiry—but even before studying the scientific literature, many people have pretty clear intuitions about what the answers are going to be. A person might just look at a computer and feel certain that it couldn’t possibly be feeling pleasure, pain or anything at all. That’s why we don’t mind throwing a broken computer in the trash. Likewise, most people don’t worry too much about a lobster feeling angst about its impending doom when they put one into a pot of boiling water. In the jargon of philosophy, these intuitions we have about whether a creature or thing is capable of feelings or subjective experiences—such as the experience of seeing red or tasting a peach—are called “intuitions about phenomenal consciousness.”

Tags: consciousness, thought, awareness, robotics

The Duplicates Paradox

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 10:38:52 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: Personal identity is perceived as continuous through time. Yet this perception cannot be instantaneous, and must be based on memory. Given the fact that memories can be forgotten, altered or even fabricated, the question arises as to whether memories are essential for personal identity. Certainly no specific memory seems necessary for identity, but a perception of a continuity of the memory process is often believed to be. Subjective experience involves not just memory, but thoughts, desires, feelings and personality. Even when subjectivity is focused on the "outside world", this focus necessarily has a point of view. Any attempt to describe personal identity impersonally will lose an essential element. A self has both sensation and will.

Clip Source: www.benbest.com

The idea that personal identity (mind, self, will) is entirely contained in the molecular and biological structure of the brain (ie, is entirely material) implies that a duplicate identity could be created that is identical in every way except physical location

It is said that most molecules in the body are replaced every few years, presumably also including the molecules of the brain. This implies that the exact atoms and molecules of which our identity is constituted are not essential to that identity. Thus, lives and minds are much like a candle flame -- life, consciousness and selfhood continues with a material basis despite the fact that the exact material (atoms and molecules) change.

Personal identity is perceived as continuous through time. Yet this perception cannot be instantaneous, and must be based on memory

Tags: mind, philosophy, duplicates, paradox

Top 10 mind mapping tools

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 18:08:35 GMT

clipped by: Mohir

Clip Source: en.onsoftware.com

Mind maps - also known as concept maps - are visual diagrams used to represent ideas and tasks relating to a given topic. They come in especially handy when you need to generate and manage ideas for a work project, because having a visual representation of all available concepts helps you organize the necessary workflow in a more optimized way.

Check out this list with the best mind mapping software apps out there.

MindManager - capture ideas from several sources and create mind maps with them

MindGenius - easy, intuitive mindmapping tool for everyone

FreeMind - a mind map tool based on Java

MindPad - create colorful, complete mind maps

Visual Mind - mind map tool with a flexible graphic interface

NovaMind - conduct brainstorming sessions and create mindmaps with their outcome

CMapTools - free mindmapping tool with exporting capabilities

Cayra - an open-source mind map program with basic functionalities

ConceptDrawMindmap - professional tool to create concept maps

Mindomo

Tags: software, mind, mind maos

Evolving the mind

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 10:07:15 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: video won't clip, go to source for vid

Clip Source: scienceblogs.com

Below is a video of a recent talk given by Carl Zimmer about the evolution of the mind, at the Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, NYC.

Tags: evolution, mind, vid

Top Pentagon Scientists Fear Brain-Modified Foes

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 16:14:24 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: blog.wired.com

There's concern in some corners of the U.S. military about "enemy activities in sleep research," neuro-pharmaceutical performance enhancement, and "brain-computer interfaces." And it's not coming from the Pentagon's scientific fringe, or from some tin-hat kook with a Defense Department badge. The celebrated scientists on the Pentagon's most prestigious scientific advisory panel, JASON, are the ones worried about adversaries' ability "to exploit advances in Human Performance Modification, and thus create a threat to national security."

In a recent report, unearthed by Secrecy News, the JASONs are recommending that the American military push ahead with its own performance-enhancement research -- and monitor foreign studies -- to make sure that the U.S.' enemies don't suddenly become smarter, faster, or better able to endure the harsh realities of war than American troops.

The JASONs are particularly concerned about (and excited by) new drugs that promote "brain plasticity"

Tags: mind, brain, enhancement, performance

Lab wants to capture minds... Literally!

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 09:15:51 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: memebox.com

The mega-billion dollar Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) recently developed a new state-of-the-art facility – Janelia Farm Research Campus – to learn how brain cells store and process information.

Today, biologists can only observe a cell’s activity by indirectly analyzing chemicals it produces in response to stimulus. But what if you could take a picture of a brain cell at the very moment it recorded a thought? HHMI researchers believe this worthy goal can be achieved and they are rounding up some of the top researchers in the world to make it happen.

Janelia Farm will provide its world-class science team with near unlimited funds in a mostly unsupervised environment. “The Institute’s core belief is that scientists who demonstrate creativity and imagination make lasting contributions to benefit humanity when they are given flexible, long-term support and the freedom to explore,” said former HHMI President Thomas Cech.

Tags: mind, biology, brain