January 2011
6 posts
4 tags
The Kaleidoscopic Discovery Engine. ‘All scientific discoveries are in principle ‘multiples’’
“We owe our success to our uniquely developed ability to learn from others. This capacity enables humans to gradually accumulate information across generations and develop well-adapted tools, beliefs, and practices that are too complex for any single...
5 tags
Steve Stewart-Williams on the evolution and the ultimate purpose of life
(Illustration: The Meaning Of Life by Ehecatl Malinalli)
“Evolutionary theory answers one of the most profound and fundamental questions human beings have ever asked themselves, a question that has plagued reflective minds for as long as reflective minds have existed in the...
5 tags
Antonio Damasio on how and why consciousness developed in humans “Damasio, director of the University of Southern California’s Brain and Creativity Institute, uses his book to lay out a framework for how and why consciousness developed in humans. His central argument, based in evolutionary biology, is that “a brain exists for managing life inside a body.” Mind, body and emotions are...
4 tags
Uncertainty principle: How evolution hedges its bets
“Variety is the key to survival in a changeable world – and evolution may have come up with an extraordinary way of generating more variety. (…) As he looked round, Feinberg’s eyes came to rest on a nearby plaque commemorating physicist Paul Dirac. This set him thinking about quantum theory and evolution, which led him to...
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Mathematical model shows how groups split into factions
As changes in individual relationships spread through a group, eventually a split evolves. Watch the animation.
“The school dance committee is split; one group wants an “Alice in Wonderland” theme; the other insists on “Vampire Jamboree.” Mathematics could have predicted it.
Social scientists have long...
11 tags
Professor George Lakoff: Reason is 98% Subconscious Metaphor in Frames & Cultural Narratives
Notes: Metaphor and Embodiment
In Metaphors We Live By George Lakoff, a linguist, and Mark Johnson, a philosopher, suggest that metaphors not only make our thoughts more vivid and interesting but that they actually structure our perceptions and understanding.
“We are neural beings,...