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Treat of the Day:
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Clay Cotton: BackStage
Beyond the Veils with the PodFather of Tribal PsychAlchemy
Random
A Common Cosmic Mind?
MENTALISM – A PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE Abstract - Physical scientists generally take a materialist/reductionist approach to research, central to which is a belief in something called “matter”, representing a reality apart from that of the scientist; an independent reality of a separate, “external” world which can be studied with total objectivity and thus induced to yield its secrets to the... [Read more]
Lessons From The Geese
When you see geese flying along in “V” formation, you might wonder why they fly that way… FACT: As each bird flaps its wings, it creates an “uplift” for the bird immediately following. By flying in a “V” formation, the whole flock has at least 71% greater flying range than if each bird flew on it’s own. LESSON: People who share a common direction... [Read more]
Music and Your Brain
The brain makes sense of music by constructing detailed models in real time. The act of listening, it turns out, is really an act of neural prediction. Hear the scientists from the University of London: The ability to anticipate forthcoming events has clear evolutionary advantages, and predictive successes or failures often entail significant psychological and physiological consequences. In music perception,... [Read more]
To Make Music With All We Have Left
( I’ll never forget this event… An AMAZING tale. And his response to adversity is so uplifting! ) When Itzhak Perlman, the world-class master violinist, came on stage to give this long-awaited concert at Lincoln Center in New York City, just getting on stage was no small achievement for him… [Read more] Read More →
Friend Power
One once upon a time, when I was a freshman in high school, I saw a kid from my class walking home from school. His name was Kyle. It looked like he was carrying all of his books, and I thought to myself, “Why would anyone bring home all his books on a Friday? He must really be a nerd.” I had quite a weekend planned (parties and a football game with my friends tomorrow afternoon),... [Read more]
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To Make Music With All We Have Left
( I'll never forget this event... An AMAZING tale. And his response to adversity is so uplifting! ) When Itzhak Perlman, the world-class master violinist, came on stage to give this long-awaited concert at Lincoln Center in New York City, just getting on stage was no small achievement for him...
Music and Your Brain
The brain makes sense of music by constructing detailed models in real time. The act of listening, it turns out, is really an act of neural prediction. Hear the scientists from the University of London: The ability to anticipate forthcoming events has clear evolutionary advantages, and predictive successes or failures often entail significant psychological and physiological consequences. In music perception, the confirmation and violation of expectations are critical to the communication of emotion and aesthetic effects of a composition. Scientists recently measured the brain waves of a twenty subjects while they listened to various hymns. It turned out that unexpected notes - pitches that violated the previous melodic pattern - triggered an interesting sequence of neural events and a spike in brain activity. There are two interesting takeaways from the experiment. The first is that music hijacks some very fundamental neural mechanisms. The brain is designed to learn by association: if this, then that. Music works by subtly toying with our expected associations, enticing us to make predictions about what note will come next, and then confronting us with our prediction errors. In other words, every melody manipulates the same essential mechanisms we use to make sense of reality. The second takeaway is that ...
Lessons From The Geese
When you see geese flying along in "V" formation, you might wonder why they fly that way... FACT: As each bird flaps its wings, it creates an "uplift" for the bird immediately following. By flying in a "V" formation, the whole flock has at least 71% greater flying range than if each bird flew on it's own. LESSON: People who share a common direction and sense of community can get where they are going more quickly and easily because they are traveling on the thrust of one another. FACT: When a goose flies out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to go it alone. It quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird in front of it. LESSON: If we have as much common sense as a goose, we stay in formation with those headed where we want to go. We are willing to accept their help and give our help to others. It is harder to do something alone than together. FACT: When the lead goose gets tired, it rotates back into the formation, and another goose flies to the point position. LESSON: It is sensible to take ...
Multiple Sclerosis: If you don't have a sense of humor,
it isn't very funny...
it isn't very funny...
