Sunday, March 28, 2010

The currently ongoing discussion of the previous thread reminds me of a bull session I had with a cousin last year.
He was a Woodstock brand, full force member of the 60's hippie movement. Dope smoking, vegetarian, long hair, earth worshiping, peace brother... all of it.
He still is all of 'that', proud of it, and well into his late 50's. And I think he just turned 60.

And you all know my general position on things. I'll let you categorize it, because sometimes I'm not so sure myself on a proper label for me.

The thing is, the two of us are not really far apart in our ideals. We appreciate the same things. We love the same life, and the lives of those who pass through it.

Let's not make our differences too personal.

Just an aside.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I always wonder why people often see differences as something to fear destroy ridicule and or denigrate
rather than something to explore
and learn from.

I include myself in 'people'

I suspect that is simply the nature
of our human nature...

It is never easy nor comfortable to
transcend but speaking for myself
I find the effort profitable on all levels.

Ok.....I have to run back to my commune now.........the granola is ready...... :o)

On another note.....spring has sprung here ...and my herbs (no not that kind) are emerging nicely from a rather long canuckian winter.
so if I aint around much to respond
you know I am just puttering around in the garden, picking on the guitar or tending to me ole mum etc etc.......

Have a good one ....everybody :o)
Chills.

Gino said...

bless you chills. and always.

K-Rod said...

chills, good luck with your communal/communist/Liberal Fascist desires. (those '60s chickens certainly have come home to roost)
(*cue Obama's spiritual leader, Rev. Wright*)
;^)


Hey, if you really need some help, just ask; but please don't vote in politicians to have the federal government take by force.

Anonymous said...

Well K rod
since you offered

I noticed you are an engineer.
Now I have no idea what kind of engineer.....
but I been wondering about
mirror neurons and
I got to pondering the possibilites

and wondered if you could
speculate on the probability of mirror neurons being kind of duplicated and used in robots or AI gizmos.....


I know kind of sci-fi at this point
but
it seems like an interesting thing to consider.
and wondered what an engineer might
think about that...etc etc

Chills..

K-Rod said...

Well, chills, it's not rocket science and not exactly life saving brain surgery, trust me.

So, chills, please tell us more about what you have been told to say about mirror neurons. Or you could just go lay by your dish. ;^)

Anonymous said...

K-rod
I dont know much about neurology or mirror neurons....etc nor engineering or robotics etc etc

I asked you cause you are an engineer and I assume you are
much more informed than I
in this regard....

I know it was off topic entirely
but it is something
I was pondering today..

Mirror neurons as far as I understand them are the neurons that
in primates and perhaps all animals.... in effect teach us
to mirror behaviors etc that we see hear etc in
others ..in particular during our formative years and or
cognitive development years.

So I was wondering if science and engineering could arrive at applying a similar technology
what kind of applications and or unintended consequences might arise.

But more so what was the probability
of them arriving at that if at all within the next couple decades etc

Thats all



Chills

Brian said...

If mirror neurons work the way they are purported to, it's most likely a function of the input that they integrate and where they project rather than an intrinsic property of the cells themselves. In systems neuroscience, connectivity is everything.

Anonymous said...

Brian.... thanks
That makes sense.....


Chills

kr said...

mirror neurons, last I heard, reflect directly, in real time, the activity in the brain of the person you are interacting with, whether or not any of your behaviors reflect that (feeling/movement/etc.)

chills, the reading I have done, which strays pretty far afield these days from engineering or computer science, suggests that it may be constructive for science to reconsider earlier understandings of "mind" (ie., reexamining the possibility that our mind--that part of us that thinks and reacts and interacts--perhaps is not wholly the result of biophysical/chemical processes and structures). Things like mirror-neurons stand in the gap between physical causation and (as far as I am concerned) extra-physical (but still natural and individual ) energy.

That said, I think considering the mirror-neuron/deep-level-imitation idea as a model for artifical learning is a fascinating idea ...

Anonymous said...

KR
Thanks for the feedback and info
----
I thought the idea of using mirror neurons as a model for AI or robotics or whateva that is called
kind of interesting.
I am also trying to imagine/envision how I might
use that concept in other areas,
like applying it for learning/teaching in other creative enterprises..like arts or music maybe (insert not sure emoticon here)
I am not schooled in techie stuff or the maths and sciences or engineering etc

but I suspect the same model or a similar model ...might well be applicable
to any number of enterprises
if one let the mind play a bit.

and my mind plays whether I want it to or not.....

Chills

kr said...

:).

Free associating (arts/music : mirror neurons) ...

there is a funny/bizarre/wonderful book "Why Cats Paint," which was followed, upon its surprising popularity, by a book about cats who dance with their people ... the dancing book went a lot more into the theory that, were it to be written today, would ascribe cat/human dancing as a function mirror neuron type activity ... at the time (15? years ago), it was of course all couched in terms of 'intuition' (on the part of the cats, mostly ;) ).

With four young children in an education system (non-strict Waldorf/Steiner) that stresses the fundamental importance of the imitation model of learning, I suspect there is indeed vast potential in consciously triggering/utilizing interpersonal sympathies at all levels, including neurological ...

:) glad I missed the last explosion here at Gino's, but enjoying your contributions to the blog