feed your brain in the office
Jill Tarter (astrobiologist) and Will Wright (the Sims, Spore) discussing human evolution and extraterrestrial life. David Foster Wallace gives a commencement speech that talks about everyday drudgery. Some people are using pranks to wake themselves and others from the routine. Were bad weather and economy the real reason for witch lynchings? Crowdsourcing works. Counterproductive: repression in a free country.
All the rage: stealth advertising. It's popping up everywhere. Evolutionary biologist Richard Lenski elegantly responds (warning: conservapedia) to a creationist questioning his research. More about this here. A hundred years later some are still talking about this boozefest. Alcohol is not the reason why we have forgotten how to read. Have you noticed how the use of soundtracks has changed? The psychology of mirrors. If you didn't already have certain ideas about the American South, here's some food for thought. More brain food here and here, if you can stomach it. An interesting but impractical contact lens. Someone collected some precious (occasional profanity) moments of sleep talk.
Labels: advertising, brains, concentration, evolution, food, mirrors, somniloquy, soundtracks, vision
This article about suboptimisation provides a clear explanation of the tragedy of the commons and the role of the greater good in evolutionary ethics. The concept also relates to business. Is suboptimisation a factor in the rise of eusociality in insects (pdf)? Another possible way that eusociality might have evolved is the genetic trick used by bdelloid rotifers in their asexual reproduction. More on self-organisation in stigmergy, the beautiful psychology of indirectly elicited collaboration. A wikipedia article on swarm intelligence, with a wealth of further concepts to explore. An animation of the Meselson-Stahl experiment that confirmed semi-conservative DNA replication. The subtle nudges of our subconsciousness. Lucid and fun animation of the interesting Benford's Law (video). Tired of science? Try extreme rock-paper-scissors (image). Less subtle (video) is how this Museum of Natural History attracts the attention of kids. A ruthless j'accuse from Orscon Scott Card aimed at J.K. Rowling. And finally, see how the computer 'thinks' in a game of chess (game).
