Relevant History

To those who say there are no easy answers, I say you're not looking hard enough

To quote Bart Simpson. Looks like brain enhancement games is about as effective as... other technologies that claim to be able to enhance... less cerebral body parts. Not Exactly Rocket Science says:

You don’t have to look very far to find a multi-million pound industry supported by the scantiest of scientific evidence. Take “brain-training”, for example. This fledgling market purports to improve the brain’s abilities through the medium of number problems, Sudoku, anagrams and the like. The idea seems plausible and it has certainly made bestsellers out of games like Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training and Big Brain Academy. But a new study by Adrian Owen from Cambridge University casts doubt on the claims that these games can boost general mental abilities.

[To the tune of Suba, "Sereia," from the album The Rough Guide To Brazilian Electronica (a 3-star song, imo).]

Maybe he wasn't so stupid after all?

George Bush talking about starting the George W Bush Institute, via Wonkette:

One of the things I was nervous about about a think tank is that all we do is have people come here and they sit around and think.... I think it’s important not only to have people come around and think and have experts write and opine, but also to figure out how to act.

[To the tune of Philip Glass, "Koyaanisqatsi," from the album Koyaanisqatsi (a 4-star song, imo).]

Possibly the bravest stance taken by a general

When I started doing work that got me involved with the military and... well, I never really found out where those guys with the very short haircuts, no last names on their conference badges, and vague replies to the question "where do you work" all come from... one of the things that really struck me was how much they all love PowerPoint. Military people love PowerPoint. So I was struck to see Tom Ricks blog:

Marine Gen. James Mattis, one of the most thoughtful of our military leaders... began by making a point about the limitations of conventional firepower: Our military, he said, "must avoid being dominant and irrelevant at the same time." I hadn't heard that formulation before.

Mattis also spoke without any computer graphics. "The reason I didn't use PowerPoint is, I am convinced PowerPoint makes us stupid."

Though he's not alone:

Army Brig. Gen. H.R. McMaster, who also spoke at the conference, also took a pop at PowerPoint, saying that when combined with certain ill-advised metrics, it "is really dangerous."

Interesting. I wonder what they would make of Prezi?

[To the tune of Tabla Beat Science, "Satellite (Show Me The Worth Of The World)," from the album Live in San Francisco at Stern Grove (a 3-star song, imo).]

I don't look this this, do I?

The children doing impressions of me.

For some reason I find this vaguely libelous, but I have the nagging suspicion that there's more truth to them than I'd like to admit.

[To the tune of Tabla Beat Science, "Big Brother," from the album Tala Matrix (a 2-star song, imo).]

Elizabeth's face painting

Today my nephew had his fourth birthday party. My daughter took her face painting kit with her, to help entertain the kids. During a lull in the business, I had her paint me.

She did quite a good job. In fact, it worked out so well, I wore it to a friend's 50th birthday party. (Happy birthday, by the way, Lori! Great party!)

[To the tune of Tabla Beat Science, "Audiomaze," from the album Tala Matrix (a 2-star song, imo).]

Cognitive neuroscience and literature

Interesting article in the New York Times on the use of brain science in literature:

Literature, like other fields including history and political science, has looked to the technology of brain imaging and the principles of evolution to provide empirical evidence for unprovable theories.

Interest has bloomed during the last decade. Elaine Scarry, a professor of English at Harvard, has since 2000 hosted a seminar on cognitive theory and the arts. Over the years participants have explored, for example, how the visual cortex works in order to explain why Impressionist paintings give the appearance of shimmering. In a few weeks Stephen Kosslyn, a psychologist at Harvard, will give a talk about mental imagery and memory, both of which are invoked while reading.

While this is very interesting, the practice of drawing on the sciences (particularly cognitive science) to inform the humanities is less new than the article suggests: E. H. Gombrich's classic Art and Illusion opens with a discussion of the latest findings on perception and cognition (from the 1950s, obviously) and how they should be applied to art history and criticism.

[To the tune of Tabla Beat Science, "Tala Matrix," from the album Live In San Francisco At Stern Grove [Disc 2] (a 3-star song, imo).]

Paper spaces

Because I'm a whore for attention, or perhaps want to put put all my friends to sleep (only I know for sure), I've posted my latest article, "Paper Spaces: Visualizing the Future," on Future2.

[To the tune of Tabla Beat Science, "Nafeken," from the album Live In San Francisco At Stern Grove (a 3-star song, imo).]

The chicken chant!

A few days ago, my daughter took part in the traditional Egg Drop at her school, in which the fifth graders build containers to protect eggs thrown off the balcony of the Big Building.

She took a cardboard box, filled it with Peeps, and then decorated it to look like a chicken. When the crowd saw it, here's what happened (captured on my iPhone):

Unfortunately the egg didn't make it, but still it was very amusing to watch.

Blogging elsewhere

I realized I've not been writing much here, but have been doing more stuff on my professionally-related blogs. So, here's a list of recent posts on Future2:

• Justin Fox on economists versus historians;
• Leon Fuerth on "Strategic Myopia: The Case for Forward Engagement;"
  
• Donald Michael and the problem of retrospection in futures;
  
• Baruch Fischhoff on "What Forecasts Seem to Mean;" and
  
• Green consumption and ethical behavior: The impact of moral balancing
  

And on End of Cyberspace:

• Google's cloudy Web clipboard;
• Car cost-sharing: finally around the corner?
  
• Laptops, classrooms, and discussion

Just don't want to seem like a slacker...

[To the tune of Michael Nyman Band, "An Eye For Optical Theory (from The Draughtsman's Contract)," from the album The Essential Michael Nyman Band (a 1-star song, imo).]

The Mind-Body Problem, revisited

From a conversation tonight:

Daughter: "I'm reading Madeline, but I keep messing it up because I'm reading it my head. I keep reading, In an old house in Paris that was covered with vines / Lived two little girls and twelve straight lines."

Me: "What do you mean, reading it in my head? Do you actually have the book, or are you just remembering it?"

Daughter: "I have the book, and I'm reading it with my eyes, but I'm not reading it out loud."

[To the tune of Michael Riesman: Philip Glass Ensemble, "Mosque & Temple," from the album Glass: Powaqqatsi (a 2-star song, imo).]