The piano soloist did an encore during which I pulled out my phone and did a quick SoundHound search to find out it was Rachmaninoff Prelude No. 5. Brilliantly done!
The US Grant Hotel
Saturday, June 18, 2016
Consciousness
In 2008, neuroscientist Giulio Tononi at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Center for Sleep and Consciousness put forward his “integrated information theory,” which is currently accepted as one of the most compelling explanations about what consciousness is.
One of the central claims of the theory is that, for consciousness to exist, it must have “cause-effect” power on itself.
Neurologist Melanie Boly, a resident at UW’s School of Medicine and Public Health who has worked with Tononi, explains that for anything to exist, it must be able to have an effect; it must be able to make some small difference to something else.
“Consciousness exists for itself and by itself,” says Boly. “Thus it should have cause and effect on itself.”
Boly is currently working with other researchers to develop a mathematical framework to test the predictions of integrated information theory.
But she points out that, long before the explanation of consciousness was put forward in such a scientifically rigorous form, the philosopher Plato expressed the idea that for something to exist, it must capable of having an effect. And so consciousness (or “being,” as Plato described it) is “simply power.”
In the dialog Sophist, written in 360 BC, Plato wrote:
“My notion would be, that anything which possesses any sort of power to affect another, or to be affected by another, if only for a single moment, however trifling the cause and however slight the effect, has real existence; and I hold that the definition of being is simply power.”
Just as it’s impossible to definitively know what caused the world, we’ll never be able to completely prove a theory of consciousness. But Boly believes the current evidence suggests that the integrated information theory is correct—which would then scientifically validate Plato’s views from more than two millennia ago.
- Olivia Goldhill
2300 years later, Plato’s theory of consciousness is being backed up by neuroscience
One of the central claims of the theory is that, for consciousness to exist, it must have “cause-effect” power on itself.
Neurologist Melanie Boly, a resident at UW’s School of Medicine and Public Health who has worked with Tononi, explains that for anything to exist, it must be able to have an effect; it must be able to make some small difference to something else.
“Consciousness exists for itself and by itself,” says Boly. “Thus it should have cause and effect on itself.”
Boly is currently working with other researchers to develop a mathematical framework to test the predictions of integrated information theory.
But she points out that, long before the explanation of consciousness was put forward in such a scientifically rigorous form, the philosopher Plato expressed the idea that for something to exist, it must capable of having an effect. And so consciousness (or “being,” as Plato described it) is “simply power.”
In the dialog Sophist, written in 360 BC, Plato wrote:
“My notion would be, that anything which possesses any sort of power to affect another, or to be affected by another, if only for a single moment, however trifling the cause and however slight the effect, has real existence; and I hold that the definition of being is simply power.”
Just as it’s impossible to definitively know what caused the world, we’ll never be able to completely prove a theory of consciousness. But Boly believes the current evidence suggests that the integrated information theory is correct—which would then scientifically validate Plato’s views from more than two millennia ago.
- Olivia Goldhill
2300 years later, Plato’s theory of consciousness is being backed up by neuroscience
Thursday, June 16, 2016
There is a Space
Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom. ~ Viktor E. Frankl
Wednesday, June 15, 2016
Monday, June 13, 2016
Saturday, June 11, 2016
On Marriage
You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
Love one another, but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
- Kahlil Gibran
Posted on Facebook by Brene Brown
But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
Love one another, but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
- Kahlil Gibran
Posted on Facebook by Brene Brown
Friday, June 10, 2016
Think Only of Your First Step
It is pointless trying to know where the way leads. Think only about your first step. The rest will come...
~ Shams Tabrizi
Image: Kübra Karaçizmeli (https://www.instagram.com/kubrakara/?hl=tr)
Thursday, June 09, 2016
Wednesday, June 08, 2016
I Searched for God
I searched for God and found only myself. I searched for myself and found only God.
Tuesday, June 07, 2016
Monday, June 06, 2016
Sunday, June 05, 2016
Leave Yesterday Behind
It's good to leave each day behind, like flowing water, free of sadness. Yesterday is gone and its tale told. Today new seeds are growing.
~ Rumi
The North Park Parking Garage
Art on the North Park parking garage. Waiting to see Shared Rooms at the LGBT Film Festival. A very sweet film about evolving families. At The Observatory North Park.
Saturday, June 04, 2016
Friday, June 03, 2016
Thursday, June 02, 2016
Wednesday, June 01, 2016
Doing as Others Told Me
Doing as others told me, I was Blind.
Coming when others called me, I was Lost.
Then I left Myself, Everyone as well.
Then I found Myself, Everyone as well.
~ Rumi
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Monday, May 30, 2016
Sunday, May 29, 2016
Understanding
He who finds the reality of him self will understand the ultimate reality of everything.
~ Sufi Saying
image: © P E T R I C O R
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