Something completely different

Now that I've pissed off everybody I possibly could, what could possibly be more fun than a dip into cognitive science?

Sumarizing a recent experiment:

You take a bunch of monkeys, and teach them a new trick.

You notice that the memory of the new trick is kept in a (new) group of neurons in their brains.

You then observe that even when they get the trick wrong, that is, the monkey displays the wrong behavior, the group of neurons where the trick is kept are still working away.

What does it mean?

It means that even when we do things wrong, like mispell a word, or forget where we put something, we could have got it right.

Why do we get it wrong, over and over again? Is something lost between the part of our brain that knows the answer, and the part that is looking? Is our propensity toward error something that enhances our survivability, or is it simply an artifact of evolution's notoriously poor worksmanship?

It does start to explain the whole "I'll just stop thinking about it and the answer will come to me" phenomenon.

From this experiment, I want to draw two conclusions,
1. Mistakes are good, at least for monkeys.
Just think of all the times you've made a mistake and it turned out for the best. How many times have you discovered something new because you did something wrong?

2. We can avoid making mistakes if we try.
It's in there. The answer, where you put your keys, the right way to connect to your SQL database, whatever, if you ever knew how, you still do, just relax and stop trying.

Guest Column

The Blog looks good, but it's hard to read, with the banner on the side I have to wait until you post something else and then read the previous post, but whatever.

So here's something I wrote yesterday before I checked Jcreadsthenews.
Follows;

Okay I have to vent a little bit. At lunch I was reading the news about those silly Muslim cartoons that have started WWIII. It appears that all over the Muslim world they are rioting, shooting things and people, and torching trees, buildings , cars etc. and I just have a few questions.

1. the rule is no images of the prophet right? I get that just fine, but unreasonable violence, that’s okay? So the message here is don’t draw a picture of Mohammed or whoever, but shoot anyone who you may think can draw? Cant wait to convert.

2. Every time something like this happens, everything in the city gets lit on fire, and a bunch of stuff is destroyed, my question is; why destroy THEIR OWN stuff, not ours? The Danes go to sleep in their giant fluffy feather beds with their wooden shoes next to them, and Afghanistan burns away through the night. that sounds like a great testament to the problem solving skills of the rioters to me. Then they can look at their city and say look at what all the White people\non-Muslims\Americans did. (not that we are blameless, I usually support some of their views of us)

3. do none of these people ever have anything to do during the day? EVER? If your friend Bob called you right now to go burn Creed CD's in the name of all that is good and holy, then yes I'd say we might all go. For a few hours, if the weather was good, if there was a good restaurant nearby, and mostly to get the heck out of here. Would you go again tomorrow? I doubt it. Well, maybe you would… but wouldn’t it be more fun to eat PB & J at the zoo or something?

4. cartoons are idolatry? Really? Okay…
"OH great and powerful Hobbes, I ask you for forgiveness in drawing a funny looking man with a bomb for a helmet. Please stay my pen, lest it be used to puncture my heart with eternal shame. In the name of your most righteous servant Calvin, I pray that all cartoonists will be swiftly killed. Especially that guy who draws Marmaduke. He sucks. Amen."

None of this was meant to offend, I respect all religions, etc, blah blah really, blah, I'm just really confused.

The disclaimer is for my work computer. And about that statement about accepting no less than the heads of the people who drew the cartoons, well, it works both ways, bucko. You hide Osama and we'll protect Charles Schultz.

offensive cartoons?

Al-Yawm, Dec 4, 2005

"We will not accept less than severing the heads of those responsible," one preacher at Al Omari mosque in Gaza told worshipers during Friday Prayer, according to Reuters. Other demonstrators called for amputating the hands of the cartoonists who drew the pictures.

Yes, by all means, lets start cutting off the hands of cartoonists who don't "respect" all religions.

Lets start with the Saudi who drew this one.

Then, lets talk about the Egyptian TV show, "Horseman Without A Horse" which details how Jews drink the blood of non-jews during passover, among other things.