Synaesthesia Machine
Saturday, January 5th, 2008This is why I read io9 -- to keep up on cool and cheesy sci-fi-ish stuff like this: A Fully-Functioning Synaesthesia Machine that translates visual stimuli into tactile sensations.
Archive for the ‘philosophy’ Category
This is why I read io9 -- to keep up on cool and cheesy sci-fi-ish stuff like this: A Fully-Functioning Synaesthesia Machine that translates visual stimuli into tactile sensations.
Oz strives for authentic being toward death
Tuesday, November 20th, 2007The other day Oz (a couple weeks shy of his 8th birthday) had his first real existential crisis. Earlier in the weekend, on Saturday morning, one of our elderly and ailing neighbors died. Oz knew this -- he saw the aid car come, and a day later, he was with ...
Pac-Man takes the red pill
Thursday, March 15th, 2007I'm a recently converted follower of Saint Gasoline in general. But the most recent one hits a particular soft spot, since I've recently been teaching the whole Matrix 'n Skepticism thing. In Video Game Philosophy, we get both the cartoon of Pac-Man talking of escaping Plato's cave the ...
A neat visual thingy
Tuesday, February 27th, 2007One of my favorite visual effects; mostly just as a test. It's the Adelson checkerboard; same actual surface gray, but very different perceived lightness (until the squares get connected).
Jefferson Enterprise
Tuesday, February 6th, 2007Because I'm teaching Philosophy in Science Fiction now, I see more of this stuff. Classic Trek + classic Jefferson Airplane + nostalgia for drug references in popular culture = fun at YouTube:
Dennett back from the brink of death
Friday, November 3rd, 2006Dan Dennett, famous philosopher-atheist (is that redundant?) had a brush with death recently (a "dissection of the aorta"), and now writes about it (Thank Goodness!). Did he give up his atheism when on death's door? What do you think? Here's a bit of his report: Had I had ...
Knowing your limits
Wednesday, March 22nd, 2006From my TA: He's explaining some bit of the mind-body problem to a student in office hours for the intro class I'm teaching this semester. She's finding it confusing, and explains by saying "I like to think inside the box."
Baby’s first mathematical induction
Sunday, March 5th, 2006During bathtime tonight, Oz and I are discussing large numbers, like billion, septillion, and googol. Having encountered the whole infinity thing before, he asks... Oz: How come you never get to the end of counting? Dad (thrilled): Well, suppose you got to the end with some number. Call it ...
Ephemeral musing: Agency and naturalism
Sunday, January 15th, 2006Over at my Ephemeral Musings a new post; seems like they're a weekly thing. "Agency and naturalism" is a little ditty on the inescapability of our sense of agency and the connection it's sometimes given to a kind of supernaturalism about the mind.
On the parts of experience
Sunday, January 8th, 2006Over at Ephemeral Musings (my "philosophy lite") blog), I just posted "What parts does experience have?", little riff on mistakes in "decomposing" experience in attempting to understand it. Or something like that.