According to education researcher Howard Gardener and those who have followed his lead, each of us is a collection of eight independent intelligences.
Linguistic : sensitivity to the spoken word
Logical-mathematical : capacity to analyze and determine patterns
Musical : performance, composition and appreciation
Bodily-kinesthetic : problem-solving with the body
Spatial : recognition of patterns of wide-openess and confinement
Interpersonal : understanding of the intentions of others
Intrapersonal : understanding oneself
Natural : utilization of the environment
23.11.07
Man with a Video Camera
Dziga Vertov translates to English, "The Humming Top," a nom de guerre chosen by the filmmaker following his early experiments in recording and editing rhythmic sound collages he called the 'Laboratory of Hearing.'
18.11.07
Eleven Strata
from Outer Atmosphere to Ocean Deep
Magnetosphere -- wisps of magnetic pull
Exosphere -- the air is evanscent, atoms of it almost never bump
Thermosphere -- radiation, ionization, electrification, and a constant humming
Mesosphere -- atmospheric tides and gravity surf
Stratosphere -- calm and cool
Troposphere -- all the winds in all the leaves of all the trees and grasses
+++ Planetary Boundary +++
Epipelagia -- the pellucid upper lappings of the waters
Mesopelagia -- a flickering of light, flickering of shadows
Bathypelagia -- shining, esurient creatures in the eddies of the Void
The Abyss Zone -- the steady falling crumbs from all Life from above
The Hadal Zone -- the innuminous bottom pelf slowly shifting into magma
Magnetosphere -- wisps of magnetic pull
Exosphere -- the air is evanscent, atoms of it almost never bump
Thermosphere -- radiation, ionization, electrification, and a constant humming
Mesosphere -- atmospheric tides and gravity surf
Stratosphere -- calm and cool
Troposphere -- all the winds in all the leaves of all the trees and grasses
+++ Planetary Boundary +++
Epipelagia -- the pellucid upper lappings of the waters
Mesopelagia -- a flickering of light, flickering of shadows
Bathypelagia -- shining, esurient creatures in the eddies of the Void
The Abyss Zone -- the steady falling crumbs from all Life from above
The Hadal Zone -- the innuminous bottom pelf slowly shifting into magma
16.10.07
Platinum skull and the human soul
...Mr. Hirst’s latest controversial artwork, the diamond-encrusted platinum skull shown in London this summer. It seems like the perfect summation of our wasteful, high-priced, oblivious moment, an implicitly regal 21st-century equivalent of Cellini’s gold saltcellar.
Here, now, Kandinsky:
Art is not a vague production, transitory and isolated, but a power which must be directed to the improvement and refinement of the human soul.
10.9.07
A Religion of the Senses and a Resistance to the Present
From the opening of section 4.3 of Hardt and Negri's Empire, 2000.
(Downloadable 1.3M version: http://www.infoshop.org/texts/empire.pdf)
The great masses need a material religion of the senses [eine sinnliche Religion]. Not only the great masses but also the philosopher needs it. Monotheism of reason and the heart, polytheism of the imagination and art, this is what we need . . . [W]e must have a new mythology, but this mythology must be at the service of ideas. It must be a mythology of reason.
- Das altesteSystemprogrammdes deutschenIdealismus,
by Hegel, Holderlin, or Schelling
We do not lack communication, on the contrary we have too much of it. We lack creation. We lack resistance to the present.
- Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari
(Downloadable 1.3M version: http://www.infoshop.org/texts/empire.pdf)
The great masses need a material religion of the senses [eine sinnliche Religion]. Not only the great masses but also the philosopher needs it. Monotheism of reason and the heart, polytheism of the imagination and art, this is what we need . . . [W]e must have a new mythology, but this mythology must be at the service of ideas. It must be a mythology of reason.
- Das altesteSystemprogrammdes deutschenIdealismus,
by Hegel, Holderlin, or Schelling
We do not lack communication, on the contrary we have too much of it. We lack creation. We lack resistance to the present.
- Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari
13.8.07
cognitive bias and the laughing goldfish
A friend submitted this list of cognitive biases. Following the list is my imperfect retelling of a favorite Chuang Tzu tale.
1. Bandwagon effect - the tendency to do (or believe) things
because many other people do (or believe) the same. Related
to groupthink, herd behaviour, and manias. Carl Jung pioneered
the idea of the collective unconscious which is considered by
Jungian psychologists to be responsible for this cognitive bias.
2. Bias blind spot - the tendency not to compensate for one’s
own cognitive biases.
3. Choice-supportive bias - the tendency to remember one’s
choices as better than they actually were.
4. Confirmation bias - the tendency to search for or interpret
information in a way that confirms one’s preconceptions.
5. Congruence bias - the tendency to test hypotheses exclusively
through direct testing.
6. Contrast effect - the enhancement or diminishment of a weight
or other measurement when compared with recently observed
contrasting object.
7. Déformation professionnelle - the tendency to look at things
according to the conventions of one’s own profession, forgetting any
broader point of view.
8. Disconfirmation bias - the tendency for people to extend critical
scrutiny to information which contradicts their prior beliefs and uncritically
accept information that is congruent with their prior beliefs.
9. Endowment effect - the tendency for people to value something more
as soon as they own it.
10. Focusing effect - prediction bias occurring when people place too
much importance on one aspect of an event; causes error in accurately
predicting the utility of a future outcome.
11. Hyperbolic discounting - the tendency for people to have a stronger
preference for more immediate payoffs relative to later payoffs, the closer
to the present both payoffs are.
12. Illusion of control - the tendency for human beings to believe they
can control or at least influence outcomes which they clearly cannot.
13. Impact bias - the tendency for people to overestimate the length or
the intensity of the impact of future feeling states.
14. Information bias - the tendency to seek information even when it
cannot affect action.
15. Loss aversion - the tendency for people to strongly prefer avoiding
losses over acquiring gains (see also sunk cost effects)
16. Neglect of probability - the tendency to completely disregard
probability when making a decision under uncertainty.
17. Mere exposure effect - the tendency for people to express undue
liking for things merely because they are familiar with them.
18. Omission bias - The tendency to judge harmful actions as worse,
or less moral, than equally harmful omissions (inactions).
19. Outcome bias - the tendency to judge a decision by its eventual
outcome instead of based on the quality of the decision at the time it
was made.
20. Planning fallacy - the tendency to underestimate task-completion
times.
21. Post-purchase rationalization - the tendency to persuade oneself
through rational argument that a purchase was a good value.
22. Pseudocertainty effect - the tendency to make risk-averse choices
if the expected outcome is positive, but make risk-seeking choices to
avoid negative outcomes.
23. Selective perception - the tendency for expectations to affect
perception.
24. Status quo bias - the tendency for people to like things to stay
relatively the same.
25. Von Restorff effect - the tendency for an item that “stands out like
a sore thumb” to be more likely to be remembered than other items.
26. Zero-risk bias - preference for reducing a small risk to zero over a
greater reduction in a larger risk.
+
Two old friends were crossing a bridge over a pond. One paused to look down, and noticed a school of goldfish swimming below. "Look, how those goldfish are playing and laughing!" His friend glanced down, nodded, and then replied, "How is it you know these fish are experiencing some form of happiness? Maybe they are simply swimming in the fashion that such fish swim, not happy, but neutral, and that you are imagining their emotion? You can never ask a fish! Does it not seem foolish to you to ascribe human feelings to simple ceatures?"
His friend thought about this for a little while, peered one more time at the fish below, and then, waving his friend forward on their walk mentioned, "I know those fish are happy because I, too, have known happiness."
+
The Chuang Tzu story places hope in the idea that there is a Universality about which we all relate.
The list of biases, on the other hand, proves it ain't always so easy.
1. Bandwagon effect - the tendency to do (or believe) things
because many other people do (or believe) the same. Related
to groupthink, herd behaviour, and manias. Carl Jung pioneered
the idea of the collective unconscious which is considered by
Jungian psychologists to be responsible for this cognitive bias.
2. Bias blind spot - the tendency not to compensate for one’s
own cognitive biases.
3. Choice-supportive bias - the tendency to remember one’s
choices as better than they actually were.
4. Confirmation bias - the tendency to search for or interpret
information in a way that confirms one’s preconceptions.
5. Congruence bias - the tendency to test hypotheses exclusively
through direct testing.
6. Contrast effect - the enhancement or diminishment of a weight
or other measurement when compared with recently observed
contrasting object.
7. Déformation professionnelle - the tendency to look at things
according to the conventions of one’s own profession, forgetting any
broader point of view.
8. Disconfirmation bias - the tendency for people to extend critical
scrutiny to information which contradicts their prior beliefs and uncritically
accept information that is congruent with their prior beliefs.
9. Endowment effect - the tendency for people to value something more
as soon as they own it.
10. Focusing effect - prediction bias occurring when people place too
much importance on one aspect of an event; causes error in accurately
predicting the utility of a future outcome.
11. Hyperbolic discounting - the tendency for people to have a stronger
preference for more immediate payoffs relative to later payoffs, the closer
to the present both payoffs are.
12. Illusion of control - the tendency for human beings to believe they
can control or at least influence outcomes which they clearly cannot.
13. Impact bias - the tendency for people to overestimate the length or
the intensity of the impact of future feeling states.
14. Information bias - the tendency to seek information even when it
cannot affect action.
15. Loss aversion - the tendency for people to strongly prefer avoiding
losses over acquiring gains (see also sunk cost effects)
16. Neglect of probability - the tendency to completely disregard
probability when making a decision under uncertainty.
17. Mere exposure effect - the tendency for people to express undue
liking for things merely because they are familiar with them.
18. Omission bias - The tendency to judge harmful actions as worse,
or less moral, than equally harmful omissions (inactions).
19. Outcome bias - the tendency to judge a decision by its eventual
outcome instead of based on the quality of the decision at the time it
was made.
20. Planning fallacy - the tendency to underestimate task-completion
times.
21. Post-purchase rationalization - the tendency to persuade oneself
through rational argument that a purchase was a good value.
22. Pseudocertainty effect - the tendency to make risk-averse choices
if the expected outcome is positive, but make risk-seeking choices to
avoid negative outcomes.
23. Selective perception - the tendency for expectations to affect
perception.
24. Status quo bias - the tendency for people to like things to stay
relatively the same.
25. Von Restorff effect - the tendency for an item that “stands out like
a sore thumb” to be more likely to be remembered than other items.
26. Zero-risk bias - preference for reducing a small risk to zero over a
greater reduction in a larger risk.
+
Two old friends were crossing a bridge over a pond. One paused to look down, and noticed a school of goldfish swimming below. "Look, how those goldfish are playing and laughing!" His friend glanced down, nodded, and then replied, "How is it you know these fish are experiencing some form of happiness? Maybe they are simply swimming in the fashion that such fish swim, not happy, but neutral, and that you are imagining their emotion? You can never ask a fish! Does it not seem foolish to you to ascribe human feelings to simple ceatures?"
His friend thought about this for a little while, peered one more time at the fish below, and then, waving his friend forward on their walk mentioned, "I know those fish are happy because I, too, have known happiness."
+
The Chuang Tzu story places hope in the idea that there is a Universality about which we all relate.
The list of biases, on the other hand, proves it ain't always so easy.
9.8.07
9.7.07
22.6.07
a certain Chinese encyclopedia
animals are divided into:
(a) belonging to the Emporer
(b) embalmed
(c) tame
(d) sucking pigs
(e) sirens
(f) fabulous
(g) stray dogs
(h) included in the present classification
(i) frenzied
(j) innumerable
(k) drawn with a very fine camelhair brush
(l) et cetera
(m) having just broken the water pitcher
(n) that from a long way off look like flies.
~ Borges
(a) belonging to the Emporer
(b) embalmed
(c) tame
(d) sucking pigs
(e) sirens
(f) fabulous
(g) stray dogs
(h) included in the present classification
(i) frenzied
(j) innumerable
(k) drawn with a very fine camelhair brush
(l) et cetera
(m) having just broken the water pitcher
(n) that from a long way off look like flies.
~ Borges
16.6.07
The Theoretical Fixed Point in the Turbulent Aeviternity
Today we know the heavens are not fixed, but in a state of ongoing motion. Physicists today talk of an infinite, gradient web of vectors, matter under the influence of four or five distinct tendencies, at the entire range of scales. As evidence, our age-old quest to measure and predict the precise movement of our planet, to know the length of a day, is continually confounded by variations in orbit, rotation, precession, nutation, and combinations of smaller, fuzzier movements.
The universe is, by definition, constant, pervasive action. All things in motion at all times, to paraphrase Aristotle. Every speck vibrates. Every galactic cloud is turbulent. You perceive the falling of a book, from table to floor, only as a motion relative to your own; because, remember, that you too, are in always in motion. A fixed point can only be the Eye of God. "Whole simultaneous" and "interminable" says Aquinas.
From the Catholic religion comes the notion of an alternative temporal reality, aeviternity, outside but integral to our plane of existence, lying between the fleet cosmos of human perception and the infinite dimensionlessness of eternity. This is the realm of angels, who neither suffer the passing of time as mortals, nor share in the omnipresence of gods. Aeviternity is distinct from other super-cosmological dwellings of the divine, from Heaven to Hell, Svarga to Naraka, the Happy Hunting Grounds or Mt. Olympus, in that it is identified specifically by its dimensional relationship to the universe of humankind. It is a scholastic solution for understanding what lies between us and the ultimate Divine Eternal, the proposal of which, incidentally, generates more puzzles. A mystery box packed with more mysteries, such is the way of the universe, and therein lies the charm of an Aeviternity, and therefore evaporates some body of conceptual doubt as to whether it contains some inherent analogical truth.
The universe is, by definition, constant, pervasive action. All things in motion at all times, to paraphrase Aristotle. Every speck vibrates. Every galactic cloud is turbulent. You perceive the falling of a book, from table to floor, only as a motion relative to your own; because, remember, that you too, are in always in motion. A fixed point can only be the Eye of God. "Whole simultaneous" and "interminable" says Aquinas.
From the Catholic religion comes the notion of an alternative temporal reality, aeviternity, outside but integral to our plane of existence, lying between the fleet cosmos of human perception and the infinite dimensionlessness of eternity. This is the realm of angels, who neither suffer the passing of time as mortals, nor share in the omnipresence of gods. Aeviternity is distinct from other super-cosmological dwellings of the divine, from Heaven to Hell, Svarga to Naraka, the Happy Hunting Grounds or Mt. Olympus, in that it is identified specifically by its dimensional relationship to the universe of humankind. It is a scholastic solution for understanding what lies between us and the ultimate Divine Eternal, the proposal of which, incidentally, generates more puzzles. A mystery box packed with more mysteries, such is the way of the universe, and therein lies the charm of an Aeviternity, and therefore evaporates some body of conceptual doubt as to whether it contains some inherent analogical truth.
22.5.07
Early Experimental Literature
Two examples of Post-Modernism from very Pre-Modern times:
The Voynich Manuscript
Nobody has ever decyphered the glyphs that fill the pages of the undateable Voynich Manuscript, leading some scholars to conclude its hundreds of pages are just dense gibberish. It could be an encyclopedia from an alternate Earth, with fantastic botanical and astronomical studies and revelations. The colorful illustrations only make the enigma more complex, with impossible to pin-down imagery.
Look it up in the wikipedia.
See its pages at the Beinecke Library.
There are several published studies of the Voynich Manuscript in book form, also: the Kennedy-Churchill book being the most contemporary, and seemingly least biased towards particular theories.
Hypnerotomachia Poliphili
And, for another book far outside its--or any other-- time, the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, or "Strife of Love in a Dream,"
please refer, again, to your wikipedia.
The pages can be viewed at MIT Press.
This one-of-a-kind proto-novel was written in an embellished, eccentric Latin, framed in Italian-style syntax, told from multiple, embedded frames of reference. The story follows a hero on his dream-walk tour of fantastic--sometimes erotic--architecture, cataloging ambitious remixes of Classic details, and gardens that describe vast poetic metaphors. It was published in 1499, only five decades after of the European invention of the printing press.
Translations of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (I learned to say it--so can you!) are published from time-to-time, and there are numerous studies available in book form.
The Voynich Manuscript
Nobody has ever decyphered the glyphs that fill the pages of the undateable Voynich Manuscript, leading some scholars to conclude its hundreds of pages are just dense gibberish. It could be an encyclopedia from an alternate Earth, with fantastic botanical and astronomical studies and revelations. The colorful illustrations only make the enigma more complex, with impossible to pin-down imagery.
Look it up in the wikipedia.
See its pages at the Beinecke Library.
There are several published studies of the Voynich Manuscript in book form, also: the Kennedy-Churchill book being the most contemporary, and seemingly least biased towards particular theories.
Hypnerotomachia Poliphili
And, for another book far outside its--or any other-- time, the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, or "Strife of Love in a Dream,"
please refer, again, to your wikipedia.
The pages can be viewed at MIT Press.
This one-of-a-kind proto-novel was written in an embellished, eccentric Latin, framed in Italian-style syntax, told from multiple, embedded frames of reference. The story follows a hero on his dream-walk tour of fantastic--sometimes erotic--architecture, cataloging ambitious remixes of Classic details, and gardens that describe vast poetic metaphors. It was published in 1499, only five decades after of the European invention of the printing press.
Translations of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (I learned to say it--so can you!) are published from time-to-time, and there are numerous studies available in book form.
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