Loosely Assembled

Brief synopsis of this ‘well worth a read’ article:

Our brains laboriously create the illusion that our sensory inputs actually match the temporal realities on the world (touch your nose and toe at the same time, the illusion is that it feels like you are feeling those touches at the same time, the reality is that your brain feels those touches at different times because the length the nerve signal has to travel, but the brain pauses for a moment, waiting for nerve signals from the most distant regions of the body before really letting ‘you’ know about the touches). This obviously means that we are living slightly in the past, all the time (about a tenth of a second).

This sophisticated system is hackable, especially as you start mixing other senses into the synchronization slop, and suggests that time is less objective than generally thought.

One amazing mind hack mentioned in the article can create the illusory reversal of cause and effect.

Good stuff for sure!

A cute trick showing that awareness has a lot to do with attention. The moral? Pay attention to cyclists.

– then another much more hilarious perceptual awareness video here —

Wonderfully exciting presentation of the way in which our future is really going to change. If this video thrills you, you are aligned with the general values of NINE, that putting the brakes on is not a viable response to our new era.

Ok, the one bit that catches me as being potentially spun is the very last line about illegal downloads (can that stat even be justifiably estimated anyway?).

Thanks Garth

A friend of mine just posted this story about the death of analog television, and her encounter with a neighbor in the laundry room. It is such a great little story, I felt compelled to repost it here (her version i saw on facebook and couldn’t link to).

enjoy:

I just met an amazing crazy man in the laundry room of my building, he faced towards the window talking to a radio as I entered wearing my I Am Videotaping You Right Now T-shirt. He turns and asks “Where do I know you from?’ I say, maybe the elevator? He says no, maybe the comic book store, I think not. He talks about some lady in apt 609, I think this has nothing to do with me, and he says “that really has nothing to do with you”. No, I guess not. He then states my thought of the day, “You know, the analogue signal is going to die today,.. I mean tomorrow.” It is funny how the timing is so important, yet we can’t get it straight, it is omnipresent in its nonlinear effect! I reply emphatically “I know! midnight tomorrow, are you going to watch it?” Notice also, that no-one says, the digital is coming! Rather, the analog is dying..

He says it is in the afternoon, or that’s what someone told him, Well, he’s going to watch it, but he’ll be away and then some more unrecognizable sentences.
Not that he would care, but I was enjoying the conversation so I say I don’t have a TV, but am going to fer sure watch it. He replies that he has a TV.. and he has cable, and he uses channel 3. He has lots of cable. He then brings up an important decision he must make, he hasn’t yet decided whether to use a converter box or get an HDTV. He has asked a bunch of people and the polls are not in yet and he needs to ask more people. I want to tell him, the clock is ticking!! and also wonder if I, the comic book girl in the laundry room, have a say? He really has to let everyone else make the decision, he isn’t worried, because he is going to let the majority decide, he has to choose. He’s not sure what to do, but he will Let the Majority Decide, I’ve just got to let the majority decide. Let the majority decide, Just Let the majority decide, he repeats many more times shaking his head. “I hope they’ll make the right decision!” I say leaving the laundry room on my way to look up what time it really is going to happen at!

(Via Grown Garden Chair.)

Take a closer look at some detail photos that really describe this piece.

(Via wrongdistance.com .)

(Via octothorpe - Wiktionary.)

Everyone seems to be blogging about the wired story on programmable matter, and while it certainly is newsworthy and interesting and amazing enough to write about, it seems that most commentators have missed a big piece of this story: that DARPA is blogging about it’s own (you’d assume) top secret shit!

Before you click try to guess which one you think actually won.

Amnesty International’s new skateboard and clothing brand. http://www.activist.no