The Wrong Brain

brain, brain scans, brain science

A rare anatomical variation newly identifies the brains of C.F. Gauss and C.H. Fuchs in a collection at the University of Göttingen

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Subsequent inquiries at the University of Göttingen revealed a glass jar labelled ‘C.H. F__s’ similar to the glass jar in which the brain of C.F. Gauss is kept, both most likely originally labelled by Rudolf Wagner. Meticulous comparison of the two brains in these jars with the original copper engravings and lithographs of Wagner (1860, 1862) have now demonstrated that the brain in the jar labelled ‘C.F. G__ss’ is identical to the brain of C.H. Fuchs as shown in the lithographs of Wagner (1862) (Fig. 1). Moreover, the brain in the jar labelled ‘C.H. Fuchs’ is identical to the brain of C.F. Gauss as documented in the copper engravings of Wagner (1860). These observations prove that the brains have been stored in the wrong jars, and that, consequently, our MRI data recorded in 1998 (Haenicke et al., 1999; Wittmann et al., 1999) do not show the brain of C.F. Gauss, but rather the brain of C.H. Fuchs.

A Confederacy of Dunces – quotes and extracts – 34

A Confederacy of Dunces

I would agitate against the bemused person who was attempting to help me upward, that is. The agitation would take the form of many protest marches complete with the traditional banners and posters, but these would say, “End the Middle Class,” “The Middle Class Must Go.” I am not above tossing a small Molotov cocktail or two, either. In addition, I would studiously avoid sitting near the middle class in lunch counters and on public transportation, maintaining the intrinsic honesty and grandeur of my being. If a middle-class white were suicidal enough to sit next to me, I imagine that I would beat him soundly about the head and shoulders with one great hand, tossing, quite deftly, one of my Molotov cocktails into a passing bus jammed with middle-class whites with the other hand. Whether my siege were to last month or a year, I am certain that ultimately everyone would let me alone after the total carnage and destruction of property had been evaluated (p. 106).

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Waking, Dreaming, Being: New Light on the Self and Consciousness from Neuroscience, Meditation, and Philosophy

Evan Thompson

At the beginning of this year Evan Thompson whose thinking has been very influential upon me gave this lecture.  Bumping into Evan the other day reminded me of the forthcoming book he mentioned then, which upon its publication, I’ll have reviewed in The Journal of Mind and Behavior where his superb Mind in Life was reviewed by Dorothée Legrand. Anyway, Evan has posted some details of the new book on his website including the introduction and the toc. I also notice that Evan’s co-authored classic The Embodied Mind is being reissued.

The central idea of this book is that the self is a process, not a thing or an entity. The self isn’t something outside experience, hidden either in the brain or in some immaterial realm. The self is an experiential process and it’s subject to constant change. We enact a self in the process of awareness and this self comes and goes depending on how we are aware.

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A Gospel Bluegrass Companion

high bar gang

I highly recommend this just released work by the High Bar Gang: seven highly talented individuals in their own right working in perfect ensemble – all egos left at the door. The three female voices all very strong and the musicianship subtle (special shout-out to the bassist who clearly was the glue). Hearing the HBG live virtually pitch perfect with the actual recording is a very rare phenomenon. The recording really does live up the tagline: a genuinely classic companion to gospel bluegrass. Hopefully, this is the first of several disks mining this rich tradition of songs.

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Know how

knowing how knowing that

Jason Stanley and John Krakauer in the NYT

We argue that skilled human activity generally requires the acquisition and manipulation of knowledge, as well as implicit processes that do not depend on propositional knowledge (for example, increased dexterity). It is hard, and perhaps not possible, to forge a theoretically significant distinction between working with one’s hands and working with one’s mind.

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Exploring the Cultural History of the Extended Mind

extended mind, externalism

Georg Theiner has made available a draft copy of his intro to a special issue (Writing in Mind) “Language, Literacy, and Media Theory: Exploring the Cultural History of the Extended Mind“. I notice that he references Marshall McLuhan whose famous slogan “the medium is the message” informs the start-up company that I’m the co-founder of. Georg is also a very good stigmergy theorist and will be contributing to Ted and my Human Stigmergy: Theoretical Developments and New Applications. Check out Georg’s book below.

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The Enactive Approach

enaction, enactivismWrite a comment

Evan Thompson and Ezequiel Di Paolo have co-authored this entry for Larry Shapiro’s upcoming The Routledge Handbook of Embodied Cognition.

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The one and only Sylvie Guillem

A Confederacy of Dunces – quotes and extracts – 33

A Confederacy of Dunces

At least its climate is mild; too, it is here in the Crescent City that I am assured of having a roof over my head and a Dr. Nut in my stomach, although certain sections of North Africa [Tangiers, etc.] have from time to time excited my interest. The voyage by boat, however, would probably enervate me, and I am certainly not perverse enough to attempt air travel even if I were able to afford it. The Greyhound Bus Line is sufficiently menacing to make me accept my status quo. I wish that those Scenicruisers would be discontinued; it would seem to me that their height violates some interstate highway statute regarding clearance in tunnels and so forth. Perhaps one of you, dear readers, with a legal turn of mind can dredge the appropriate clause from memory. Those things really must be removed. Simply knowing that they are hurtling somewhere on this dark night makes me most apprehensive.) (pp. 103-104).

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