Comments on No Moods, Ads or Cutesy Fucking Icons (Reloaded).: A Motley Mosaic of Miscellaneous Minutiae

when yr in edmonton, i'll buy you a beverage.

2007-09-03T02:17:00.000-04:00

when yr in edmonton, i'll buy you a beverage.

I hope you are still considering giving the Blinds...

2007-06-22T21:28:00.000-04:00

I hope you are still considering giving the Blindsight talk at Readercon.

I just caved and agreed the other day. Now I've gotta make up some, er, think of something to say.

I hope you are still considering giving the Blinds...

2007-06-21T13:35:00.000-04:00

I hope you are still considering giving the Blindsight talk at Readercon. It's one of the primary reasons I'm going to attend!

I'd love the opportunity to get my copy of the book signed and to say hello - Blindsight was one of those novels that I just couldn't put down.

Peggy said...Wow, that's an excellent lineup for t...

2007-06-20T18:40:00.000-04:00

Peggy said...

Wow, that's an excellent lineup for the Nature roundtable. I'm looking forward to reading/listening to it.

Yeah, if only we could get the telephones to link up. We couldn't get everyone connected on Tuesday-- trying again on Friday.

Wow, that's an excellent lineup for the Nature rou...

2007-06-20T14:01:00.000-04:00

Wow, that's an excellent lineup for the Nature roundtable. I'm looking forward to reading/listening to it.

Luria is quite a famous neurologist or neurophsych...

2007-06-20T10:49:00.000-04:00

Luria is quite a famous neurologist or neurophsychologist, i can't remember exactly which. but yes, he's a legit scientist.

He's cited repeatedly by Sacks in The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (which I would recommend as a companion to Blindsight).

While his status as a scientist is legit, much of his theory has now been discredited. However he remains known for the

This comment is not exactly on point for this post...

2007-06-19T22:24:00.000-04:00

This comment is not exactly on point for this post, but might be of interest as a sideline. If anyone is actually interested in synesthesia, I reccoment "The Mind of a Mnemonist" by A.R. Luria. It is easily readable for the lay person, but Luria is (or was.. he might be dead by now) a legitimate scientist as far as I can tell, who specialized in the subject, so it should be satisfying to just

Edmonton? Awesome. I do believe I have a standing ...

2007-06-19T18:34:00.000-04:00

Edmonton? Awesome. I do believe I have a standing offer of beer for you that's still valid.

Definitely see you at the con, at the very least, and haul along books for signing.

A Minsky story which may be apposite (lifted off D...

2007-06-18T21:18:00.000-04:00

A Minsky story which may be apposite (lifted off Denialism.com):

In the days when Sussman was a novice, Minsky once came to him as he sat hacking at the PDP-6.
"What are you doing?" asked Minsky.
"I am training a randomly wired neural net to play Tic-tac-toe," Sussman replied.
"Why is the net wired randomly?", asked Minsky.
"I do not want it to have any preconceptions

So, yeah, what happened with the Minsky thing is I...

2007-06-18T13:17:00.000-04:00
So, yeah, what happened with the Minsky thing is I brought up "Blindsight" at the panel as a perfect example of the compartmentalization of conciousness that Minsky was talking about. And Minsky said "Oh, I read that, it was stupid." Which left me speechless for a couple of minutes. And not until after I'd read "The Emotion Machine" did I figure out that couldn't have been right.

Follow your link again--the blogger checked with M...

2007-06-18T12:30:00.000-04:00
Follow your link again--the blogger checked with Minsky and found out he had it wrong--Minsky was calling something else stupid.

I keep wondering what I would do in a given situation if I didn't have that self-awareness thing going on. It's like I'm trying to cross my eyes so I can see the back of my head....

You're getting interviewed by NATURE!?!?! that's a...

2007-06-18T11:55:00.000-04:00
You're getting interviewed by NATURE!?!?! that's awesome!

Also, depressing news about the awards...but I'm happy that it went to Vinge if it couldn't go to you. Between his "Tines" and your "Scramblers" you guys are about the only people coming up with aliens that are not repacked greys.

I see there's an update to that Minsky thing. The ...

2007-06-18T11:12:00.000-04:00
I see there's an update to that Minsky thing. The question is, have you done any essays on synaesthesia, Peter?