Mindamp

The Problem of Consciousness* John R. Searle (copyright John R. Searle) Abstract: This paper attempts to begin to answer four questions. 1. What is consciousness? 2. What is the relation of consciousness to the brain? 3. What are some of the features that an empirical theory of consciousness should try to explain? 4. What are some common mistakes to avoid? The most important scientific discovery of the present era will come when someone -- or some group -- discovers the answer to the following question: How exactly do neurobiological processes in the brain cause consciousness? This is the most important question facing us in the biological sciences, yet it is frequently evaded, and frequently misunderstood when not evaded. In order to clear the way for an understanding of this problem. I am going to begin to answer four questions: 1. What is consciousness? 2. What is the relation of consciousness to the brain? 3. What are some of the features that an empirical theory of consciousness should try to explain? 4. What are some common mistakes to avoid?

a MUST-READ article by Peter Shankman. I couldnt' ahve said it better myself!

"About the Internet Histories of the Internet ISOC has gathered links and resources on a range of important Internet topics. Please explore this collection of background material. Internet Scenario The Internet Society has developed four future Internet scenarios that reveal plausible courses of events that could impact the health of the Internet in the future. All about the History of the Internet. Articles from various organisations and personalities. Read more ... Guide to Internet Law The Internet Society provides this guide as a public service for all interested parties. The guide offers links to many useful legal research sites on the Internet, along with brief descriptions. Read more ... Market Research/Statistics Statistics, surveys, and Market research regarding the Internet. Read more ... About the Internet Learn more about the Internet Infrastructure Descriptions of the Internet's infrastructure. How is the Internet organised? What are the bodies involved at different levels? Read more ... Internet Code of Conduct Guidelines on conduct and use of the Internet. Read more "

"My name is Venkatesh Rao (I go by 'Venkat') and I started writing the ribbonfarm blog in 2007. Since March, 2011, it has been my base for full-time writing, independent research, consulting and other random activities. I am also the author of a book on the interplay of timing and decision-making, Tempo and write an email newsletter called Be Slightly Evil. Between 1997 and 2011, I pursued a traditional research/entrepreneurial career (a PhD, a postdoc, a startup, and an industrial R&D lab where among other things, I founded trailmeme.com as Entrenrepeur-in-Residence). Ribbonfarm is a blog about looking at things from unusual perspectives (that's the "refactored perception" bit). The topics range from philosophy, art and sociology to business, innovation and technology. Unlike blogs that serve as content marketing channels for other products and services, Ribbonfarm is the main act here, and I try to organize the rest of my life and work around it.

I am looking for more people like this , looking at things from unusual perspectives (that's the "refactored perception" bit). The topics range from philosophy, art and sociology to business, innovation and technology. If you can indicate them to me, please do...

An iPad or Kindle does not magically improve education, says Cathy Davidson

"We believe technology is transforming K-12 education. The infrastructure, hardware, software, and platforms are either available or being developed that will change the nature of how we teach our children in profound and far-reaching ways. A high-tech wave is beginning to sweep through the educational world largely driven by technology entrepreneurship. But the impact of those entrepreneurs will depend on the quality of their ideas, their ability to execute, and their ability to get funded. Imagine K12 is a for-profit enterprise looking to invest time, experience, energy and resources in entrepreneurs who have a passion for education and the technical know-how to create their vision."

interesting interview with Google engineer about Google+

i'm excited to be going to this conference. anyone from the group going?

Shirky says hat Governments have systematically overestimated access to information and underestimated access to each other.  Acess to conversations among amateurs is more politically inspiring than access to information.  Governments are afraid of synchronised groups, not synchronised individuals.  NOTE Perhaps this is why blogging along will not lead to any disruption to the hegemony.

"The Media Foundation We are a global network of artists, activists, writers, pranksters, students, educators and entrepreneurs who want to advance the new social activist movement of the information age. Our aim is to topple existing power structures and forge a major shift in the way we will live in the 21st century. Adbusters Magazine Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Adbusters is a not-for-profit, reader-supported, 120,000-circulation magazine concerned about the erosion of our physical and cultural environments by commercial forces. Our work has been embraced by organizations like Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace, has been featured in hundreds of alternative and mainstream newspapers, magazines, and television and radio shows around the world. Adbusters offers incisive philosophical articles as well as activist commentary from around the world addressing issues ranging from genetically modified foods to media concentration. In addition, our annual social marketing campaigns like Buy Nothing Day and Digital Detox Week have made us an important activist networking group. Ultimately, though, Adbusters is an ecological magazine, dedicated to examining the relationship between human beings and their physical and mental environment. We want a world in which the economy and ecology resonate in balance. We try to coax people from spectator to participant in this quest. We want folks to get mad about corporate disinformation, injustices in the global economy, and any industry that pollutes our physical or mental commons. Culturejammer's Headquarters"

That's the kind of group I wanted to get to know... Thanks marlelo Santos for leading me to them...

Thinking about how to "flip" TedEd

Reflections on the evolution of human language: Robin Dunbar's Social Bonding Hypothesis

Harvard law professor and author Jonathan Zittrain discusses the unusual and distinctive technologies whose power increases in proportion to the people participating in them, contrasted with other technologies that leverage what the few can impose on the many -- whether a PC virus maker who crashes millions of machines or a law enforcement officer who can use new consumer platforms to spy far easier than before. Filmed at Singularity University, part of the November 2009 Executive Program.

civic technologies - an interesting concept developed by the author of The Future of Intyernet Jonathan Zittrain for Singularity University

Valuable teaching always involves contact with students in a way that makes their learning meaningful. A variety of tools enhance contact between teachers and their students in digital environments. On this page, we compile a growing list of useful tools for extending conversation or activities outside the boundaries of the traditional online or on-ground classroom.

"Robert Thurman is Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies in the Department of Religion at Columbia University, President of Tibet House US, a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and promotion of Tibetan civilization, and President of the American Institute of Buddhist Studies. The New York Times recently hailed him as "the leading American expert on Tibetan Buddhism." The first American to have been ordained a Tibetan Buddhist monk and a personal friend of the Dalai Lama for over 40 years, Professor Thurman is a passionate advocate and spokesperson for the truth regarding the current Tibet-China situation and the human rights violations suffered by the Tibetan people under Chinese rule. His commitment to finding a peaceful, win-win solution for Tibet and China inspired him to write his latest book, Why the Dalai Lama Matters: His Act of Truth as the Solution for China, Tibet and the World, published in June of 2008. Professor Thurman also translates important Tibetan and Sanskrit philosophical writings and lectures and writes on Buddhism, particularly Tibetan Buddhism; on Asian history, particularly the history of the monastic institution in the Asian civilization; and on critical philosophy, with a focus on the dialogue between the material and inner sciences of the world's religious traditions."

I believe this is a great interview... and video set

"EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY INTERACTIVE Audio-Video Materials Related to Educational Psychology"

A wealth of videos. Many are relevant to critical thinking and the scientific method.

Radiolab: An Appreciation I marvel at Radiolab when I hear it. I feel jealous. Its co-creators Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich have digested all the storytelling and production tricks of everyone in public radio before them, invented some slick moves of their own, and ended up creating the rarest thing you can create in any medium: a new aesthetic.

Telling a story - capturing the attention and curiosity of people. Sparking our humanity.

transcript of my blog Tim Wu author of Master Swtch, interviewed http://ow.ly/5G0ry . No doubt a must read book, and if you doubt, view this video. The one thing that bothers me in Tim Wu's speech is his deep belief that the two things that will NOT change are economics and human nature … Food for thought, questions for deep dialogue and inquiry. I belief we can come up with solutions to these two "invariables", who seem more "metaphores" or "myths" than inescapable fatalities. Should these deep beliefs remain however , inconsciously hidden in our minds, they might prevent us to look at things from other, more hopefull underlying beliefs systems. New ways of looking at things bring with them other possibilities for the future of the World. Let's hope we can achieve a stage of mental capacity so that we allow a World to emerge without Wars all-over, without undignified living conditions for the majority of Humans, without unequality all-over even in so called advanced economies, without destruction of nature. Let's aim instead on Freedom and Self-Determination for all, a belief in Homan endowment and possibility, a change in mental capacity, a return to conditions for our Systems Intelligenge to express itself. This might allow us all to raise our consciousness and to cooperate collectively to solving the intractable problems our ongoing mental models have created.

I believe this interview says a lot about what might happen if the proponents of open and free social media and internet loose their battle. It also shows that this battle is broader, is it inescapable that human nature and economic paradigms are invariable? Are we doomed to see unchanged economic pursuits (meaning money and concentration of wealth) combine with unchanged human nature (incessant and exclusive pursuit of more wealth and power). I believe not, this is the whole point of new paradigms for cooperation combined with the effects of Mind Amplification and social media

"Exploring the Mind Speaker Series - Dr. Paul Ekman, UC San Francisco Compassion and Deceit: Paul Ekman is a world-renowned behavioral neuroscientist and the inventor of the Facial Action Coding System (FACS). His work is the basis for the FOX television series "Lie to Me," starring Tim Roth. In this lecture, Ekman talks with Center for Mind and Brain researcher Clifford Saron in a wide-ranging discussion focusing on Ekman's research into compassion and deceit. For more information on Ekman, visit http://www.paulekman.com/ What Exploring the Mind When January 29, 2010 The video of this talk is now available online: YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWyWArOGO0E iTunesU: http://deimos3.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/Browse/ucdavis-public.3393831201.03393831214