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capri0mni1: So, the other day, I was listening to a Radiolab episode about memory and forgetting. One host mentioned that recent neuroscience shows that each time we remember something, we're actually recreating it, rather than retrieving it, like something from a filing cabinet. And we change it slightly, so that memories we draw on frequently will diverge the most from so-called "actual fact" (he didn't use the phrase "so-called" -- that's mine). The other host said something like: "Gee, how depressing!"
I, dear Readers, disagree. Which pair of shoes would mean more to you? Is it the pair that you bought for a snazzy party, because they looked good, but you only wore once because they were uncomfortable, and they now sit pristine and shiny in their shoebox at the back of your closet? Or is it the pair that's scuffed, molded perfectly to your feet, and are now on their thirty-seventh set of laces because you've worn them everywhere?
Yeah. I see no reason why our memories should be any different.
2: Make-a-Flake, the virtual online paper snowflake maker, is still a thing that exists (for friends in the southern hemisphere, where it's winter, and friends in the northern hemisphere who are daydreaming of snow).
3: This video, from PBS Digital Studios, makes a very strong case for colonizing Venus instead of Mars.
4 (This one's about spiders, and has close-up pictures of them): Speaking of our extreme bias in favor of solid surfaces, I heard a report of this on the radio, this morning: Oceangoing Spiders Can use their Legs to Windsurf Across the Water.
Can you say: "Whee!"? ... I knew you could.
5: This one's gonna be the shortest, and therefore probably the most enigmatic, because I'm tired of typing, now.
Most discussions of Time refer to it as a "non-spatial dimension."
That bugs me.
We tend to think of our units of time as analogous to our units of distance: seconds to inches, minutes to feet, years to miles, etc. (excuse the American units). But what if they're actually analogous to degrees latitude and longitude? Wouldn't that help explain how gravity can bend space, and "speed up" and "slow down" time?
I, dear Readers, disagree. Which pair of shoes would mean more to you? Is it the pair that you bought for a snazzy party, because they looked good, but you only wore once because they were uncomfortable, and they now sit pristine and shiny in their shoebox at the back of your closet? Or is it the pair that's scuffed, molded perfectly to your feet, and are now on their thirty-seventh set of laces because you've worn them everywhere?
Yeah. I see no reason why our memories should be any different.
2: Make-a-Flake, the virtual online paper snowflake maker, is still a thing that exists (for friends in the southern hemisphere, where it's winter, and friends in the northern hemisphere who are daydreaming of snow).
3: This video, from PBS Digital Studios, makes a very strong case for colonizing Venus instead of Mars.
4 (This one's about spiders, and has close-up pictures of them): Speaking of our extreme bias in favor of solid surfaces, I heard a report of this on the radio, this morning: Oceangoing Spiders Can use their Legs to Windsurf Across the Water.
Can you say: "Whee!"? ... I knew you could.
5: This one's gonna be the shortest, and therefore probably the most enigmatic, because I'm tired of typing, now.
Most discussions of Time refer to it as a "non-spatial dimension."
That bugs me.
We tend to think of our units of time as analogous to our units of distance: seconds to inches, minutes to feet, years to miles, etc. (excuse the American units). But what if they're actually analogous to degrees latitude and longitude? Wouldn't that help explain how gravity can bend space, and "speed up" and "slow down" time?
