h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I wish my inner monologue sounded like Morgan Freeman.

http://youtu.be/Ch5MEJk5ZCQ

Thanks for the tip on "origin of consciousness....," Hoovooloo. I love to read about how the brain works.

"Snow crash" blew me away when I read it. One of the best Sci-Fi books I've read.

Yes, my internal monologue is good at finding the perfect phrasings, and even when I try to write the ideas down I lose some of the best bits, never mind trying to say the ideas out loud

The bit about 'unconscious automata' reminds me of something I heard about how not all ants have the ability to make decisions - some will just follow other ants. If an ant that has made a decision disappears, then the ants that were following it just follow each other round in a circle.

Perhaps me not having and internal monologue explains why I always think of the perfect witty riposte.... about 3 days after the relevant conversation has ended

I always think of the perfect witty riposte.... about 3 days after the relevant conversation has ended smiley - laugh

Thats all of us, I'll hear a good response in my head later in the week.
[BB]

Better late than never.

better, because it has had time to be perfected.

I just have to be careful that I don't express my inner monologue out loud..

I try to be careful, but sometimes I inflict them on total strangers -- who probably think i'm talking t someone weird on a cellphone.

I love the French term "L'esprit de l'escalier", or Spirit of the staircase, for that universal experience of thinking of the perfect retort as you're walking out of the building. Le

I'm reminded of one of my favourite DNA quotes:
"I'm not a wit. A wit says something funny on the spot. A comedy writer says something VERY funny, two minutes later. Or in my case, two WEEKS later."

I certainly rehearse conversations in my head & go over past ones.
If I'm trying to memorise something eg a drama script, I picture the piece of paper as if I'm reading it. I suspect we all have some sort of inner thoughts of that nature.

Read a really interesting New Scientist article last week about the nature of reality & how our perceptions may vary from reality - and what is real anyway?

I'm real, you are not. Obviously

I can't claim to be an expert on the nature of reality, but I'm pretty sure of the reality of nature.

I saw a discussion similar to this about people who can’t visualise things and then I was wondering about the overlap of people who’s minds are quiet and don’t throw pictures at you and it took me quite a while to stop thinking about it all...

So.....

You don't sound like one of the people with quiet minds.

Cheer up. I'm not one of them either.

In the CGP Grey video: How did they hide each set of instructions from its respective eye?

I believe they only had to place the object on one side or the other. While there is significant overlap of the images from each eye, apparently the brain processes the field of vision separately, split right down the middle.

http://fourier.eng.hmc.edu/e180/lectures/eye/node4.html



N.B. I suffer from nerve damage that controls the movement of the right eye so I have diplopia (double vision). This differs from the situation above where the damage is to the optic nerve or brain.

They could also use something like specs with different filters to each eye or screens to ensure image only going to one eye.

Recent article in New Scientist about someone born with only L hand side of brain - had some R side weakness, but otherwise intellectual development proceeded well. Scans showed that some functions usually associated with R side were being undertaken by L side instead. Bit like some people post stroke recover certain skills.

But that's the thing. It's not a matter of blocking each individual eye. Both eyes are seeing much of the same area, but the brain processes the left and right visual fields separately, regardless of which eye is viewing it.

It's not what you expect.

http://youtu.be/aobWzlXIooQ

Life is very seldom what I expect anyway.

This applies double to the race for Democratic nomination for president in the U.S. perhaps none of the delegates chosen so far will be voting for anyone that they were chosen to support by the final ballot at the convention.

To be honest, I do like Biden, but how can we get a younger standard-bearer? The younger candidates such as Klobuchar and Buttigieg have just dropped out, leaving three 78-year-olds in the race, plus Elizabeth warren? Warren will be elected when they're ice-skating in Hell .

At least Biden is generally likeable. Bloomberg is not well-known, and looks kind of gray and blah. Sanders will be assaulted for whatever socialist past people imagine him to have had.

Is there some dark horse candidate waiting to step in during a brokered convention?

That's about the shape of my internal monologue today.