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

Entry: And speaking of brain disorders... - A3877446
Author: michaeldetroit - U1337064

Well, somebody must have been speaking of brain disorders, don't you think???

Terrific!

Really effective.

Whether or not they come from experience, the examples ring true (literally, in the case of puce! ).

One question mark - is the 'footnote' format really the most effective way of working it?

I can see why you might have decided to do it that way; with the 'scientific' text quite cold and arguably missing the poetic beauty of the 'condition' - but with so many notes for such a short text, they become rather imposing, visually'.

I wonder what the different h2g2 skins sound like?

Peacock blue; anything like the squawking you hear for miles around wherever those beautiful creatures reside?

Anyway, I think this is a good idea that has come off well, so thanks for sharing it here!

spiff

This is really effectively presented. It set me thinking in ways that a conventional essay wouldn't.

I'd love to see what would happen if you put this in Peer Review. Don't take that as a suggestion; let's hear what others think first.

There's an opposite condition, you see. There are those who only see in black and white, hear only monotones and have no taste whatsoever.

This is an interesting set of comments on what (to me at least) is a somewhat controversial condition. I have similar reservations about so called hypnosis, even when it is practised by medics!
I first came upon synesthesia in my first year undergrad. course, and couldn't believe what I was reading/hearing; it looked the wrong colour and didn't quite smell right!

Ron

First, thanks for all the positive comments. (They were delicious, I assure you!)

Spiff...
"...so many notes for such a short text, they become rather imposing, visually..."
Yes! My sentiments exactly!
As for the sound of H2G2 skins, I have no data on that, but I'm reasonably confident that "synethesia" tastes a lot like chicken.

Pinni...
That "opposite condition" to which you refer could be "simplesthesia."


Ron...
Ah, controversy! Once again I taste the sweet smell of success!


m

As an experiencer of some of the phenomenininananoohnanoohneddystopthat! that you almost allude to in an humourous manner,
I cannot vouch for the ability of a "neurotypical" to perceive any portion of what you might be describing.

In my own personal inexperience, the truth is much more complex and involves chains of association.
Sense memory and pattern fascination have a lot to do with it also.
I can taste some sounds and feel the texture of some words, just as some people cannot hear a particular song without having sense and temporal memory invoked.

Colors have shape and meaning to me, as well as taste and texture.
Some even evoke a sound.

I occasionally feel sorry for those blind to such things until they begin berate me again for not paying attention.

TR...

(Struggling with a bit of self-conscious uncertainty -- did you mean I "almost" alluded to the phenomenon you experience, or that the allusion was "almost" humourous? )

Of course, I realize this -- and, indeed, a wide variety of other less colorful (delicious, sweet-smelling, pleasing-to-the-ear...) brain disorders are complex issues and not to be treated flippantly. Take my brain, for example. Well, no, perhaps that's not a good idea. In any event, I, too, often feel sorry for those whose perceptional range limits them to apprehending the world in any but the most consensually typical ways. (See footnote #8)

That includes those -- and you probably know some of these -- who take little two-sentence synopses of complex topics at face value (hence the abundance of footnotes; can we all say "sarcasm"?) and come away believing they have somehow magically acquired insight.

Whatever that means.

Glad you stopped by!

m

----------------
I saw an email signature recently (you'll appreciate this) that read:

"They say I have ADD but they don't understand that I'm... Hey, look! A chicken!"

>> There's an opposite condition, you see. There are those who only see in black and white, hear only monotones and have no taste whatsoever.

oh yes, that would be most of the human race

on another count, MD, if you are interested in synaesthesia, how about a longer article about it? the neurological and phenomenowhatever issues involved are really fascinating. a phenomenon like this reveals some interesting aspects about how our brains work

~ db

db

>>"...reveals some interesting aspects about how our brains work"

Ah...or *don't* work, as the case may be.

I confess, I began looking for just a tidbit of info about the subject for an entirely different piece but I have since become intrigued. Perhaps a longer article is in order. We'll see how time treats this weary writer over the next week or so.

m

hullo michael - how are you?

-I have just spent some hours of my short and delicate life reading your writings - and my short and delicate life is now richer by far, by so far - still short, still delicate, but richer -

so, Mr. Michaeldetroit - mongrels like me don't often break the leash and end up wandering around in the pedigree zone - but I guess the nature of this h2g2 site allows that - so here I am, standing in the presence of serious Art, staring in a slightly nervous way - wondering how to get back to mongrel-land before I am noticed -

I raise a glass of the finest Armagnac to you, sir, keeper and craftsman of the Word. Thankyou. That's about all I can say.

so I reply to you in this slot, although the above sentiments apply to all your entries - this particular piece being a warm, humourous, yet serious take on a world quite similar to my own culture - being someone whose senses have most definitely taken a strange turn at the crossroads -

It occurred to me recently whilst I was sitting with my notebook in a coffeeship, that maybe each moment contains the ghost, or essence, of everything that has been, everything that is, and everything that has yet to be. In the face of that, the senses would have to go a bit bendy -

- maybe bendy senses are getting more mainstream and accepted now though - recently I bought a set of crayons from WH Smiths - 24 beautiful colours - and each crayon has written on the side "the spectrum sings" -

of course I want to re-write my crayons - each colour with a different inscription - like the yellow would have "warscreams vibrating through yellow celandines" - the indigo would say "indigo is C minor - a flashing neon symphony" but I don't think my crayons would have the same market potential as WH Smiths' -

thankyou, Michael, for the food for thought, but, above all, for providing me with that awesome Armagnac moment -

back to mongrel-land now, for my flea powder and biscuits -

Helen

Oh Helen (Mrs cc)...

Hmmmm... Twenty-four beautiful colors in the set. Twenty-four unique hour in every day.

Coincidence? I think not!


m

Apropos of something close to this, or that,
I have this pet captive peeve about people who speak derogatively about dirt and then go pull a radish from it, wash it and eat it with great (or mediocre) relish.

I have a fellow at work who refers to everyone who speaks Spanish or doesn't speak Englich as "Mexican".
I pointed out to him that our workplace has people from at least eight different countries and many more cultures.
He said,"I don't care. I don't have to think about anyplace but here."

Blind, blind, blind.
Yet he watches Japanese and Chinese movies with his fifteen year old and watches subtitled foreign movies with his wife.

Of course, this is the same idiot that once said to me "History doesn't matter. It's the here and now that's important."
and then fifteen minutes later, in reference to another topic, said," Things are much worse than they used to be."

I attempted to point out that if one has no knowledge of history, than one cannot make any comparison. He said,"Everybody knows it's true, things were simpler and better in the old days."

I gave up.

'History is bunk.' (Henry Ford)

'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.' (Santayana)

Both speakers are, of course, now consigned to the history books, but their words live on. The past is alive, I tell you! Alive!!!!


m