The Mind Perspective

Cognitive Computing Project Aims to Reverse-Engineer the Mind

mind123 — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 08:26:42 +0000

“The plan is to engineer the mind by reverse-engineering the brain,”
says Dharmendra Modha, manager of the cognitive computing project at
IBM Almaden Research Center.

In what could be one of the most ambitious computing projects ever, neuroscientists, computer engineers and psychologists are coming together in a bid to create an entirely new computing architecture that can simulate the brain’s abilities for perception, interaction and cognition. All that, while being small enough to fit into a lunch box and consuming extremely small amounts of power.

By Priya Ganapati (Wired: Gadget Lab)

Are we on the brink of creating a computer with a human brain?

mind123 — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 08:12:08 +0000

There are only a handful of scientific revolutions that would really change the world. An immortality pill would be one. A time machine would be another.

Faster-than-light travel, allowing the stars to be explored in a human lifetime, would be on the shortlist, too.

To my mind, however, the creation of an artificial mind would probably trump all of these – a development that would throw up an array of bewildering and complex moral and philosophical quandaries. Amazingly, it might also be within reach.

By Michael Hanlon (Mail Online)

Stanford Issues Findings from Cognitive and Brain Experts Urging Consumer Caution…

mind123 — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 10:25:25 +0000

Stanford Issues Findings from Cognitive and Brain Experts Urging Consumer Caution on Memory Fitness Products.

“Fear of memory loss, mental impairment and Alzheimer’s disease lead many consumers to search for products — from supplements to software — that claim to ward off such ailments,” Laura L. Carstensen, founding director of the Stanford Center on Longevity, said. “Such products are becoming more prolific, but this burgeoning industry is completely unregulated and the claims can
range from reasonable though untested, to blatantly false. It is important for consumers to proceed with caution before buying into many of these product claims. There is no magic bullet solution for cognitive decline.”

By Stanford Center on Longevity (Reuters)

Without a guide humans walk in circles

mind123 — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 10:09:46 +0000

Scientists have confirmed the popular belief that without anything to guide them humans really do walk in circles.

It suggests we shouldn’t trust our senses when lost.

The research, originally commissioned by a popular science TV program in Germany, is published in the journal Current Biology.

By Nicky Phillips (ABC Science)

Antidepressants, Bipolar Disorder and the Chemical Enslavement

mind123 — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 07:57:41 +0000

With antidepressants, deeply depressed adults were targeted first. When that market was saturated, drug companies began selling the idea that antidepressants were “happy pills,” suitable for use in not merely serious depression states, but even as “depression prevention!” (So-called “early intervention,” where you use antidepressant drugs in perfectly healthy people in order to “prevent” depression from appearing.)

By Mike Adams (Natural News)

Arms expert warns new mind drugs eyed by military

mind123 — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 07:45:07 +0000

A leading expert on chemical and biological arms control called on Wednesday for urgent efforts to stop new mind-altering drugs developed for medical purposes from being adopted by the military for use in warfare.

In an article in the U.S. journal Nature, British academic Malcolm Dando said civilian researchers in many countries seemed largely unaware of the danger and urged quick action to adapt a key arms pact to head it off.

By Robert Evans (Alertnet: Reuters)

Ray Kurzweil about Singularity and Technology

mind123 — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 09:13:44 +0000

Posted in Awareness, future, perception, Science, Technology, The brain, Video Tagged: changes, foresight, futurist, goals, impact of technology, insights, ray kurzweil, Religion, singularity, Technology, the future, Video, vision

The Singularity Summit 2009

mind123 — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 09:02:54 +0000

Suggested by Pocholo Peralta (Plato Online)

The Singularity Summit is the premier dialog on the Singularity.

The first Singularity Summit was held at Stanford in 2006 to further understanding and discussion about the Singularity concept and the future of human technological progress. It was founded as a venue for leading thinkers to explore the subject, whether scientist, enthusiast, or skeptic.

Since 2006, the scope of this dialog has expanded dramatically. In 2008, the Singularity entered mainstream consideration. IEEE Spectrum, a sober and mainstream technology publication, issued a special report on the Singularity, and Intel CTO Justin Rattner remarked that “we’re making steady progress toward the Singularity” during his keynote to 2,000 people at the Intel Developer Forum. What was once a relatively unknown concept is now being discussed in corporate board rooms.

We invite you to join our extraordinary group of visionaries in business, science, technology, design, and the arts, as our community explores this exciting topic. Your participation offers a world of powerful ideas, a unique networking opportunity, and access to an exclusive directory of your peers.

We hope you will join us October 3rd.

Find out more about the Summit here

Posted in Awareness, future, Motivational, perception, Science, Technology Tagged: corporate boardrooms, enthusiast, exploring subjects, future of human, intel, mainstream technology, neuroscientists, scientists, singularity concept, singularity summit, skeptic, sober, spectrum, stanford, thinkers, unknown concept

It’s Too Good to Be True!

mind123 — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 08:38:22 +0000

One of the most prolific clichés in our culture is:

“Well, you know, if it sounds too good to be true, then it is!”

Yes, I know. I know why this precaution is so popular. I know why we let people get away with such a limiting pronouncement-over and over again! I know why we buy into such a dead end deal.

We’re scared. Or is it “scarred?”

It’s both.

By Keith Varnum (Healthy Wealthy Wise)

Spatial neglect not all in the mind

mind123 — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 08:21:59 +0000

An international research team has used lotto to show that the condition ‘spatial neglect’, which affects how we see the world, isn’t connected to how is it is imagined.

The findings to be published in the journal Cortex, suggest that the way we represent the world in our heads can operate independently of how it is actually perceived.