Genres

Cognitive Science

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Gödel, Escher, Bach by Douglas R. Hofstadter

The Lucifer Effect by Philip G. Zimbardo

Austin Cognitive Science Book Club

27 books — 6 voters

Nineteen Ways of Looking at Consciousness by Patrick House

Adapt and Plan for the New Abnormal of the COVID-19 Coronavir... by Gleb Tsipursky

The Blindspots Between Us by Gleb Tsipursky

Never Go With Your Gut by Gleb Tsipursky

Cognitive Science (Abridged)

13 books — 24 voters

How Madness Shaped History by Christopher J. Ferguson

The Nietzschean Self Moral Psychology Agency and the Unconscious by Paul Katsafanas

Philosophy of Devotion by Paul Katsafanas

Rejecting Retributivism by Gregg D. Caruso

Books Discussed on the Dissenter

77 books — 2 voters

The Embodied Mind by Francisco J. Varela

What Computers Still Can't Do by Hubert L. Dreyfus

Phenomenology of Perception by Maurice Merleau-Ponty

Embodied Cognition

104 books — 42 voters

Leading Hybrid and Remote Teams by Gleb Tsipursky

Cognitive Science

33 books — 40 voters

Sensorimotor Life by Ezequiel A. Di Paolo

Enactivist Interventions by Shaun Gallagher

Enactivism

16 books — 5 voters

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Quotes Tagged “Cognitive Science”

“ Sound waves, regardless of their frequency or intensity, can only be detected by the Mole Fly’s acute sense of smell—it is a little known fact that the Mole Fly’s auditory receptors do not, in fact, have a corresponding center in the brain designated for the purposes of processing sensory stimuli and so, these stimuli, instead of being siphoned out as noise, bypass the filters to be translated, oddly enough, by the part of the brain that processes smell. Consequently, the Mole Fly’s brain, in it Sound waves, regardless of their frequency or intensity, can only be detected by the Mole Fly’s acute sense of smell—it is a little known fact that the Mole Fly’s auditory receptors do not, in fact, have a corresponding center in the brain designated for the purposes of processing sensory stimuli and so, these stimuli, instead of being siphoned out as noise, bypass the filters to be translated, oddly enough, by the part of the brain that processes smell. Consequently, the Mole Fly’s brain, in its inevitable confusion, understands sound as an aroma, rendering the boundary line between the auditory and olfactory sense indistinguishable. Sounds, thus, come in a variety of scents with an intensity proportional to its frequency. Sounds of shorter wavelength, for example, are particularly pungent. What results is a species of creature that cannot conceptualize the possibility that sound and smell are separate entities, despite its ability to discriminate between the exactitudes of pitch, timbre, tone, scent, and flavor to an alarming degree of precision. Yet, despite this ability to hyper-analyze, they lack the cognitive skill to laterally link successions of either sound or smell into a meaningful context, resulting in the equivalent of a data overflow. And this may be the most defining element of the Mole Fly’s behavior: a blatant disregard for the context of perception, in favor of analyzing those remote and diminutive properties that distinguish one element from another. While sensory continuity seems logical to their visual perception, as things are subject to change from moment-to-moment, such is not the case with their olfactory sense, as delays in sensing new smells are granted a degree of normality by the brain. Thus, the Mole Fly’s olfactory-auditory complex seems to be deprived of the sensory continuity otherwise afforded in the auditory senses of other species. And so, instead of sensing aromas and sounds continuously over a period of time—for example, instead of sensing them 24-30 times per second, as would be the case with their visual perception—they tend to process changes in sound and smell much more slowly, thereby preventing them from effectively plotting the variations thereof into an array or any kind of meaningful framework that would allow the information provided by their olfactory and auditory stimuli to be lasting in their usefulness. The Mole flies, themselves, being the structurally-obsessed and compulsive creatures that they are, in all their habitual collecting, organizing, and re-organizing of found objects into mammoth installations of optimal functional value, are remarkably easy to control, especially as they are given to a rather false and arbitrary sense of hierarchy, ascribing positions—that are otherwise trivial, yet necessarily mundane if only to obscure their true purpose—with an unfathomable amount of honor, to the logical extreme that the few chosen to serve in their most esteemed ranks are imbued with a kind of obligatory arrogance that begins in the pupal stages and extends indefinitely, as they are further nurtured well into adulthood by a society that infuses its heroes of middle management with an immeasurable sense of importance—a kind of celebrity status recognized by the masses as a living embodiment of their ideals. And yet, despite this culture of celebrity worship and vicarious living, all whims and impulses fall subservient, dropping humbly to the knees—yes, Mole Flies do, in fact, have knees!—before the grace of the merciful Queen, who is, in actuality, just a puppet dictator installed by the Melic papacy, using an old recycled Damsel fly-fishing lure. The dummy is crude, but convincing, as the Mole flies treat it as they would their true-born queen. ...more ”
― Ashim Shanker, Don't Forget to Breathe

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“ In short, it is difficult to see any convincing evidence for anything that will replace religion in human affairs. Religion is a deeply human trait. The content of religion will surely change over the longer term, but, for better or for worse, it is likely to remain with us. ”
― Robin I.M. Dunbar, How Religion Evolved: And Why It Endures

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