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April 30, 2007

Thinking and Feeling

Robin says,

The Boston Globe's Ideas section rocks out with a great piece on emotional reasoning -- with quite a bit of history of cognitive science thrown in:

Antonio Damasio, a neuroscientist at USC, has played a pivotal role in challenging the old assumptions and establishing emotions as an important scientific subject. When Damasio first published his results in the early 1990s, most cognitive scientists assumed that emotions interfered with rational thought. A person without any emotions should be a better thinker, since their cortical computer could process information without any distractions.

But Damasio sought out patients who had suffered brain injuries that prevented them from perceiving their own feelings, and put this idea to the test. The lives of these patients quickly fell apart, he found, because they could not make effective decisions. Some made terrible investments and ended up bankrupt; most just spent hours deliberating over irrelevant details, such as where to eat lunch. These results suggest that proper thinking requires feeling. Pure reason is a disease.

Somewhat similarly, I've heard claims that our embodiment -- the fact that we have fingers and toes and torsos and a defined, physical 'self' -- is crucial to our intelligence, and that the whole notion of an ephemeral intelligence (like, some Google A.I.) is untenable because of that. Hmm.

Comments (6) | Permasnark | Posted: 6:40 PM

Talking Points TV

Robin says,

Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo is doing a videoblog. It's pretty lo-fi, but I like it, especially because I totally cannot keep up with TPM for the life of me -- just way too much detail -- and this provides a nice distillation. Worth a peek.

Comments (0) | Permasnark | Posted: 3:38 PM

April 29, 2007

2007 National Magazine Award Finalists

Matt says,

Neglected to post about this: This year, ASME posted all the links for the NMA finalists all on its own. I'd like to take some credit for this.

Comments (2) | Permasnark | Posted: 3:50 PM

The Atlantic Rides Again

Robin says,

The Atlantic Monthly, along with Wired, was basically my introduction to the awesome interestingness of the world. So I am happy to see it making some smart new moves on the web:

20070429_ataltnci.jpg

With the exception of Sullivan, who I never really got into, this is the beginning of my ideal blog lineup. Yglesias, Douthat, and Fallows are all well worth your time.

Comments (3) | Permasnark | Posted: 1:27 PM

Fantomas

Robin says,

20070429_fantomas.jpg

Paul Pope traces the history of the masked super-villain to France:

Decades before Lex Luthor, The Joker, Diabolik, Satanik, Catwoman, Fu Manchu, Doctor Mabuse and all the rest, there was Fantomas, arguably the first costumed super-criminal ever, who terrorized Paris in his monthly magazine appearances.

I've mentioned it before, but Pope's blog is a gem -- full of fun insights and sketches.

Comments (0) | Permasnark | Posted: 1:05 PM

Sunday of Wonders

Robin says,

I. Jan Chipchase is a kind of design ethnographer, traveling the world to see how people actually use things in their everyday lives. He takes wonderful pictures along the way -- always with unusual perspectives. He's in Turkey now:

20070429_turkey.jpg

II. I am not entirely clear on the nature of this competition, but I like the winners, especially John Klein, whose work reminds me of Zaha Hadid's:

20070429_architect.jpg

III. Apparently, we've found the Fortress of Solitude -- note the tiny, tiny person in the lower left:

20070429_crystals.jpg

IV. French kids in free fall -- literally:

20070429_falling.jpg

(Via Photojojo.)

V. Finally: All that is solid melts into, er, a mess. It'll be slow going in the Bay Area for a while:

20070429_interstate.jpg

Comments (3) | Permasnark | Posted: 12:45 PM

April 27, 2007

Look at Me

Robin says,

Ooh, cool research summary over in Cognitive Daily: persuasion, eye contact, differences between men and women, and virtual worlds. Awesome. The specific finding is really interesting; it's worth a peek.

(The brain category on Snarkmarket has been too quiet... trying to rectify.)

Comments (0) | Permasnark | Posted: 10:24 AM

April 26, 2007

BASIC 2.0

Matt says,

Hackety Hack makes Ruby sort of like BASIC. From the fellow who brought you Why's Poignant Guide to Ruby, it's a downloadable program (basically the Ruby language, the Gecko browser, and some helpful libraries) designed to introduce geek wannabes to the world of programming. For a slightly less kid-oriented approach, check out Try Ruby, which is a browser-based version of the same thing by the same guy. (MetaFilterrific.)

Comments (0) | Permasnark | Posted: 11:17 PM

A Print-Only Newsletter... Just Kidding

Robin says,

I gotta say, the NYT is doing so many things right online these days. For instance, this blog entry from The Caucus strikes me as pitch-perfect:

We are about 45 minutes away from the start of the big Democratic debate in South Carolina. The Times