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ask a rock star neuroscientist. (Patreon)

Published:
2018-04-16 00:06:36
Imported:
2023-04

Content

(public post)

hallo loves

thank you for all your updates yesterday...i'm scrolling through them and still kinda dead to the world and a lot of them are making me happy, even the sad ones. maybe even especially the sad ones. since i still have my TED brain on, i'm reeling, listless and joyful at the way we might actually communicate mo' better with one another given the very tight constraints of this platform. i am thinky thinky thinking. 

one idea is this, and i may poke you to do it on certain posts more than others, but would you mind, if you have the time at moment-of-posting....would you mind posting WHERE YOU ARE when you post? and by that, i mean anything up to and including

-where on earth are you (city state country planet whatever)?

-what time it is?

-WHERE you are situated (on a couch? in bed? in bath? in car? on subway?) 

-on what sorta device?

 -and maybe...what else is going on that can paint a picture of our humanity?? like: maybe.....you are on your 4th glass of wine. you are tired. or you just woke up. or you are in your basement since your in-laws have stolen your house. there's a cat in your lap. there's a dead cat in your lap. there's either a dead cat or an alive cat in your lap and you don't know yet. you know...that sort of thing.

......i don't know if this is going to muddy up the comments in the extreme...but i have found that when you share this information with me, it makes this place feels so much more human and emotionally tangible. you know? anyway, worth a shot. try it HERE!!

BECAUSE RIGHT NOW

i have a simple question/task for you...

this wednesday, i am going to be in a conversation with david eagleman at the rubin museum in NYC. a small handful of you have tickets - the space is TINY.

we are recording the talk AND i'm going to interview david the next morning and i'm hoping to thread the whole thing together into a beautiful podcast for y'all. i'm still fiddling with the idea of HOW to do a podcast and this is all ingredients. 

so that being the case, i'd LOVE for you to arm me with some questions and thoughts. if you've already read any of david's books, you're way ahead of the crowd. (they include a handful of bestsellers about OUR BRAINS...AND MORE....)


i'm reading this one right now and it's mind-blowingly good...and ash just added some embellishments to the cover art:

it imagines 40 different scenarios in the afterlife, and starts like this:

"In the afterlife you relive all your experiences, but this time with the events reshuffled into a new order: all the moments that share a quality are grouped together.

You spend two months driving the street in front of your house, seven months having sex. You sleep for thirty years without opening your eyes. For five months straight you flip through magazines while sitting on a toilet."

i mean....this is david; he is amazing.

BUT HAVE NO FEAR: if you have 20 minutes, PLEASE watch his TED talk...i embedded it in this post and it's here:

https://www.ted.com/talks/david_eagleman_can_we_create_new_senses_for_humans 

i was in the audience in 2015 when david gave this talk and got chills. it's impossible to explain, so just watch, but suffice it to say that it will change to way you think about your brain, the way it perceives reality, and what can be done for people with "sensory disabilities".

the talk may disturb you....but this is GOOD! if it does, write down why in the comments and arm me with some good questions for david. he knows many many things about the brain, neuroscience and perception - ASK AWAY!!! as i'm putting my notes for the podcast and the events, i'll scan through the comments - no question or idea is too dumb to toss out. but bear in mind; i'm going to be asking him the kinds of things *i* would ask - it'll be way more about feelings than about the technicalities of receptors. nature of reality = good! really impossible to understand things from PhD neuroscientists = bad! be kind to me!

ok ASK.

i love you. and where are you? tell me that, too.

UND....try to get me your questions in the next 48 hours (before tuesday night).

x

a

 

------THE NEVER-ENDING AS ALWAYS---------

1. if you’re a patron, please click through to comment on this post. at the very least, if you’ve read it, indicate that by using the heart symbol.

2. see All the Things i've made so far on patreon: http://amandapalmer.net/patreon-things

3. join the official AFP-patron facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/afpland

4. new to my music and TOTALLY OVERWHELMED? TAKE A WALK THROUGH AMANDALANDA….we made a basic list of my greatest hits n stuff on this lovely page: http://amandalanda.amandapalmer.net/

5. general AFP/patreon-related questions? ask away, someone will answer: patronhelp@amandapalmer.net

Files

David Eagleman: Can we create new senses for humans?

As humans, we can perceive less than a ten-trillionth of all light waves. "Our experience of reality," says neuroscientist David Eagleman, "is constrained by our biology." He wants to change that. His research into our brain processes has led him to create new interfaces -- such as a sensory vest -- to take in previously unseen information about the world around us.

Comments

Anonymous

What are dreams? Is it just thoughts and unconsciousness and a mix up of events? It's probably too late now, but I fell asleep after reading a book. The subtle knife by Phillip Pullman. It is still sunny even though the time is 20:37 pm sove the midnightsun is closing in, in tromsø no, on my phone.

Anonymous

I'm lying in bed, in Victoria on Vancouver Island. I have chronic illness and today is a major flare up day, so it is noon and I haven't gotten up yet. I might try to in a little while. I have watched a 6 part documentary on the human brain that David Eagleman put out a few years ago. I recommend it to everyone, as it goes over and summarizes many of the themes in his books. It shows just how malleable our brains really are, and how we can create new pathways in our brains to create new abilities. It's crazy amazing!

Kim Cofield

It's Wednesday morning here in my small home town in country Victoria, Australia. I ate my breakfast whilst watching David's talk. Amazing work he is doing. My husband - also called David - had a skin caner cut off his ear & one off his forehead late yesterday afternoon. They are thought to be the 'good ones.' i.e. not melanoma. I'm trying to adjust to the fact that this will become normal to us. We are 40. David is to be checked at least once a year for the rest of his life. I'm also trying to adjust to my reduced hours at work, required due to my anxiety. Reduced hours also means reduced wages. I have no questions for the rockstar neuroscientist - although I am looking forward to hearing your talk with him.

Arwen

8:08pm on a couch in front of the doomed Washington Capitals playoffs game. They never fail to disappoint when it matters. I had two competing thoughts on the direct connection to the internet. There's so much hate and vitriol, that I couldn't imagine these kids who commit suicide because they're bullied on Facebook. How incredibly terrifying is it to imagine that hate beamed directly to your brain 24/7?!?! But on the other hand, if we could experience first-hand obscure concepts like what it feels like as a coral experiencing sea temperature rise. Or following a whale swimming through the Pacific Garbage Patch. It's like VR on the next level. It seems like an incredible opportunity for schools.

Anonymous

Dispatching from my couch in Hillsborough NJ in the owl print PJs my mother-in-law made me, while my wife writes and I watch RAPture on Netflix. On my Google pixel 2. Ok so I have two questions to pose that I've been thinking about lately. 1) Are people able to learn empathy? If the neural pathways aren't made by a certain age is it possible to create them? I feel some of empathic ability is innate and can't be learned, and some people have it and others don't. This is my own personal life experience though. Some individuals are very open to the mental and emotional work and others very closed off. It just blows my mind the amount of people I encounter that are closed off to any kind of empathy. 2) Can physical abuse as a child cause your brain to not be able to appropriately process pain? For example you are unable to appropriately verbalize pain intensity. Eg when a Dr asks what level is your pain, if it's not a 10 you can't quantify other than it feels uncomfortable. Hope I'm not too late! Looking forward to tomorrow night 😁

Anonymous

the guy in the pic is Mark Suckenberg?? :P

Anonymous

I generally check Patreon on my phone, but tonight I went ahead and logged in on my laptop because I'm in the middle of doing homework, and why not. I'm sitting on my couch, and it's 7:11 pm and I just dropped my Sprog off at Boy Scouts. It has been a weird day, because it is springtime in NM which means we've had 70mph wind gusts and dust is everywhere. I have a slight cold, which is not helped, even a little bit, with all the blowing dust. I just watched a roadrunner run past the window carrying whatever it has caught to eat. My cat is pissed that he can't get in my lap (he is alive!). I just started writing my 10 year plan for my college transfer class. It's a super weird thing for me, as I am quickly approaching 40, to only just now be thinking about a 10 year plan. I had a five year plan once, but things changed... bigly. So many of the plans I want to make require huge sacrifices from the people I love and from me. In the end, I want my kid to be awesome, I want to be in a more stable place, and I want to at least be content with where I am. Sure, I'd love to be financially stable and living with the man I'm ridiculously in love with, but I also don't want to be too greedy. I'm always anxious. I'm anxious that I am going to fail at this whole school thing, or the career thing that comes after. That I'll fail as a mom. That I'll always be alone. I'm scared of a lot of things, but I'm also hopeful. I know that I am loved by at least a couple of people. I haven't managed to fuck up my kid yet (he's pretty freaking awesome, actually). I just have to keep moving forward. And breathe.

Brent

I'm probably too late.. coming to you from glorious Middletown Connecticut, sitting in my home a stone's throw from my office at your alma matter. Have you ever seen this video where a bunch of high-caliber musicians are doing a bunch of stuff and then suddenly PRINCE <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SFNW5F8K9Y" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SFNW5F8K9Y</a>

Anonymous

Darling Amanda, I always hit these too late. Work. Always wanting to savor your words rather than skim/rush through them as one does with too many emails in their inbox. So I wait. And sometimes, that means you may never read this....or the moment has come and gone. Where am I? Back in NYC with the love of my life. We just got back from the land of elves (Iceland) for a little celebration. An Iceland pony heist was supposed to be part of this trip, imagine how much richer life would be with an Iceland pony added, but at last. Work. It always gets in the way! Please don't interpret it as a whine about work. I love what I do. Numerous artsy thing and on the edge of arty things. Though the one thing I currently spend a lot of time on is not so arty. It's about helping others to find their voice and to self-represent. I founded a non-profit called Hello Future in 2016. We provide mobile phone-based digital literacy training for adolescent refugees. Hardware, connectivity, and training. And I think the training and the know-how are the most important. What good is hardware (smartphone, tablet, laptops) when no one is there to show you what to do with it? So we focus a lot of our limited resources on men/women-powered mentorship and teaching. We piloted our program in a refugee camp last summer in Northern Iraq (Kurdistan) for 22 Syrian refugee youth. They fled Syria with their family and have been living in refugee camps for 5+ years now. There is a video I love to share with you.....where can I stick a link? You should meet some of our kids. They are incredible. Completely against the Western Media portrayal of refugees. Amal, a 17-year-old girl on our pilot program simply stole my heart. You can see her in the video. She favors the color red. Red t-shirt. Red lipstick. Always raises her hand when the teacher poses questions to the class. She is smart, smart, smart. Even though the cultural norm is for the girls to stay quiet, Amal raises her hand each and every time. She is willing to risk the community's perception and acceptance of her in order to be heard. How could she not steal your heart too? We are prepping to head back to Iraqi Kurdistan this summer for a second session and I'm in the midst of fundraising. I'm still learning the art of asking....it doesn't come easy for me. $35K is what we need to pay the teachers, teacher's assistants, drivers, translators, facilities, smartphones for the students, internet data cost, and travel. We are aiming to double our capacity and serve 50 students this summer. Hope. Amal had said, "what are we without hope?" And I think that might be the most important intangibles for these Syrian youth, stuck in limbo, without a clear path forward. We are working hard to give them the tool, training, and access to create a path forward. If this moves you, and you would like help, tweet or share it with your community, our community, let me know. I can get you our GoFundMe link. Sending you lots of love Amanda. Keep on rocking the freeworld! <a href="https://www.hellofuture.io/pilot-program-2017/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.hellofuture.io/pilot-program-2017/</a>

Anonymous

I am in New England, on my cell phone reading this a day late after finally finishing payroll. I am fatigued, newly engaged and trying to sort things out in my brain. I flipped to page 189-190 in the dog eared paperback of The Art of Asking to feel comfort in your story of Neil asking you to marry him and your replies wanting freedom and independence in spite of everything normally tied to the m word. I’m getting over a sinus infection and a bad reaction to the antibiotics and planning dinner for my fiancé’s 3 kiddos when I leave here in 30 minutes. I really would like a nap. And to have a quiet day off to myself to just exist and make art. Maybe read a good book. I hope wherever you are and whatever time you’re reading this, you know you are loved across miles and light years and dreams.

Yana

Cognitive Dissonance VS Neural Overload VS Neural Plasticity VS Life. Why are the loudest egos allowed to make the decisions? Why do the minorities continue suffering? What is the difference in our neural pathways that allow us to entertain the "can do" VS the "will not" attitudes? Signed from a borderline cripple-waiting for the pain relief to take effect. Monday 23 April 2018 00:05 Perth Western Australia *Hurry up and come home. Your dinners are getting cold 😚*

Anonymous

Only 10 days later but I finally caught up. Sorry Amanda I try to stay in the conversation, but life has me by my fictional balls right now. I'm sitting on my couch in Wisconsin with the doors wide open on my couch writing to you from my phone. Just trying not to think about the crazy shit in my life that I have no control over right now. Praying (I'm not religious) that something finally happens that catapults my life in the direction I need it to go. The universe has me on hold right now, listening to some gawd awful elevator music begging for this to just move forward. No one likes the icky bits of life, but they are necessary to grow right?