gulfnews : Insidious globetrotters

gulfnews : Insidious globetrotters: What is striking about this latest attempt to portray microbial doomsday is that it is 100 per cent scientifically plausible.

The Neuroeconomics Revolution - Robert J. Shiller - Project Syndicate

The Neuroeconomics Revolution - Robert J. Shiller - Project Syndicate: "The brain, the computer, and the economy: all three are devices whose purpose is to solve fundamental information problems in coordinating the activities of individual units – the neurons, the transistors, or individual people. As we improve our understanding of the problems that any one of these devices solves – and how it overcomes obstacles in doing so – we learn something valuable about all three."

'via Blog this'

Emergence - Complexity from Simplicity, Order from Chaos (1 of 2) - YouTube

Emergence - Complexity from Simplicity, Order from Chaos (1 of 2) - YouTube: Emergent complexity can arise from simple interactions between agents following rules. The complexity that arises is suprising and challenges our assumptions about whether order comes from the top or the bottom. Life and consciousness are examples of emergent phenomena.

10 New Ways to Peer Inside The Human Mind: Scientific American

10 New Ways to Peer Inside The Human Mind: Scientific American: With 100 billion neurons and trillions of synapses, your brain spins neural webs of staggering complexity. It propels you to breathe, twitch, and butter toast, and yet we remain largely ignorant of how the brain does even these simple tasks—let alone how it stirs up consciousness.

Carl Jung � Footnotes to Plato

Carl Jung � Footnotes to Plato: Jung (Liber Primus, iii(v)):

“The meaning of events is the supreme meaning, that is not in events, and not in the soul, but is the God standing between events and the soul, the mediator of life, the way, the bridge and the going across. My soul is my supreme meaning, my image of God, neither God himself nor the supreme meaning. God becomes apparent in the supreme meaning of the human community.”

Materialists Beware: The First Gene Defends a Strictly Scientific, Non-Materialist Conception of Biological Origins - Evolution News & Views

Materialists Beware: <i>The First Gene</i> Defends a Strictly Scientific, Non-Materialist Conception of Biological Origins - Evolution News & Views: Likewise, the field of ProtoBioCybernetics "specifically explores the often-neglected derivation through 'natural process' of initial control mechanisms in the very first theoretical protocell." (p. 1) Thus, the subtitle is "The Birth of Programming, Messaging and Formal Control."

The genetics of happiness: Transporter of delight | The Economist

The genetics of happiness: Transporter of delight | The Economist: That result sits comfortably with other studies showing that, on average, Asian countries report lower levels of happiness than their GDP per head would suggest. African countries, however, are all over the place, happinesswise. But that is not surprising, either. Africa is the most genetically diverse continent, because that is where humanity evolved (Asians, Europeans, Aboriginal Australians and Amerindians are all descended from a few adventurers who left Africa about 60,000 years ago). Black Americans, mostly the descendants of slaves carried away from a few places in west Africa, cannot possibly be representative of the whole continent.

Economics prof provides insights on Arab Spring | The Marion Star | marionstar.com

Economics prof provides insights on Arab Spring | The Marion Star | marionstar.com: When selforganization kicks in: "The police were withdrawing from the streets," he said. "People were scared for their life. People very quickly formed neighborhood guards" to protect each other.

Physicians offered free service, bakeries provided bread and other items to support the people in the streets "because everything was closed."

Wall Street protests spread�Pictures - CBS News

Wall Street protests spread�Pictures - CBS News: Protesters speaking out against corporate greed

Scientists 'See' YouTube Videos in the Mind - ABC News

Scientists 'See' YouTube Videos in the Mind - ABC News: "The brain isn't just one big blob of tissue. It actually consists of dozens, even hundreds of modules, each of which does a different thing," said Gallant. "We hope to look at more visual modules, and try to build models for every single part of visual system."

Quantum minds: Why we think like quarks - life - 05 September 2011 - New Scientist

Quantum minds: Why we think like quarks - life - 05 September 2011 - New Scientist: The fuzziness and weird logic of the way particles behave applies surprisingly well to how humans think

Ten Principles To Live By In Fiercely Complex Times | Fast Company

Ten Principles To Live By In Fiercely Complex Times | Fast Company: 8. Meaning isn't something you discover, it's something you create, one step at a time. Meaning is derived from finding a way to express your unique skills and passion in the service of something larger than yourself. Figuring out how best to contribute is a lifelong challenge, reborn every day.

Everyday Clairvoyance: How your brain makes near-future predictions | Newsroom | Washington University in St. Louis

Everyday Clairvoyance: How your brain makes near-future predictions | Newsroom | Washington University in St. Louis: “Successful predictions are associated with the subjective experience of a smooth stream of consciousness. But a few times a minute, our predictions come out wrong and then we perceive a break in the stream of consciousness, accompanied by an uptick in activity of primitive parts of the brain involved with the MDS that regulate attention and adaptation to unpredicted changes.”

BBC News - IBM produces first 'brain chips'

BBC News - IBM produces first 'brain chips': Some future-gazers in the cognitive computing world have speculated that the technology will reach a tipping point where machine consciousness is possible.

Cooperation vs. Competition: Greed is good -- but only a moderate amount

Cooperation vs. Competition: Greed is good -- but only a moderate amount: "Relationships between cooperation, competition, and society have long been pondered by psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists, economists, philosophers, and mathematicians. While (as might be expected) a range of conclusions have been reached, one factor that appears to be essential in achieving and maintaining an equitable distribution of human well-being is social cohesion – that is, a societal infrastructure characterized by high levels of cooperation and a large number of social ties between members of the population. At the same time, however, individual self-interest appears to be inversely related to – and indeed often leads to a breakdown of – social cohesion. As researchers in Switzerland have recently found, however, a moderate level of greed can actually establish a framework in which cooperation and agglomeration (grouping) flourish and societal cohesion prevails."

Karl Popper - Natural Selection and the Emergence of Mind

Karl Popper - Natural Selection and the Emergence of Mind

Capitalism Versus Science | In Defence of Marxism

Capitalism Versus Science | In Defence of Marxism The governments of the world clearly recognize this as a problem; every time they are met with a serious crisis, they throw their free-market ideals out the window and turn to the public sector. It has been argued many times that World War Two was won by nationalization and planning. Capitalism in Britain was essentially put on hold, so that the war effort could be effectively organized. In the United States, such large scale nationalization did not take place, but when it came to research and development, the private sector was not trusted to handle it on their own.

Chaos, Science and Marxism | In Defence of Marxism

Chaos, Science and Marxism | In Defence of Marxism
The tendency to self-organisation in nature is only the basis for consciousness, which can reach perfection only in a liberated, socialist society, conscious of all of society’s needs.

Evolution of human 'super-brain' tied to development of bipedalism, tool-making | Spero News

Evolution of human 'super-brain' tied to development of bipedalism, tool-making | Spero News: "While the concept of a human super-brain is analogous to social insects like bees and ants that collectively behave as a super-organism by gathering, processing and sharing information about their environment, there is one important difference, Hoffecker said. 'Human societies are not super-organisms -- they are composed of people who are for the most part unrelated, and societies filled with competing individuals and families.'"

"The emergence of new technologies is a complex, multi-dimensional process shaped by the strategies of different actors, a variety of institutional structures and developments in a broader context. Due to a high degree of interrelations, e.g. between political, societal and technological developments, socio-technical systems emerge in a non-linear fashion."

From System Complexity to Emergent Properties, 1st Edition | GUIDE BOOK

From System Complexity to Emergent Properties, 1st Edition | GUIDE BOOK: "Emergence and complexity refer to the appearance of higher-level properties and behaviours of a system that obviously comes from the collective dynamics of that system's components. These properties are not directly deducible from the lower-level motion of that system. Emergent properties are properties of the 'whole' that are not possessed by any of the individual parts making up that whole. Such phenomena exist in various domains and can be described, using complexity concepts and thematic knowledges."

Managing complex adaptive systems

Managing complex adaptive systems: "According to Sholom Glouberman and Brenda Zimmerman systems can be understood as being simple, complicated, complex. Simple problems, such as following a recipe or protocol, may encompass some basic issues of technique and terminology, but once these are mastered, following the 'recipe' carries with it a very high assurance of success. Complicated problems, like sending a rocket to the moon, are different. Their complicated nature is often related not only to the scale of a problem (cf. simple systems), but also to issues of coordination or specialised expertise. However, rockets are similar to each other and because of this following one success there can be a relatively high degree of certainty of outcome repetition. In contrast complex systems are based on relationships, and their properties of self-organisation, interconnectedness and evolution."

Shadab Siddiqi: Butterfly effect began with Tunisian fruit vendors � Knoxville News Sentinel

Shadab Siddiqi: Butterfly effect began with Tunisian fruit vendors � Knoxville News Sentinel: "It is said that one flap of a butterfly's wing in Hawaii can set off a hurricane in China. What is known in chaos theory as the butterfly effect deduces that a small change in one place within a complex system can have large effects elsewhere."

Q&A: Biomimcry | Metropolis POV | Metropolis Magazine

Q&A: Biomimcry | Metropolis POV | Metropolis Magazine: "At a time when designers are starting to tackle complex and systemic challenges, Jane is looking beyond human behavior, exploring how the exquisite patterns in nature and sustainable living systems might inform and inspire us to create more elegant and less harmful solutions."

Lifelong Learning @ LPTS: Biblical Warrent (with interpretation) for Collaborative Leadership

Lifelong Learning @ LPTS: Biblical Warrent (with interpretation) for Collaborative Leadership: "That was due to the myth of the “sky god captain” who had absolute power. From that point on, the aviation industry demythologized the sky-god-captains and a new culture of leadership in aviation was born. It is called “crew resource management.” CRM uses all of the loops and feed-back mechanisms of cybernetics to insure that in moments of crisis everyone in the cockpit of an airliner become leaders and every officer has major responsibility for the safety of the aircraft—not just the captain."

Complexity - the simple path to success in development | Owen Barder | Global development | guardian.co.uk

Complexity - the simple path to success in development | Owen Barder | Global development | guardian.co.uk: "Complexity - the simple path to success in development

The development industry lacks mechanisms which are common in successful complex systems, such as specialisation and exchange, and feedback, which drives out poor performance and scales up success"

Tunisia: A Digitally-Driven, Leaderless Revolution

Tunisia: A Digitally-Driven, Leaderless Revolution: "5. Rapid evolution of self-assembling dynamic networks in streets enabled in digital space"

Science advisers must open up about uncertainties - SciDev.Net

Science advisers must open up about uncertainties - SciDev.Net: "There is a need to move from a narrow focus on risk to broader and deeper understanding of incomplete knowledge, he argues. Accepting that knowledge is complex by nature promises to deliver guidance that is more rigorous and robust, leaving policymakers accountable for their decisions."