tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24234836131291260512024-03-14T00:19:07.393-07:00Sing your own lullabyMariana's offerMariana Sofferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13351209522681966230noreply@blogger.comBlogger119125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2423483613129126051.post-3510115904501366892014-03-13T21:42:00.000-07:002014-03-13T22:09:51.699-07:00Music Therapy in Mental Health<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjfqqKoAvxVf6ZF7tQ9wehmiXa1DdqJqVC9rXeZtxKJssxuo_lRlFuW3sUc2-L6ucFVqSlrSYWsUr23FLsKtk5nJ8OPawFD1qkm-6IEa8wsWBdYC3TKltrTYpFkkQwEfWrWa-f7wMmqXU/s1600/164645195-300x300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjfqqKoAvxVf6ZF7tQ9wehmiXa1DdqJqVC9rXeZtxKJssxuo_lRlFuW3sUc2-L6ucFVqSlrSYWsUr23FLsKtk5nJ8OPawFD1qkm-6IEa8wsWBdYC3TKltrTYpFkkQwEfWrWa-f7wMmqXU/s1600/164645195-300x300.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">To the selfless and generous people that give us hope in humanity, particularly to<span style="color: purple;"> <span style="color: #990000;">Claire</span></span></span></i></h4>
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<i><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">“Music can lift us
out of depression or move us to tears - it is a remedy, a tonic, orange juice
for the ear. But for many of my neurological patients, music is even more - it
can provide access, even when no medication can, to movement, to speech, to
life. For them, music is not a luxury, but a necessity.”<br />
― <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/843200.Oliver_Sacks" target="_blank">Oliver Sacks</a></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">Suffering from any
kind of mental trauma or illness is an often distressing and daunting
experience. Conditions such as depression, anxiety, Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder and OCD can sometimes be lifelong that they require time and patience
to overcome, as sufferers will face many ups and downs, as the temptation to
relapse into old habits can present themselves at any time. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">Conditions
involving <a href="http://singyourownlullaby.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/mental%20illness" target="_blank">severe mental health issues and
depression</a> can be complex to treat and every patient will have
different needs and goals to meet. A GP or doctor will often be the first
point-of-call once the decision to address a specific type of mental illness
has been made, but the options available to anyone wanting to recover from
anxiety or depression are multifarious. Alongside conventional talking
therapies and drug treatments, there are other ways and means of helping people
overcome debilitating and chronic mental issues which can feel overwhelming.
One of these is Music Therapy. </span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">Music
Therapy</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">It is not all about
trips to see doctors and psychiatrists, hospitals and sharing your deepest thoughts and feelings during
group sessions, while recovering these days. Creative therapies are proving
themselves to be an equally effective form of treatment. The advice given in the
<a href="http://drugabuse.com/">DrugAbuse </a>website is that the choice of treatment is <a href="http://drugabuse.com/library/how-to-help-a-drug-addict/" target="_blank">important to the recovery process</a> of an individual,
whatever the type of mental illness they suffer from is. Choosing the right
program should depend entirely on the person’s needs. Music therapy creates sensorimotor responses
from the body. This means that both the patient’s sensory and motor
capabilities are active at the same time, making it possible to tailor the
treatment for each human being based on the depression and anxiety stages the patient is going trough.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">Techniques such as this can also be useful
for treating people who suffer from addictions, just as they can be used to
treat people with other mental conditions. The most extreme end of the spectrum
will see a client who will be anxious, easily upset and maybe prone to violent
outbursts. Playing a series of compositions at a slow tempo with mellow
characteristics, such as soft vibrations, will alter the state of the patient’s
autonomic nervous system.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">The ANS is a form of control system the body uses to heighten
certain feelings (such as anger) as it affects a person’s heart
rate, and controlling these nervous feelings; by creating a safe and secure
environment the patient relaxes, like when breathing in a paper bag during a panic attack.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">Using music therapy, it is possible to teach
people <a href="http://www.bamt.org/music-therapy.html" target="_blank">to control anxiety</a>. The treatment is broad and
does not just involve listening exercises, but also practical sessions where
the patient will be involved in playing instruments, combining music with
writing and physical exercise.</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">“There is certainly
a universal and unconscious propensity to impose a rhythm even when one hears a
series of identical sounds at constant intervals... We tend to hear the sound
of a digital clock, for example, as "tick-tock, tick-tock" - even
though it is actually "tick tick, tick tick.” </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">― <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/843200.Oliver_Sacks" target="_blank">Oliver
Sacks</a>, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/2304379" target="_blank">Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain</a></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">Consider the above
quote too. There is something to be said for the calming, distracting, repetitive
action of intoning the same note over and over again, continually repeating the
same sounds and phrases, or for instance, if you were playing an instrument
such as the guitar, learning to play a riff, or pick – starting off slowly and
first, then learning to play it faster over time. The continued action of
fingers on string, coupled with the brain’s keen-ness for repetition can be
very calming and distracting. </span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">Background
Research</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">Over the past
decade there has been several attempts to understand why music therapy provides
such effective results. A 2003 report, looks into the effect that
drumming groups can have on an addict’s recovery process. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">The report found that
drumming, as an activity, was a successful form of therapy due to the
repetition involved. Concluding, drumming puts the mind into a state of
relaxation, enhancing synchronization between the brain and body, putting the
patient into a meditative-like state, as they concentrate solely on the task. Focusing attention on sensorimotor treatment,
it's also important to provide an overall balance, taking into
consideration all aspects, mentally and physically, of the patients’ well-being, while providing this kind of treatment. Enhancing the understanding of the cognitive and emotional process, is key for the patient's mental healing. </span></div>
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Mariana Sofferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13351209522681966230noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2423483613129126051.post-32053640208105675492013-01-01T04:41:00.000-08:002013-01-01T04:41:19.162-08:00Missing Imogen poetry<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj88MBpXL4q8ITtsojlFLyQMTNEhfq5klg010ajTTDA6n17AhIC7X6_mLvlq5y5mwKTVJ_-it5YoY8Bm0CCunLIELaMn-w7s0Uh8-1xfpc_afbsk-y5a88nBViUduvMKqA6zWQMSeH3eUc/s1600/thisone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj88MBpXL4q8ITtsojlFLyQMTNEhfq5klg010ajTTDA6n17AhIC7X6_mLvlq5y5mwKTVJ_-it5YoY8Bm0CCunLIELaMn-w7s0Uh8-1xfpc_afbsk-y5a88nBViUduvMKqA6zWQMSeH3eUc/s320/thisone.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Just write</span></b><br />
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Anything anything anything anything anything anything anything anything anything anything<br />
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anything anything anything anything anything anything anything anything anything anything<br />
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anything anything</div>
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It's not that I am boring</div>
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anything anything anything anything anything<br />
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Is not that I don't care<br />
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anything anything anything anything anything<br />
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Is not that I don't want to<br />
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anything anything anything<br />
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Maybe I don't need to<br />
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anything anything anything<br />
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I don't have much spare time</div>
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anything</div>
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I've got all drinking fit in</div>
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anything</div>
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and the washing working eating sleeping washing working eating sleeping washing working eating sleeping</div>
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days keep blurring into one another</div>
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so ultimately</div>
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I end up without</div>
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anything</div>
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to say</div>
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Mariana Sofferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13351209522681966230noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2423483613129126051.post-26002179939731544652012-01-19T03:59:00.000-08:002012-01-19T04:12:37.177-08:00Fitter Happier More deductive<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoa6G_Wspi_Ic59ICBTr_Dn2nZ9V5FSYOdBsGp3FPpUZlU0TyPWRV2at_L_-bW5_j2iAWEOXqsm8H213Y5E58x2HlAoFmwkmf4a-jUcvxGYSmOGy-aQk2d72ZUT0Cv5TQj4SeljMufPbo/s1600/radiohead.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 286px; height: 280px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoa6G_Wspi_Ic59ICBTr_Dn2nZ9V5FSYOdBsGp3FPpUZlU0TyPWRV2at_L_-bW5_j2iAWEOXqsm8H213Y5E58x2HlAoFmwkmf4a-jUcvxGYSmOGy-aQk2d72ZUT0Cv5TQj4SeljMufPbo/s320/radiohead.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5699314757617282418" /></a><div><span ><i>Extracts from insights on Radiohead</i></span> </div><div><br /></div><div>We are often stunned and we are often distracted, and we are bewildered almost all of the time. And the only weapon we have—as individuals and as a scatter of grouplets—is the delicate brain now so perilously balanced in the struggle for public sanity. . . . We feel that we are living in a world in which the citizen has become a mere spectator or a forced actor.</div><div><br /></div><div>Our ever deepening dependence and engagement with the technologies of modern life, therefore, may lead to changes in our selves, to ourselves, that we might in fact reject or regret were we to understand them and see them for what they are. We might all collapse in shock or despair were we to face some truths about ourselves—truths that we never paid attention to, that no one ever talked about, even though they were obvious and in front of our faces all along. What would really hurt, of course, is realizing that that we’d done it to ourselves.</div><div><br /></div><div>If you accepted the constant promiscuous broadcasts as normalcy, there were messages in them to inflate and pet and flatter you. If you realize this chatter was altering your life, killing your privacy or ending the ability to think in silence. It was up to you to change the channel, not answer the phone, stop your ears, shut your eyes, dig a hole for yourself and get in it. Really, it was your responsibility.</div><div><br /></div><div>It doesn’t name a single enemy. It doesn’t propose revolution. It doesn’t call you to overthrow an order that you couldn’t take hold of anyway at any single point, not without scapegoating a portion and missing the whole. This defiance—it might be the one thing we can manage, and better than sinking beneath the waves. It requires the retention of a private voice. </div><div><br /></div><div>Meanings are fluid and just as we think we’ve gotten something into focus, it seems to dissolve before our eyes. It often derives in a kind of anxiety not because meaning our own lives are continually challenged by an indifferent world. It is caused by never quite succeeding in bringing into focus what those meaning might be. Given every body as itself a part of the world, there cannot be firm boundaries to calm us. But if boundaries are uncertain and meanings fluid, there’s also the possibility of establishing new boundaries and constructing new meanings. Opening the possibility for reconstruction. </div>Mariana Sofferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13351209522681966230noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2423483613129126051.post-54221124678304692242011-11-15T06:01:00.000-08:002011-11-15T07:10:01.141-08:00Narcissism II: Does it lead to the lack of new ideas?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidv8G7-R7mwjhd9B4lMEg9pviWT-zh5s3DzXZPUXFm-iMMpvEPoaIfYHtXRbZq8WdmFhnR08GDNj31uI7Ehev6fB7jWiuX3DuYhy5ssLwi9X9lDWgUx3N4VRcWTbhuomA2RQpS3REinPo/s1600/broken+lightbulb.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 286px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidv8G7-R7mwjhd9B4lMEg9pviWT-zh5s3DzXZPUXFm-iMMpvEPoaIfYHtXRbZq8WdmFhnR08GDNj31uI7Ehev6fB7jWiuX3DuYhy5ssLwi9X9lDWgUx3N4VRcWTbhuomA2RQpS3REinPo/s320/broken+lightbulb.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5675230078972264690" /></a><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;margin-bottom: 10pt; line-height: 115%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; font-size: small; "><i>Pretend that every single person you meet has a sign around his or her neck that says, <span class="Apple-style-span" >"Make me feel important."</span></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;margin-bottom: 10pt; line-height: 115%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; font-size: small; "><i><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:10.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px; ">Although narcissistic individuals are generally perceived as arrogant and overly dominant, by showing their self-confidence, authority and other characteristics they tend to be seen as effective leaders. So they tend to emerge as leaders (such as Hitler). It was found that although narcissistic leaders are perceived as effective they actually inhibit information exchange between group members and thereby negatively affects group performance.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:10.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:10.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:10.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-ansi-language:EN-US">Some have the false belief that big ideas have migrated to the marketplace. There is a vast difference between profit-making inventions and intellectually challenging thoughts. Marketplace ideas may change the way we live, but they rarely transform the way we think. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:10.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:10.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:10.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-ansi-language:EN-US">We live in the Age of Information. Courtesy of the Internet, we seem to have immediate access to anything that anyone could ever want to know. We are certainly the most informed generation in history. We prefer knowing to thinking because knowing has more immediate value. It keeps us in the loop, keeps us connected to our friends. Ideas are too airy, too impractical, too much work for too little reward<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:10.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-ansi-language:EN-US">The post-idea world emerged along the social networking world. Even though there are sites and blogs dedicated to ideas the most popular sites on the Web, are basically information exchanges, designed to feed the insatiable information hunger, without the kind of information that tends to generates ideas.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:10.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-ansi-language:EN-US">We have become information narcissists, so uninterested in anything outside ourselves and our friendship circles or in any tidbit we cannot share with those friends that if a Marx or a Nietzsche were suddenly to appear, blasting his ideas, no one would pay the slightest attention, certainly not the general media, which have learned to service our narcissism.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:10.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:10.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 10pt; line-height: 18px; "><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Calibri; "><i style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><a href="http://twitter.com/amishare">Amira</a> made me realize the need to expand previous post.</span></i></span></span></p><p></p></div>Mariana Sofferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13351209522681966230noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2423483613129126051.post-18294443773486752612011-11-10T03:18:00.000-08:002011-11-10T13:59:49.554-08:00Narcissistic Epidemic<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLzH8CpPT8XQX-slmb3AAlx6MV7KBCULJ2VZ3jRLKrsHv83w8kVGtmHqg5eXFGXvXfsHCUOagz0B8T281IeJpayMIQujFwvUgys8qN0iIIF2x_I4F6s3L1UaMeBRkzy_DKGAyzXc1CbKM/s1600/narcissism.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 316px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLzH8CpPT8XQX-slmb3AAlx6MV7KBCULJ2VZ3jRLKrsHv83w8kVGtmHqg5eXFGXvXfsHCUOagz0B8T281IeJpayMIQujFwvUgys8qN0iIIF2x_I4F6s3L1UaMeBRkzy_DKGAyzXc1CbKM/s320/narcissism.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5673327451441035970" /></a><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"><i>Pretend that every single person you meet has a sign around his or her neck that says, </i></span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; ">"Make me feel important."</i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-line-height-alt:8.05pt;background:white"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Cultural values had radically changed provoking an important modification in social and individual behavior. It started when people began to expose their private life in public and to provoke or participate in public scandals that were transmitted through mass media. This behavior allowed many of them to became public figures (famous persons).</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; "> Being the center of attention became an important cultural value. Why they became famous had no importance at all. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-line-height-alt:8.05pt;background:white"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">The change in cultural values, along with the need to interact more with computers and less with humans (reducing empathy), was probably among the factors that triggered this epidemic.</span><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "> </span></b><b><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "><o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-line-height-alt:8.05pt;background:white"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Narcissistic personality disorder</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto; float: none; "> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">(</span></span></span><b style="text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">NPD</span></b><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto; float: none; ">) is a</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "> </span></span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; "><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personality_disorder" title="Personality disorder" style="background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1;background: white;text-decoration:none;text-underline:none">personality disorder</span></a></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">in which the individual is described as being excessively preoccupied with issues of personal adequacy, power, prestige and</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "> </span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; "><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanity" title="Vanity" style="background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1;background: white">vanity</span></a></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto; float: none; ">. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:4.8pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt; margin-left:0cm;mso-line-height-alt:10.95pt;background:white"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">The <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diagnostic_and_Statistical_Manual_of_Mental_Disorders" title="Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders"><span style="color:black;mso-themecolor:text1;text-decoration:none;text-underline: none">Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders</span></a></i> DSM IV, a widely used manual for diagnosing <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_disorder" title="Mental disorder"><span style="color:black;mso-themecolor:text1;text-decoration:none;text-underline: none">mental disorders</span></a>, defines narcissistic personality disorder as: <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:1.2pt; margin-left:36.0pt;line-height:18.0pt;background:white"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">A pervasive pattern of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandiosity" title="Grandiosity"><span style="color:black;mso-themecolor:text1;text-decoration:none;text-underline: none">grandiosity</span></a> (in fantasy or behavior), need for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_supply" title="Narcissistic supply"><span style="color:black;mso-themecolor:text1; text-decoration:none;text-underline:none">admiration</span></a>, and lack of empathy, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;margin-bottom:1.2pt; margin-left:74.4pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;line-height:18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops:list 36.0pt;background:white"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">1.<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">Has a grandiose sense of self-importance <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;margin-bottom:1.2pt; margin-left:74.4pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;line-height:18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops:list 36.0pt;background:white"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">2</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">.<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">Is preoccupied with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantasy_(psychology)" title="Fantasy (psychology)"><span style="color:black;mso-themecolor:text1; text-decoration:none;text-underline:none">fantasies</span></a> of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;margin-bottom:1.2pt; margin-left:74.4pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;line-height:18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops:list 36.0pt;background:white"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">3.<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">Believes that he or she is "special" and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;margin-bottom:1.2pt; margin-left:74.4pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;line-height:18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops:list 36.0pt;background:white"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">4.<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">Requires excessive admiration<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;margin-bottom:1.2pt; margin-left:74.4pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;line-height:18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops:list 36.0pt;background:white"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">5.<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">Has a sense of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entitlement" title="Entitlement"><span style="color:black;mso-themecolor:text1;text-decoration:none;text-underline: none">entitlement</span></a>, i.e., unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;margin-bottom:1.2pt; margin-left:74.4pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;line-height:18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops:list 36.0pt;background:white"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">6.<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">Is interpersonally <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploitative" title="Exploitative"><span style="color:black;mso-themecolor:text1;text-decoration:none;text-underline: none">exploitative</span></a>, i.e., takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;margin-bottom:1.2pt; margin-left:74.4pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;line-height:18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops:list 36.0pt;background:white"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">7.<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">Lacks <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empathy" title="Empathy"><span style="color:black;mso-themecolor:text1;text-decoration:none;text-underline: none">empathy</span></a>: is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;margin-bottom:1.2pt; margin-left:74.4pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;line-height:18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops:list 36.0pt;background:white"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">8.<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">Is often <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Envious" title="Envious"><span style="color:black;mso-themecolor:text1;text-decoration:none;text-underline: none">envious</span></a> of others or believes others are envious of him or her<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;margin-bottom:1.2pt; margin-left:74.4pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;line-height:18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops:list 36.0pt;background:white"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">9.<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">Shows <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrogant" title="Arrogant"><span style="color:black;mso-themecolor:text1;text-decoration:none;text-underline: none">arrogant</span></a>, haughty behaviors or attitudes<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-line-height-alt:8.05pt;background:white"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">It has been decided, not so long ago, that narcissism should not be considered a personality disorders, the DSM-V will not include this condition.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-line-height-alt:8.05pt;background:white"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">Did it became too common to be classified as a mental illness? Probably It is not convenient for US reputation to have such a high percentage of mentally-ill people, therefore they removed this disorder along with 4 others. Nowadays most US citizens are considered as mentally healthy. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-line-height-alt:8.05pt;background:white"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">Narcissism is so pervasive that impacts core social values to the point of provoking irrational behaviors. Our culture is replete with examples of them which are symptoms and contributing factors to narcissism:</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; "><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-line-height-alt:8.05pt;background:white"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; "> - Botox and tanning to fulfill unrealistic notions of physical beauty </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; "><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-line-height-alt:8.05pt;background:white"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">- Greed and materialism with emphasis on extravagant homes <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-line-height-alt:8.05pt;background:white"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">- Social networking (vacuous and/or inappropriate content: 25% of teen girls have appeared nude)</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; "><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-line-height-alt:8.05pt;background:white"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">- Music lyrics (the average teen spends at least thirty minutes a day listening to songs describing degrading sex)</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; "><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-line-height-alt:8.05pt;background:white"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">- "Hooking Up" (a convenient phrase for very casual sexual relationships)</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; "><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-line-height-alt:8.05pt;background:white"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; ">- Loss of perspective between work and pay, value of a dollar, and value of earning for accomplishment</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; "><o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><b>.</b></div><div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><b><br /></b></div><div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><b><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); ">suRELY</span><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); "> </span><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); ">we</span><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); "> </span><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); ">shOuld</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); ">..............................<wbr>....................</span><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); ">.</span><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); ">exIT</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); ">our sELF</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); ">to</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); ">find</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); ">wHO </span><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); ">We</span><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); "> are</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); ">who they aRe</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); ">who yoU are</span><br /></b><b><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); "><br /></span></b></div><div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><b><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); ">exhibITionISm kILLs the cat, thoUGH...</span></b></div><div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><b><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); "><br /></span></b></div><div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><i style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center; "><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">By human being (An amazing one), A.K.A. nooshin azadi</span></i></div> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; "><span style="font-size: 7.5pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; "><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Mariana Sofferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13351209522681966230noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2423483613129126051.post-62174951642948647062011-05-03T23:32:00.000-07:002011-05-04T01:01:35.102-07:00Processing visualization software<div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><span class="Apple-style-span"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9uCDBVUvf6I9EAZpmptBhABhmDic1WFGnpLyeRp8gmRybP2-vzuWhZpYoFwbNrCoHycgL1JlGwfc8YGT21o5th493Ij_dT2-cRfbaEJwuFA5FZCg0iWOofnVnvBjtbxNlCs6Jptgm2cs/s1600/miart.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 182px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9uCDBVUvf6I9EAZpmptBhABhmDic1WFGnpLyeRp8gmRybP2-vzuWhZpYoFwbNrCoHycgL1JlGwfc8YGT21o5th493Ij_dT2-cRfbaEJwuFA5FZCg0iWOofnVnvBjtbxNlCs6Jptgm2cs/s200/miart.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5602765254795956722" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; "><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9uCDBVUvf6I9EAZpmptBhABhmDic1WFGnpLyeRp8gmRybP2-vzuWhZpYoFwbNrCoHycgL1JlGwfc8YGT21o5th493Ij_dT2-cRfbaEJwuFA5FZCg0iWOofnVnvBjtbxNlCs6Jptgm2cs/s1600/miart.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9uCDBVUvf6I9EAZpmptBhABhmDic1WFGnpLyeRp8gmRybP2-vzuWhZpYoFwbNrCoHycgL1JlGwfc8YGT21o5th493Ij_dT2-cRfbaEJwuFA5FZCg0iWOofnVnvBjtbxNlCs6Jptgm2cs/s1600/miart.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9uCDBVUvf6I9EAZpmptBhABhmDic1WFGnpLyeRp8gmRybP2-vzuWhZpYoFwbNrCoHycgL1JlGwfc8YGT21o5th493Ij_dT2-cRfbaEJwuFA5FZCg0iWOofnVnvBjtbxNlCs6Jptgm2cs/s1600/miart.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; "></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; ">Two weekends ago I went to a city in the beach, to visit a friend, and she asked me if I was interested in participate in a workshop about art, technology and the earth. I always liked being around artist so I went. There a couple of artist I met introduced me to the works of </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Maeda">John Maeda</a>, and his disciples at the <a href="http://acg.media.mit.edu/">aesthetics and computational group at the MIT</a>. They created Processing. <span class="Apple-style-span"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9uCDBVUvf6I9EAZpmptBhABhmDic1WFGnpLyeRp8gmRybP2-vzuWhZpYoFwbNrCoHycgL1JlGwfc8YGT21o5th493Ij_dT2-cRfbaEJwuFA5FZCg0iWOofnVnvBjtbxNlCs6Jptgm2cs/s1600/miart.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"></a><a href="http://www.processing.org/">This</a> software is an open source programming language that was created by <a href="http://benfry.com/">Ben Fry</a> and <a href="http://reas.com/">Casey Reas</a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9uCDBVUvf6I9EAZpmptBhABhmDic1WFGnpLyeRp8gmRybP2-vzuWhZpYoFwbNrCoHycgL1JlGwfc8YGT21o5th493Ij_dT2-cRfbaEJwuFA5FZCg0iWOofnVnvBjtbxNlCs6Jptgm2cs/s1600/miart.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}">.</a> It was built for the electronic arts and visual design communities.</span></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9uCDBVUvf6I9EAZpmptBhABhmDic1WFGnpLyeRp8gmRybP2-vzuWhZpYoFwbNrCoHycgL1JlGwfc8YGT21o5th493Ij_dT2-cRfbaEJwuFA5FZCg0iWOofnVnvBjtbxNlCs6Jptgm2cs/s1600/miart.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><span class="Apple-style-span"></span></a></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span">The following are some images that actually are being filled with lines and color as time pases, but I could not capture that effect in this blog, so I decided to show the stills. This forms are bases mainly in two simple numerical series: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibonacci_number">Fibonacci</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factorial">Factorial</a>. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span">Hope at list this encourages people to experiment </span><span class="Apple-style-span">with art and technology, considering that I did n</span><span class="Apple-style-span">ever perform any kind of plastic artwork before.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0M6O_lJW69z20vvfxCBz5Tzu6h_bYFky3gN-w7JWALkaIwTx3Pf-rWJ9Xpsh0vSoyFC5TKicSauSkQ6Ucd_ia9W3iYMVpVczxMprh45riVF94abu7apBovOsthe1UhCeDIkixZin5DBo/s400/miart2.PNG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 396px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5602765634687786610" /></span></div></div>Mariana Sofferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13351209522681966230noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2423483613129126051.post-49953364588513002042011-04-07T00:52:00.000-07:002011-04-09T03:01:44.032-07:00Artificial Intelligence and Humanity II<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW7Bwd0h7PC-4Io2Sd6Okc-DnyGQDXZFeGdmfbKH9SQOG6i8yQ4DctB0Xty-JkX7h24ZB_tiEOn_S85dkAg1KAaUrW3WA5Xz4oxy1UCqVwTdChIJBLaS5pVAm-8pphcWd3WZeT83C1xKc/s1600/artificial-intelligence.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW7Bwd0h7PC-4Io2Sd6Okc-DnyGQDXZFeGdmfbKH9SQOG6i8yQ4DctB0Xty-JkX7h24ZB_tiEOn_S85dkAg1KAaUrW3WA5Xz4oxy1UCqVwTdChIJBLaS5pVAm-8pphcWd3WZeT83C1xKc/s200/artificial-intelligence.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592754037500377554" border="0" /></a><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span">Technological advance</span></b></div><div>Nowadays <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatterbot">chatterbots</a> perform much better on the Turing test than they used to. Maybe not because they are getting better at imitating human chats; but because this skill has deteriorated in humans due to its restricted use. The ability to chat trough a computer can be replaced, partly, by intelligent computer programs.</div><div>Current text editors include the following functionalities: predictive algorithms that recommend the following word to be written. Spell check validation showing several alternatives to replace the misspelled word by the option chosen by the user. Automatic syntax validation, alerting the user by underlying the wrong sentence and pointing to the defective segment; it also allows the computer to correct the sentence by itself when desired by the user. Automatically replace words that are constantly repeated by a suggested synonym. These tools tend to make us dependent of the program utilities to be able to chat correctly.</div><div>Humans no longer need to have several skills because they can be performed by computers, many of these tasks can be done faster and with a higher degree of accuracy. These skills include the abilities to execute math calculations, translating a text from one language to another, the organization of large amounts of data, finding the quickest or shortest path to go from one place to another, etc. This allows us to develop other abilities which tend to be less repetitive and more creative.</div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span">Differences between humans and computers</span></b></div><div><div><a href="http://www.visualwriter.com/HumanCond/AI.htm">Dorian Cole</a> compares the "I am" statement pronounced by a human to the traditional first words of a computer program: "Hello World." A computer presents an output to human beings through an interface so that people know that it is working. The computer responds to external programs. One could hang a sign on a window saying, "Hello World," and we would see it as an imitation of the task performed by the computer program. But interpreting a sign that says, "I am," would be a difficult task.</div><div>Computers are able to change their main processing structure. They are also able to modify by themselves their software structure, which is the part that indicates what procedures they should follow. Since their creation they have been meliorating in an exponential way which makes them immensely more powerful than when they appeared. Human brains aren’t able to self-improve neither to modify themselves in such a radical way machines can. We can progress only in small increments. We can improve ourselves by learning, practice, hone our skills and acquire knowledge. Also new discoveries can increase our ability to make further discoveries. Anyway our brains today are much the same as they were ten thousand years ago.</div></div><div><b>Myths</b></div><div><div>The myth of the scientific method as the only approach to reality will become completely obsolete without loss to man's interaction with this world. The path to understanding has to be prepared by a lineal but also mysterious approach of hunches and intuitions in addition to direct perceptions and sensations.</div><div>The right hemisphere was presumed to be more “primitive” than the left because the latest deals with language, math, perform tasks in a logical and sequential order and is more specialized than the other. The right brain was also wrongly labeled as "primitive" because left brain abilities where considered more valuable. The right hemisphere process music, body language, works in a more intuitive way, and approaches things as a hole. Notice that no education system thought children to dance with the same determination they thought them mathematics. Education was mainly focused in training the left hemisphere; by better educating, valuating, rewarding and nurturing those abilities. They used to train students in order to develop skills similar to computers.</div></div><div>According to<a href="http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2011/03/14/brian-christian-on-the-most-human-human/"> Brian Christian</a> many people consider the history of AI a dehumanizing process; however it can also be considered as the opposite. We build these algorithms and computers imitating what we know about us, leveraging all the understanding of ourselves that we have. Subsequently we can see where they make a mistake. That error always has something new to teach us about who we are.</div><div><b>Conclusions</b></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><div>The inhuman gave us an appetite for the human; Computers and education helped us understand our need to change the priorities of the brain areas we focus in. We might have already seen the high-water mark of the left hemisphere bias; and started our return to a more balanced view of the brain and the mind.</div><div>This new level of understanding bring us real benefits including increased drive towards invention and creativity and increased positive emotions and enhancing our mental states.</div></span></div>Mariana Sofferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13351209522681966230noreply@blogger.com40tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2423483613129126051.post-81713305515932229862011-03-26T21:58:00.000-07:002011-03-27T02:25:40.609-07:00Artificial Intelligence and Humanity I<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJJ9sgoaFOHBOXdh9a6DN1NkOa-dadUFJ9uGgRgQm3qCnn_nJpSHoGTCgK_zl-Ar5fEOmeao8ONE85s6-29FC_Y3zCPGKESl9b4S2w7JaedbpJ1zgsWwKjAglQs_jymcvRVacGsFcYcDA/s1600/610_artificial_intelligence_mind_gears.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJJ9sgoaFOHBOXdh9a6DN1NkOa-dadUFJ9uGgRgQm3qCnn_nJpSHoGTCgK_zl-Ar5fEOmeao8ONE85s6-29FC_Y3zCPGKESl9b4S2w7JaedbpJ1zgsWwKjAglQs_jymcvRVacGsFcYcDA/s200/610_artificial_intelligence_mind_gears.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5588682028559272626" /></a><i>This post was based and inspired on the writings of <a href="http://brchristian.com/"> Brian Christian</a></i><br /><p><br /><b>Turing test</b><br /></p><p>The objective of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_test">Turing test</a>, created by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing">Alan Turing</a> in the year 1950, consists in evaluating during small conversations, if computers could imitate humans. The test incited the creation of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatterbot">Chatterbots</a> such as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ELIZA">ELIZA</a>, launched on 1966. Later on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loebner_prize">Loebner prize</a> was created, offering a monetary award for the first chatterbot that could pass the test, this competition still takes place once a year.<br /><br />The classic Turing test consists in one room with judges that make questions for 5 minutes to computers or to humans that are in a second room. After conversations take place judges reveal which chats they think they had with chatterbots and which with humans. The chatterbot that is considered the best is the one that fools the higher percentage of judges. Turing believed that the test would have been passed by the year 2000; far from his prediction a new record that was able to deceive only 30% of the judges was recently achieved.<br /><br /><b>Controversy</b><br /><br />The principal question Turing wanted to solve with this test end up generating lots of controversy because it derivated mainly in three others "Can machines think?", "Are machines intelligent?", "Do machines have a conscience?" Lots of arguments where stated in favor and against them (including the ones that follow), but no unanimous conclusion was reached:<br /></p><ul><li>How we could tell if a machine was intelligent. After all, mankind has tried to define intelligence for ages and had made little progress except to decide that whatever it is, we've got it.</li><li>How do you know if the machine actually understands what it is doing, seeing, or saying? A particularly strange side effect of being a conscious being is that you can never truly know that someone other than you is conscious.</li><li>Not until a machine can write a sonnet or compose a concerto because of thoughts and emotions felt, and not by the chance fall of symbols, could we agree that machine equals brain-that is not only to write it but know that it had written. Neither until they can feel an emotion (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Jefferson">Jefferson</a>).</li><li>Computers can’t originate anything we explicitly tell them to do (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_lovelace">Lovelace</a>).</li></ul>My preferred theory concludes that machines can't think; I argue that thinking cannot be separated from feelings (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Damasio">Damasio</a>) and that it also includes an intuitive component.<br /><blockquote></blockquote><blockquote></blockquote><b>Questions and thoughts</b><br /><ul><li>Do things have an essence, and if so is it possible to describe it? (Like Plato did in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory_of_the_Cave">Allegory of the Cave</a>)?</li><li>What makes something to be something? We guide ourselves mostly by external appearances and actions. But indeed I think the evaluation would be more accurate if we compare that something internal structure and organization.</li><li>Can we extend the meaning of consciousness? By adding an exception to inanimate objects that does not include the act of thinking, emotions, intuition or any other aspect of the brain, in this case being conscious would mean only to have knowledge of their own existence.</li><li>Our brains consider that a certain entity is or is not something often by doing lots of assumptions. Instead we could assign a degree of credibility of what we think the entity is.</li></ul><p></p>Mariana Sofferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13351209522681966230noreply@blogger.com29tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2423483613129126051.post-38942620229832949302010-12-31T01:22:00.000-08:002010-12-31T01:49:08.517-08:00Current Currencies<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOcx5UFxwpQ_qNhvCZJjtKRNEe4kP5052rPjh4rb7I73jpyZ5QBYjK8sX8l1yALBcMA-JleGkBZ7bQPacfv8jrUCF8_xITjyqT3WjKMWP3auiBD6W83iS-d4NbXP1CvEqiEIIhB8btkXM/s1600/conversation2.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 198px; height: 153px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOcx5UFxwpQ_qNhvCZJjtKRNEe4kP5052rPjh4rb7I73jpyZ5QBYjK8sX8l1yALBcMA-JleGkBZ7bQPacfv8jrUCF8_xITjyqT3WjKMWP3auiBD6W83iS-d4NbXP1CvEqiEIIhB8btkXM/s320/conversation2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5556778052803115442" /></a>According to <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/bottomup">Bas Reu</a> discussions about new currencies in this age of sharing are not new. Many have done research about other means of value compared to money as we know it. During the rise of the internet, we exchange value more easily without the need of money. And then there is this other characteristic what really differs from money: abundance. Nowadays there is an abundance of knowledge.<br /><br />We have shifted from an economy based on scarcity to one based on abundance. The control of products or distribution will no longer guarantee a premium and a profit. . . . We are entering a post-scarcity economy in which Google is teaching us to manage abundance, challenging the bedrock rule of economics, first written in 1767: the law of supply and demand.<br /><br />Sharing knowledge has one distinctive characteristic which is it's value. Knowledge (in every form, such as experiences or market knowledge) has value. Value for the sender and it’s recipients. But real value is created when people come back to the sender with unexpected responses which can lead to new insights, new ideas, or combinatorial innovation. See, for example, what happens in questions and answers sites such as <a href="http://www.quora.com/">Quora</a>, or in forum such as the ones that <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/">Linkedin</a> has. People find each other, discuss topics, and collaborate which is good for all participants and spectators.<br /><br />Sharing knowledge is not the same as giving up competitive advantages. In an age where sharing is easy, you’d better use it in your advantage. Of course, first things first, you still need enough money to make a living, but on top of that we exchange more and more without the intervention of real money. So you can ask yourself what our currency really is.Mariana Sofferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13351209522681966230noreply@blogger.com44tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2423483613129126051.post-34173701674967103062010-11-04T23:08:00.000-07:002010-12-31T00:11:11.580-08:00Why do people play social games? Why do they pay for social goods?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcnRLLJbO5IfCtakLKjTCIoBTIK-oFbnE7kh2l87NIrxwXg7CafYKIULbrJmqHaCSo-tyx8kOHKZ02OKWgOg4covgtFt79vU1_QF02DQjm58-lAhm0cZgkyFNUPJAWP-sIhCWuloEMiaY/s1600/facebook-games-500x281.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 105px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcnRLLJbO5IfCtakLKjTCIoBTIK-oFbnE7kh2l87NIrxwXg7CafYKIULbrJmqHaCSo-tyx8kOHKZ02OKWgOg4covgtFt79vU1_QF02DQjm58-lAhm0cZgkyFNUPJAWP-sIhCWuloEMiaY/s200/facebook-games-500x281.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5535952453744603954" /></a>Facebook has 100M people that play every day an average of 30 minutes. This equals to 50,000,000 hours / day, or 1,5B / hours month spent playing games only in this site.</span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><b><span class="Apple-style-span">Why do people play social games?</span></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><ul><li><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span class="Apple-style-span">They </span></span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span class="Apple-style-span">provide fun outside of their game mechanics. They provide fun via their flexibility and emphasis on customization. FarmVille itself (a social game where the main objective is to take care of a farm doing chores like harvesting plants) is very simple to play. The fun in playing is mainly found in doing things like choosing where to put your barn, how to decorate around your farmhouse and creating an apple orchard in one corner.</span></span></span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span class="Apple-style-span">They make people feel part of a community in which they relate to other people by helping each other with their farms chores, sending each other’s gift, posting messages in the network, competing with each other and allowing others to see the farm built with your own effort, patience and good taste.</span></span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span class="Apple-style-span">They require no download or install. They can run on old computers and they are (initially) free.</span></span></li></ul><p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; "><b><span class="Apple-style-span">Why do people pay for virtual goods?</span></b></span></b></span></p><p>A virtual good, it is most commonly thought of as a discrete digital item upon which a player can exert some level of control. Examples include interior design accessories, and machines. They can be functional or purely visual. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><ul><li><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: rgb(17, 17, 17); "><span class="Apple-style-span">Desire to accelerate progress: t</span></span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span class="Apple-style-span">hey provide </span></span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span class="Apple-style-span">shortcuts to insider knowledge or to skip-to-the-front-of-the-<wbr style="margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px;margin-top:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;padding-right: 0px;padding-top:0px">line. As in the real world, we are willing to pay for access or knowledge to get ahead faster. Some of these virtual goods do the same within the environment they are part of a better barn, a boost, or tools to enhance the game play</span></span><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span">.</span></span></span></li><li><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: rgb(17, 17, 17); "><span class="Apple-style-span">Competing: you want to beat others, and desire to be the best, thus you purchase virtual items that can clearly help you achieve that goal</span></span><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span">.</span></span></span></li><li><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: rgb(17, 17, 17); "><span class="Apple-style-span">Entretainment: this seems to appeal more to females. Shopping (especially if there is a social feedback loop) and/or collecting (mainly when there is an overlay of social cooperation or competition) can be a strong form of entertainment.</span></span></span></li><li><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-US"></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(17, 17, 17); "><span class="Apple-style-span">Self-expression: often related to aesthetic rather than functional virtual goods, is tied to the human desire to show off a sense of style/identity/personality.</span></span></li></ul><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span class="Apple-style-span">Maybe the truth is based on what Caesar believed 1900 years ago, he said that people need just two things: food and games, meaning physical and virtual goods.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); ">Physical goods solve the physical problems of existence, while virtual goods solve mental 'problems' such as curiosity, aesthetic value judgment and boredom.</span></span>Mariana Sofferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13351209522681966230noreply@blogger.com67tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2423483613129126051.post-32168361953121746802010-09-13T02:27:00.000-07:002010-09-13T02:45:24.681-07:00Buddhist roots and contemporary science<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8ZUJeiyGM527wTCComaAYkhQ1OLqp9rnIhk3IAAhqJLz9skgQrDX6TiXnJ-NSvcj1_aINXdK_kuN_YB_CCkc3bfYOhbK7hURPbxk8zS-hX-pj_60be7zWQUaknJQrP5epCEDG25S0Ebg/s1600/956.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 193px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8ZUJeiyGM527wTCComaAYkhQ1OLqp9rnIhk3IAAhqJLz9skgQrDX6TiXnJ-NSvcj1_aINXdK_kuN_YB_CCkc3bfYOhbK7hURPbxk8zS-hX-pj_60be7zWQUaknJQrP5epCEDG25S0Ebg/s200/956.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5516330817912816114" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">The meaning of ku, which is a part of the Buddhist concept of Three Truths (Ke, Ku and Chu)</span><br /><br />Ke/temporary existence- Can be thought of as life's manifestations and earthly phenomena.<br /><br />Ku is that which can not be perceived with the senses but exists as pure potential. Non substantiality. Ku is used to describe the state we are in after we die. "Ku is entirely different from non-existence. It is the potential-void combining the three views of existence: Ketai, Kutai and Chutai."<br /><br />Chu/The Middle Way The way which both transcends and unites dualities such as life and death.The realization of the unchanging essence of the universe. This concept is so difficult to grasp, it has been explained by saying what it is not; in the Eightfold Negations: 'neither birth nor death, neither cessation nor permanence, neither identity nor difference, neither coming nor going.'<br /><br />Ideas (ku) become realized as tangible changes or actions (ke). The nature (ku) of these actions will be influenced by Chu. Chu is the permeating life force of the universe; it may be compared to our essence, which in turn is shaped by our dominant life state.<br /><br />The concepept of ku, has been translated as latency, non-substantiality, emptiness and void. The first articulations of this idea comes from Nagarjuna. He believed that the state of "neither existence nor nonexistence" described in this concept expressed the true nature of all things. The paradoxical nature of this idea, however, makes it somewhat foreign to Western dualist logic. Ku, however, is down-to-earth, and in fact consistent with the findings of contemporary science.<br /><br />Modern physics, in attempting to discover the essence of matter, has arrived at a description of the world that is very close to that of Nagarjuna. What scientists have discovered is that there is no actual, easily identifiable "thing" at the basis of matter. Subatomic particles, the building blocks of the physical world that we inhabit, appear to oscillate between states of being and nonbeing. Instead of a fixed "thing" in a particular place, we find only shifting waves of probability. At this level, the world is actually a highly fluid and unpredictable place, essentially without substance. It is this non-substantial nature of reality that the concept of ku describes.Mariana Sofferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13351209522681966230noreply@blogger.com87tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2423483613129126051.post-43165865183971787272010-06-03T03:44:00.000-07:002010-06-03T04:55:40.749-07:00Modern loneliness<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixC3pJK6krJ2FVFsJ7Pnom-X_W8Iv4_fEtZGS0z3bZ2RaNrMHOBU8lf1mgIpBLcnxA-bm84ZKO9G-pJ6MhTg6XXtAPr4HKQkrt5SFyZr_plrwEKt2I_RUniDtTtEqDmbLLiYd6f7xXkZs/s1600/439543975_8f1152076b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 129px; height: 170px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixC3pJK6krJ2FVFsJ7Pnom-X_W8Iv4_fEtZGS0z3bZ2RaNrMHOBU8lf1mgIpBLcnxA-bm84ZKO9G-pJ6MhTg6XXtAPr4HKQkrt5SFyZr_plrwEKt2I_RUniDtTtEqDmbLLiYd6f7xXkZs/s200/439543975_8f1152076b.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5478500788090012802" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" >Little do men perceive what solitude is, and how far it extendeth.</span> <span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" ><br />For a crowd is not company, and faces are but a gallery of pictures,</span> <span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" >and talk but a tinkling cymbal, where there is no love.- Francis bacon</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><br /><br />Studies indicate that loneliness is increasing in spite of incredible communication advancements over the past decade. Isolation is far more than a social misfortune, it is a significant problem of health and happiness that is distinct from but contributes to the likelihood of depression.<br /><br />In surveys to determine the factors that contribute most to human happiness, respondents consistently rate connection to friends and family-love, intimacy and social affiliation first, above wealth and fame.<br /><br />Nowadays we're seeing an incredible retreat into virtual worlds. People spend time staring at their monitors more than ever before. This may imply less human interaction, less touch, less accountability, and less human connection. That can be a sure sign of loneliness. In fact, the use of social media sites, when gone unchecked, can actually exacerbate feelings of loneliness, because they remind the user of how little interaction they truly have with others.<br /><br />Social Networks make a lot easier for people who are shy or socially awkward to communicate with others. This might help to prevents loneliness. But reality is complex. The Web provides large amounts of connection points; people who are truly isolated might end up over-using them. Besides connections might increase in number but not in quality – says John Cacioppo.<br /><br />With email, communication is instant. And "kissing on that first date" is now more common. Within a couple of emails you are told intimate details you would be embarrased to tell anybody else. Those seem to be desperate attempts to satisfy the need for real human contact.<br /><br />A recent research by Stepanikova concludes that more time browsing and communicating online appears to be linked with more loneliness, the two even increase together over time. However, it is important to appreciate that we don't know the direction of causation. Increased loneliness may well encourage people to spend more time online, rather than web time causing loneliness. Or some other factor could be causing both to rise in tandem.Mariana Sofferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13351209522681966230noreply@blogger.com87tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2423483613129126051.post-19267608170536468532010-05-10T23:00:00.000-07:002010-05-10T23:28:11.767-07:00Piglet<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx8X0iNz9sgjVtmpOVyIjj9o9-2QU3G5NsR0N2aknhJkY2mDE8EnvDQgoUlCOh6HyNfS6amj9ZgMV4uujDvGm2Fs9jtyBBrtpKv9h5uQV7GnZa9P2lAKG3Ih1rPO-WMCCjjzuPd-sw68s/s1600/9D4_pooh-piglet.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx8X0iNz9sgjVtmpOVyIjj9o9-2QU3G5NsR0N2aknhJkY2mDE8EnvDQgoUlCOh6HyNfS6amj9ZgMV4uujDvGm2Fs9jtyBBrtpKv9h5uQV7GnZa9P2lAKG3Ih1rPO-WMCCjjzuPd-sw68s/s200/9D4_pooh-piglet.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469893941056387074" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:";font-size:16pt;" lang="EN-US" >Piglet is the material heroes are made of, a great achiever, a gallant fighter, or a courageous rescuer, a piglet can be found if one looks closely enough, so it has always been, and so we are sure it will always be. He might appear to be the most significant of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tao_of_Pooh">The Tao of Pooh</a> characters. Yet he is the only one of them that changes, grows, becomes more than what he was in the first place. He does this not by denying his smallness, but by applying it. He accomplishes what he does without accumulating a great ego; inside he remains a very small animal but a very different kind of small animal than he was before.</span>
<br />
<br />
<br /><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CMariana%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C04%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:hyphenationzone>21</w:HyphenationZone> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:16.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:70.85pt 3.0cm 70.85pt 3.0cm; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--><span style=";font-family:";font-size:16pt;" lang="EN-US" >Animal so shy and small
<br />Dreaming you where bold and tall
<br />
<br />Time is swift it races by
<br />Opportunities are born and die
<br />
<br />You can be a guiding star
<br />If you make the most of who you are
<br />You can find the hidden doors
<br />To place's now one's ever been before
<br />And the pride you’ll find inside
<br />Is not the kind that’ll make you fall
<br />It's the kind that recognizes
<br />The bigness found in being small</span>Mariana Sofferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13351209522681966230noreply@blogger.com63tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2423483613129126051.post-37206494164830450362010-04-20T23:11:00.000-07:002010-04-25T17:00:14.399-07:00Personal Information Disclosure<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0xQD3-ydBj13J7iygQ0YET9lFX-EJqFbKN_y-wRwBCrsXZezqYyctKpEQFe1RJ8NmB1KmKPtTO8cQpU_u9ai1DJIYV9FpYYOrVlUqZtr6gWC4e04kCTzWuzA0qtd8pBgCofLTs1tFi_8/s1600/Publishing_Cards+Mobile.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0xQD3-ydBj13J7iygQ0YET9lFX-EJqFbKN_y-wRwBCrsXZezqYyctKpEQFe1RJ8NmB1KmKPtTO8cQpU_u9ai1DJIYV9FpYYOrVlUqZtr6gWC4e04kCTzWuzA0qtd8pBgCofLTs1tFi_8/s200/Publishing_Cards+Mobile.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5463267721799489346" border="0" /></a>Most people are well aware of the undesirable consequences that making their personal lives public can bring, nevertheless they keep doing it. Why does this happen? Here are some possible reasons for it:<br /><ul><li>To stay close with friends and family members who live far away: Social networking permits folks to stay in contact with relatives who live in different cities. College students, sibling in different states and countries and family members who are only on vacation for a few weeks can all find value in being an affiliate of different social media portals. They can stay in touch more often than they usually would without the simplicity of being connected in an internet network.</li><li> To help construct their own narratives: Narratives are an often ignored aspect of psychology , though they are essential for us and are fundamental for providing us with a framework in which we can reconstruct our memories and think about the future. Narratives of the life stories we tell ourselves help to make sense of our lives.</li><li>Because they feel the need for more human contact: Social networking sites actually appears to reduce loneliness and improve well-being, as was reported as long ago as 2002 in the Journal of Social Issues, People who have difficulties with conventional socializing, such as those with Asperger's syndrome, experience great benefits.</li><li>To connect with people who have similar interests: Facebook created it's "Community Pages" for people to connect more easily with others on the social network who share similar interests. It will serve as an alternative to the official Facebook Pages for businesses, organizations and public figures. The aim is to let people create unofficial pages around topics, themes or ideas that don't fit easily in narrowly tailored Facebook Groups.</li><li>To achieve fame: There's little doubt that the Internet supports new kinds of publicity, enabling average people to develop audiences and speak broadly while also giving those who know how to build an audience new tools in which to do so. This is part of what makes Twitter such a fascinating phenomenon. And Twitter has become a space for celebrities, micro-celebrities, wanna-be-celebrities, and all of their fans.</li><li>To form part of a community where they feel respected and appreciated: In social media we can recognize how highly respected bloggers receive respect from others. In parallel to honor cultures, where public reputation is more important than one’s self esteem, bloggers achieve huge respect within their community.</li><li>To maintain relationships with people they meet offline: Social networking sites are a poor alternative to real-world socializing, but they can help people stay in touch.</li><li>Build on self-confidence: this can be attained through interacting with tweeps who continuously praise your tweets, personality,knowledge and/or looks.</li><li>To transmit personal experiences that they feel can be valuable for others.<br /></li></ul>Mariana Sofferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13351209522681966230noreply@blogger.com60tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2423483613129126051.post-51134889101195206942010-04-12T23:06:00.000-07:002010-04-13T17:14:53.088-07:00Public lives<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw73Ck54IPmGEzMUZOD-_hOPFaaFF_xTu4aMUUjahO3B-sEtjthoaOR34qaHilJSWXocX8Gt_lGMadsOxqZB3KxnaJEoU0PsiySTXce3G0sZMsybwiueiB6p3_FPlUt9l0CMUPfNoYct0/s1600/hdr_privacy.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 96px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw73Ck54IPmGEzMUZOD-_hOPFaaFF_xTu4aMUUjahO3B-sEtjthoaOR34qaHilJSWXocX8Gt_lGMadsOxqZB3KxnaJEoU0PsiySTXce3G0sZMsybwiueiB6p3_FPlUt9l0CMUPfNoYct0/s400/hdr_privacy.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5459510524926788562" border="0" /></a>Human beings have a natural tendency to protect their privacy. It's in our essence to allow only certain people to see who we really are, what we really do, what we really think, and how we really feel. Nowadays Social Networks make us feel more comfortable sharing more information openly and with more people making people's lives less private.<br /><br />Twitter can feed the narcissistic tendencies of human beings. A large amount of people believe others are interested in the everyday minutia of their lives. Judging by Twitter's initial success and unparalleled growth, it appears to have fulfilled a need for self-expression far beyond what other technologies allow. This incessant broadcasting of people's lives, however, comes with its own set of dangers beyond its pernicious effect of inflating our egos.<br /><ul><li>When you make private information public it is easier for others to spot your weaknesses and figure out ways to harm or take advantage of you.</li><li>It is not uncommon to receive inaccurate feedback from others, which can lead to misunderstandings and/or misinformation.</li><li>The information you publish can be taken out of context, making you an easy target for defamation.</li><li>People do not fully understand the extent of the impact information disclosure can provoke. Twitter is less than five years old. This is a brand new medium, and we are just now beginning to recognize its potential consequences.<br /></li></ul>Every one must think hard before they make any data public. Realize that the information, once released, will live forever on the Web. The consideration must always be whether or not it can ever come back to haunt you resulting in any kind of damage (to your reputation, relationships, businesses, job, etc.). It is easy to avoid bad results from happening just by thinking before acting.Mariana Sofferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13351209522681966230noreply@blogger.com69tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2423483613129126051.post-59451776368313069992010-03-17T00:53:00.000-07:002010-03-17T23:46:13.871-07:00Coping with Streams<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVUyMqg72F0Ry6NOI5IesNs0fHt_afeaVIJgciNJ16XNHlG2mE54v2T5fgpltg37k4ik9Je-hZICufpdcjvC4dSM8w1yQH1UBS7UVzrBGAZ9-3HJURUNj-5beKrxVnOS_hHEidd91onb4/s1600-h/1237875336NOgeiA.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 225px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVUyMqg72F0Ry6NOI5IesNs0fHt_afeaVIJgciNJ16XNHlG2mE54v2T5fgpltg37k4ik9Je-hZICufpdcjvC4dSM8w1yQH1UBS7UVzrBGAZ9-3HJURUNj-5beKrxVnOS_hHEidd91onb4/s320/1237875336NOgeiA.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5449861360934052370" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:78%;" >Thanks <a href="http://spacecollective.org/Wildcat">Wildcat</a> for opening my networking world.</span><br /><div class="im"><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></div>In network culture information is less the product of discrete processing units than of the outcome of the networked relations between them, of links between people, between machines, and between machines and people. A node's relationship to other nodes and/or networks is more important than its own uniqueness - states <a href="http://www.eurozine.com/authors/varnelis.html">Varnelis</a> .<br /><br />Social Networks allow nowadays activity streams to be displayed on third party sites. Therefore this streams became public and can be observed and manipulated inside other sites that can also make public their activity <span class="il">stream.</span><div class="im"><br />According to <a href="http://edge.org/3rd_culture/bios/gelernter.html">Gelernter</a> Streams are real time, rapidly changing, flowing, dynamic rivers of information. Nearly all flowing, changing information on the Internet is starting to flow through streams. You are able to gather and blend together all the streams that interest you. Streams of world news or news about your friends, streams that describe prices or new findings in any field— they can be blended into one <span class="il">stream</span>. Then your own personal lifestream can be added. The result is your own particular mainstream: a flow of information of all you care about.<br /></div><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Stream difficulties</span>:<br /><ul><li>In a networked mass culture bland uniformity and immediacy dominate over uniqueness and complexity, given that streams emerge from that mass culture, it is not easy to rescue non mainstream and particular interest from such an amazing amount of information.</li><li>Most of us digest a piece of information as soon as we consume it. We read a blog post or an article, and we must let the information pass through our intellectual digestion system completely until it is processed into knowledge. This process is slow and limits the amount of information we can turn into knowledge during a period of time. So, for most of us is not possible to keep up to date with with our streams. We tend to consume more than we can process.</li><li>Our Attention is limited.</li><li>The information we see in the stream tends to repeat. This wastes our limited time because we need to pre-process the same information more than once.<br /></li></ul><span style="font-style: italic;">Proposed Solutions</span>:<br /><ul><li>Get out of the flow every so often to rest and reassess the situation. Let the flow pass you by and take a break. The <span class="il">stream</span> will continue to flow without you.</li><li>Pick a few streams to monitor at a time. Then portage on over to another <span class="il">stream</span> or two for awhile, taking a break from the others (proposes <a href="http://jeffsayre.com/">Jeff Sayre</a>).</li><li>Get rid of redundant information in an automatic way.</li><li>Develop new tools that help us spot the information from the past we were not able to process in time but we still find relevant.</li><li>Create new visualizations to allow us to identify most relevant information to us at the present time. This could be done with the use of a personalized automatic data analyzer.</li><li>Create and use tools to help people filter the information. Filtering in its essence is a process of attenuation - a way to focus attention more efficiently on signal versus noise. Broadly speaking there are many forms of filtering from automated filtering, to social filtering, to personalization, but they all come down to helping someone focus their finite attention more efficiently on the things they care about most (says <a href="http://novaspivak.com/">Nova Spivak</a>).</li></ul>Mariana Sofferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13351209522681966230noreply@blogger.com63tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2423483613129126051.post-77822665963998997892010-03-08T17:37:00.000-08:002010-12-31T00:02:14.688-08:00Random quotes and tweets<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq8aqKLuLV5lCg_k_BlaxNPXyR1YJy-Q21aDN008XqQlbdQgMraKMkANHD8I_OxqYLbLSJ7G7AyY8Mi7oXpZRYUVmxeEFmzZ70BBTMNu_EuYROlM_vb1IfeFK4hAyBl_s4iU3j18WC7pA/s1600-h/i7eCdFDFBquoq5ydtX37Z8jso1_500.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 270px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq8aqKLuLV5lCg_k_BlaxNPXyR1YJy-Q21aDN008XqQlbdQgMraKMkANHD8I_OxqYLbLSJ7G7AyY8Mi7oXpZRYUVmxeEFmzZ70BBTMNu_EuYROlM_vb1IfeFK4hAyBl_s4iU3j18WC7pA/s320/i7eCdFDFBquoq5ydtX37Z8jso1_500.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5446444369026233154" border="0" /></a>More interesting than building a lie detector would be to make a self-lie detecting device.<br /><br />Widespread fake belief: Each person is it's own puppeteer.<br /><br />Language is the main currency of WWW (expanding at an incredible rate).I am afraid humans end up believing life consists just of it (language).<br /><br />The media is a mirror of our culture which is a byproduct of our minds.<br /><br />People should try to be whatever the situation calls for. The problem is in perceiving what the situation is.<br /><br /><span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content">The key is in finding that balance where each persons production is valued by the use of what is produced.</span></span><br /><br />We need to be headed, towards a day worth remembering and a history worth repeating.<br /><br />Authenticity is invaluable originality is non-existent.Wit is not where you take things from is where you take them to.<br /><br />Life is always a work in progress.Mariana Sofferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13351209522681966230noreply@blogger.com77tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2423483613129126051.post-55841308471019433962010-02-26T02:52:00.000-08:002010-02-26T12:14:44.906-08:00The Path<span style="font-size:60%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Remix of a </span><a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Hoff">Benjamin Hof</a></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7zIp8HNrEyczcOxbXEVpMcUO2Le0s65xO0uWtJciuoDJCgYRchuvI_msP3CetzNw3ERYO3j7ZKPBvWf8Arm_O28OOh7BNXgRAx7sIc_VF7VckKERAhIKPDx-8wZIH2OfxXBTVwZWQByQ/s1600-h/800px-Ma_Yuan_Walking_on_Path_in_Spring.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 342px; height: 219px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7zIp8HNrEyczcOxbXEVpMcUO2Le0s65xO0uWtJciuoDJCgYRchuvI_msP3CetzNw3ERYO3j7ZKPBvWf8Arm_O28OOh7BNXgRAx7sIc_VF7VckKERAhIKPDx-8wZIH2OfxXBTVwZWQByQ/s320/800px-Ma_Yuan_Walking_on_Path_in_Spring.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5442644733351729330" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:60%;"><a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Hoff">f</a><span style="font-style: italic;"> poem</span> </span><br /><br />Let’s leave behind<br />The things that do not matter,<br />And turn our lives<br />To a more important chapter.<br /><br />Let’s take the time,<br />Let’s try to find<br />And maybe then<br />We’ll find again<br />What we have long forgotten.<br /><br />The sun is high<br />The road is wide<br />It starts where we are standing<br />But now one knows<br />How far it goes.Mariana Sofferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13351209522681966230noreply@blogger.com77tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2423483613129126051.post-10342938345235621752010-02-12T23:32:00.000-08:002010-02-13T02:57:20.494-08:00Psychiatry today<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRYrEQcdlU_VNbg3d91Y4SCpAFJzYuVRxJ8ghfcvEAsAhK-YOhiAxZ42p3fGf1m-s7gYBNjgYGBnLMGtgOLFCVE_GyKYMvlLUz2RtKbtHfOmhndjQULyuFt87Y-MEv-nHjJKzBH_Zjn7E/s1600-h/chad_0.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 252px; height: 211px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRYrEQcdlU_VNbg3d91Y4SCpAFJzYuVRxJ8ghfcvEAsAhK-YOhiAxZ42p3fGf1m-s7gYBNjgYGBnLMGtgOLFCVE_GyKYMvlLUz2RtKbtHfOmhndjQULyuFt87Y-MEv-nHjJKzBH_Zjn7E/s200/chad_0.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5437679585734077394" border="0" /></a><span class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10pt; line-height: 115%;" us=""><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychiatry">Psychiatry</a> is a medical specialty officially devoted to the treatment and study of mental disorders.</span><span class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10pt; line-height: 115%;" us=""> The Discipline of Psychiatry's research focuses on the clinical, psychological and sociocultural aspects of psychiatric disorder, and medical education.</span><br /><span class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10pt; line-height: 115%;" us=""><br /><a href="http://www.sntp.net/evolution.htm">The old psychiatric institutions</a> at the turn of the century give us the earliest look at psychiatry's barbaric practices. These instituti</span><span class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10pt; line-height: 115%;" us="">ons were basically prisons where the "insane" were kept. In this places several controversial methods where applied as an attempt to treat the different illnesses. Some of these methods include:<br /><o:p></o:p></span><br /><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Calibri;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trepanning"><span>Trepanation</span></a> is perhaps the oldest form of neurosurgery. It involves the removal of a piece of bone from the skull, and it has been performed since prehistoric times. It was practiced by several cultures such as the Ancient Egyptian one. The procedure is still performed today, for both medical and non-medical reasons. In the past the procedure was used as a treatment for afflictions ranging from simple headaches to severe mental disorders.<o:p></o:p></span><br /><br /><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Calibri;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobotomy"><span>Lobotomy</span></a> is a psychosurgical procedure in which the frontal cortical tissue is destroyed, the theory being that this leads to the uncoupling of </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Calibri;">the brain's emotional centers and the seat of intellect. They were used mainly to treat a wide range of severe disorders, including schizophrenia and clinical depression. In the 1940s and '50s, the lobotomy was performed on at least 40,000 <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region> patients.<o:p></o:p></span><br /><br /><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Calibri;"><span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroconvulsive_therapy">Electroconvulsive therapy</a></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>was used mainly for sev</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Calibri;">ere depression, which has not responded to other treatments. For some people, it has been a life-saver; but others have found it far from helpful, and consider the risk of its potential long-term side effects to be unacceptable. It is also now most commonly used to treat mania and schizophrenia. The most important side effect of ECT is memory loss. In addition, immediately after treatment people experience drowsiness, headache and nausea, and loss of appetite. Other effects include apathy, and loss of energy.<o:p></o:p></span><br /><br /><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Calibri;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_callosotomy"><span>Corpus callosotomy</span></a>, used mainly for the treatment of epilepsy, consists in cutting the corpus callosum (fibers that connect the two halves of the brain). It helps the hemispheres share information, but it also contributes to the spread of seizure impulses from one side of the brain to the other. It drops the attacks in about 50%-75% of cases decreasing the risk of injury and improving life quality. Nevertheless it may cause numbness, depression and difficulty speaking among other things.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Calibri;">Nowadays there are new institutional configurations for doing scientific research. Some celebrate these changes but others are seriously worried about them. Currently the commercial sector invests more than 70% of all American R&D budget. In psychiatry a large part of this money is invested by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharmaceutical_industry">Big Pharma</a> companies. These companies spend $19 billon a year on promoting their products; nevertheless they do not always address the correct sector of the population with their advertising strategies. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Calibri;">One of the main mistakes made by contemporary psychiatric practices may be encouraging patients to alleviate their afflictions just by taking medication; not by having a holistic approach that might also include a change in lifestyle, playing sports and the practice of <a href="http://mindblog.dericbownds.net/search/label/meditation">meditation</a>.</span></p>Mariana Sofferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13351209522681966230noreply@blogger.com108tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2423483613129126051.post-24045164568926718832010-02-02T03:10:00.000-08:002010-02-04T23:08:36.576-08:00Poem<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdJQkl6ORIogeVtjnkV39-V1tYsGXu7f-bsvaVCnQ3Aj9M5T6m80mmWm25P1WDVDEVbMv6___bNqGhR7m8y2hqeytUGVlSATIsHIVKvkurOksesZXEE8QFM7uKDMeoby_65i5YnwA_Ge8/s1600-h/u8jexogoPkpmvwirUADAeG0oo1_500.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 271px; float: right; height: 400px; cursor: pointer;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5433614311825448226" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdJQkl6ORIogeVtjnkV39-V1tYsGXu7f-bsvaVCnQ3Aj9M5T6m80mmWm25P1WDVDEVbMv6___bNqGhR7m8y2hqeytUGVlSATIsHIVKvkurOksesZXEE8QFM7uKDMeoby_65i5YnwA_Ge8/s400/u8jexogoPkpmvwirUADAeG0oo1_500.jpg" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Thanks to <a href="http://valbrussell.wordpress.com/">val</a> for her help, support and encouragement</span></span> </div><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span> </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><br />You might not want<br />or even realize<br />there are some times<br />the melancholic look<br />stemming from your eyes<br />becomes so pure and real<br />that I can glance at the soul<br />behind the headlights.<br /><br />This is when I perceive<br />the pain you try to hide<br />during those deep silences<br />in the cold somber nights,<br />they leave my heart<br />broken in halves.<br /><br />But those are the times<br />when hope arises.<br />When it seems as if we could<br />make wounds become small scars,<br />just by becoming part<br />of each other's lives. </span></div>Mariana Sofferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13351209522681966230noreply@blogger.com100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2423483613129126051.post-60890316310465770442010-01-23T07:14:00.000-08:002010-03-01T20:37:26.461-08:00The world as idea<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFVcNs5eS9uKlAtTFA_h2tXJWQYqwpRGaTpCUQ_0mvenecR6AiUo5gqXJ_rG5j38FJQ4MqUsUzDlUWwXy4xaZI5IjN1IWCdfRopCr90Sd4owSQgIuqXyh_zNtU2Dl0bmu7uQy-KtwOmBk/s1600-h/tumblr_kolfshkMA81qzvd8go1_500+%281%29.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFVcNs5eS9uKlAtTFA_h2tXJWQYqwpRGaTpCUQ_0mvenecR6AiUo5gqXJ_rG5j38FJQ4MqUsUzDlUWwXy4xaZI5IjN1IWCdfRopCr90Sd4owSQgIuqXyh_zNtU2Dl0bmu7uQy-KtwOmBk/s320/tumblr_kolfshkMA81qzvd8go1_500+%281%29.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5429965319693433474" border="0" /></a><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><i>It too easy to build castles of pure intellect with foundations on clouds.</i></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">A simulation can never be the truth. The truth is what hides that there is no truth indeed.</span></i></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Reading a post from </span></span><a href="http://www.novaspivack.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Nova Spivack</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">, the creator or </span></span><a href="http://www.twine.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Twine</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">, made me think for the first time about the possibility that consciousness was as much a fabrication, as space and time. </span></span><a href="http://www.novaspivack.com/uncategorized/will-the-web-become-conscious"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">This article</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> triggered a cascade of thoughts in my self, mind, universe, you, ??? (</span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_mechanics"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Quantum physics theory</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> makes sense here, it seems impossible to avoid the observer's influence over the phenomena).</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">I thought that consciousness as well as space and time could be thought as constructed frameworks, artificially generated contexts, and also as boundaries were existing entities can be identified. Actually one common definition of consciousness is </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">a certain context or grouping of objects</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">History shows us that the concepts about these fabrications varied among cultures. Greeks believed time was circular, not linear. Space's shape was thought to be of many different forms. Consciousness did not exist in some cultures, instead men thought they where automatically obeying the voices of god according to </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Jaynes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Julian Jaynes</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">It looks like space, time and consciousness were conceived by men. We might have thought that by creating them we where building the firsts universals, but indeed what we were doing was setting the foundations for globalization.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">According to </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Baudrillard"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Baudrillard</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> the problem with global is that it brings along violence. Global can be characterized by technical efficiency, total organization, integral circulation and the equivalence of all exchanges; it is related to technology, the market, information and tourism. Contrary to it there is the concept of universalization that has to do with human rights, liberty and culture.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">He leads us to understand that in a globalized word there are no real sacrifices, which leaves us just in the situation of receiving. Not from God or nature, but by a technological mechanism of generalized exchange and common gratification. Everything is given to us here; we have gained the right to all things. The problem is that eventually we start hating our excess of comfort, our definite accomplishment. It makes us desperate and hopeless because is indeed the result of the realization of our desires.</span></span></p>Mariana Sofferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13351209522681966230noreply@blogger.com66tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2423483613129126051.post-64001769738342837702010-01-11T16:59:00.001-08:002010-01-11T19:10:27.861-08:00Out of order<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsVA4qRuI0ySf5AuneZPOj_47uHVwBpYGm4l07rxVUFUhqBWAMnrfIljhs1BhCEkxNQ0paqoiJVSXI5kdyso-AAxo94PTuz-4KbvcTTl8XpN8pY8wdvoJQTyWqPrwJ7amzudqATCCZkzo/s1600-h/dream.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 168px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsVA4qRuI0ySf5AuneZPOj_47uHVwBpYGm4l07rxVUFUhqBWAMnrfIljhs1BhCEkxNQ0paqoiJVSXI5kdyso-AAxo94PTuz-4KbvcTTl8XpN8pY8wdvoJQTyWqPrwJ7amzudqATCCZkzo/s200/dream.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5425685320076451538" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">My dear friends, I am sorry to inform you that I won't be able to spend much time blogging (just for a short while) due to health problems (nothing serious).</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"> Meanwhile I wanted to share with you some places that I enjoy visiting.</span><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><br /></span></span></b></div><div><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"></span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">No one loves me</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><br /></span><a href="http://www.noonelovesme.co.uk/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">this</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"> is a blog where several fantastic artist posted entries, trough here I was able to discover 2 bloggers who I became fan of:<br />1. Imogen posts on </span><a href="http://doggerel.blogspot.com/search?max-results=5000"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">doggerel</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">. Here is a nice example of it: <span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: italic; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">I decided to stop being me</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">and start being you.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">I'm easier,</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">I think,</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">and much more tangible</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">in pretend.</span></span></span><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">2. Andre Jordan posts on </span><a href="http://www.abeautifulrevolution.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">A beautifull revolution</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">. The picture on top of this post is a nice sample of this.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><br /></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">Miranda July</span></b></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">Check out the following things she did:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">1. </span><a href="http://www.noonebelongsheremorethanyou.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">No one belongs here more than you</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"> website</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">2. </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-t-5PLQgcSA&feature=related"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">Are you the favourite person of anybody</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"> short film</span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">3. </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lybi1f2Gq0"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">This</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"> and </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szjOpGtAmLU&feature=related"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">this</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"> sort of dada videos.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">Design and the Elastic mind</span></b></div><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">This was an amazing exhibition at the moma with a really innovative user interface and</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">tons of wonderfull artists including:</span></div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">1. </span><a href="http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2008/elasticmind/#/11"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">AMOEBA</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">: a circular basin built to evaluate effects of waves on ships.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">2. </span><a href="http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2008/elasticmind/#/232/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">Accesories for lonely man</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">: scroll down all trough the eight fascinating and beetersweet photographs.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">3. </span><a href="http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2008/elasticmind/#/229/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">Shadow monster</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">s: monsters materializing from shadows.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">TextArc</span></b></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">An experimental view of reading a text.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">Read Alice's adventures in Wonderland in a hole new way </span><a href="http://www.textarc.org/Alice2.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">here</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">.</span></div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">Origami Simulation Software</span></b></div><div><a href="http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2008/elasticmind/#/229/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">TreeMaker Software</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"> allows you to desgin, preview and even assemble your origamis trough a home computer.</span></div></div>Mariana Sofferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13351209522681966230noreply@blogger.com57tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2423483613129126051.post-60343506851999393882009-12-31T01:01:00.000-08:002009-12-31T01:58:04.235-08:00How we read?<div style="text-align: right;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaHx2DtufDnOa4j8PPSGbFgjU_wxcotveVhFcE2p5kJYMWakKjjEXi0NtQ_tw9imVE7jvyHyHqhlL95JYLeY7y38VjqoGc2N_l6PoTO6dLPViIxKawdVSaTyoGIdWrAXAoiIeaQASTy4E/s1600/words-letters.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 260px; height: 211px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaHx2DtufDnOa4j8PPSGbFgjU_wxcotveVhFcE2p5kJYMWakKjjEXi0NtQ_tw9imVE7jvyHyHqhlL95JYLeY7y38VjqoGc2N_l6PoTO6dLPViIxKawdVSaTyoGIdWrAXAoiIeaQASTy4E/s320/words-letters.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5408317409865802290" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" ><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;font-size:16;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Every moment of awareness is a pile of interpretations all in</span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-family:times new roman;">superposition. A single state of mind is layered with harmonics of</span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-family:times new roman;">meaning - yet somehow remains one experience - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Blackmore">Susan Blackmore</a></span></span></span></div></span></div><br />Reading and understanding language is a skill that most people take for granted. Processing language in the brain is very complex and entails many variables. Most language is processed in the left hemisphere and the right hemisphere processes visual and motor activities - States <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislas_Dehaene">Stanislas Dehaene</a>.<br /><br /><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">"When we look at a text photons are bouncing off those black squiggles and lines -- the letters in the particular sentence -- and colliding with a thin wall of flesh at the back of your eyeball. The photons contain just enough energy to activate sensory neurons, each of which is responsible for a particular plot of visual space on the hole image. The end result is that, as you stare at the letters, they become more than mere marks on a page. You begin to read "</span></i>- Says <a href="http://bnreview.barnesandnoble.com/t5/custom/page/page-id/contributor/user-id/479" class="rw-byline-author-link">Jonah Lehrer</a>.<br /><br /><div>Interesting Facts:<br /><ul><li>Seeing the letters is just the start of the reading process. Although our eyes are focused on the letters, we learn to ignore them. Instead, we perceive whole words, chunks of meaning. Once we become proficient at reading, the precise shape of the letters -- not to mention the arbitrariness of the spelling -- doesn't even matter, which is why we read word, WORD, and WoRd the same way.</li><li>Until now most assumed that when we read both eyes look at the same letter of a word concurrently. But it was found that our eyes look at different letters in the same word and then combine the different images through a process known as fusion. We were able to clearly show that we experience a single, very clear and crisp visual representation due to the merging of the two different images from each eye.</li><li>Language tends to be stored in the brain to be processed in audio format, so besides reading the text we automatically convert it to speach in our own heads. After that the process of making sense takes place.</li><li>Studies have shown that when a word is checked against the storehouse of words in the brain - whether it is a written word or a word-sound - only the main part of the word is checked first, and then the ending is processed separately. For example, 'sing', 'singing' and 'singer' would all be checked against the base word 'sing'.</li><li>Once we recognized the printed words we need to make sense out of them. Understanding how meaning arises from those words is of the most challenging tasks in cognitive sciences.</li><li>More on making sense and meanings can be found <a href="http://singyourownlullaby.blogspot.com/2009/07/meaning-theories.html">here</a> and <a href="http://singyourownlullaby.blogspot.com/2009/08/meaning-ii.html">here</a>.</li><li>There is an onging debate whether the new kind of reading experience provided by internet is benefitial or not. Some interesting articles are worth exploring: <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/google">Is google making us stupid</a> and <a href="http://discovermagazine.com/2009/feb/15-how-google-is-making-us-smarter">How is google making us smarter</a>. It would be interesting to incorporate the last scientific findings about how or brain reads in order to draw new and more accurate conclusions.</li></ul></div>Mariana Sofferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13351209522681966230noreply@blogger.com114tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2423483613129126051.post-48127640675972291322009-12-20T10:58:00.000-08:002009-12-22T02:49:09.258-08:00Greed is out, Empathy is in<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj_TeFFKeImUK36pHqjcKZ1g9UJVXkGhrkcUjis_XdVnvb4V83VMaEtpBl-G7-6bnyJ-HOgakKlA-o3c6SAGyFYvhzo3lkTL_y2mJAOZN0ww-4mhaiSDgvi_GobxpRyl8m-Npbn1W5_m4/s1600-h/0_2692a_ce2a7b1c_XL.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 248px; height: 176px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj_TeFFKeImUK36pHqjcKZ1g9UJVXkGhrkcUjis_XdVnvb4V83VMaEtpBl-G7-6bnyJ-HOgakKlA-o3c6SAGyFYvhzo3lkTL_y2mJAOZN0ww-4mhaiSDgvi_GobxpRyl8m-Npbn1W5_m4/s200/0_2692a_ce2a7b1c_XL.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5417642971701926946" border="0" /></a><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 10"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 10"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Cmonica%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Georgia; panose-1:2 4 5 2 5 4 5 2 3 3; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:647 0 0 0 159 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {color:blue; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {color:purple; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} span.apple-style-span {mso-style-name:apple-style-span;} span.apple-converted-space {mso-style-name:apple-converted-space;} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} </style> <![endif]--><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:85%;" >When people do evil things, such as when they commit
<br />genocides in Bosnia or Rwanda, we call them "animals." If
<br />people do altruistic things, such as when they save another's
<br />life or give generously to the poor, we attribute this to our
<br />noble human morality. We call them "humane."</span>
<br /></div><span class="apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><span style=";font-family:Georgia;color:black;" >
<br />Based on his fieldwork and research on chimpanzees, bonobos, and capuchins Doctor <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frans_de_Waal"><span style="color:black;">Frans de Wall</span></a></span></span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="font-size:100%;"><span style=";font-family:Georgia;color:black;" > </span></span><span class="apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><span style=";font-family:Georgia;color:black;" >said -</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="font-size:100%;"><span style=";font-family:Georgia;color:black;" > </span></span><span class="apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><i><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);font-family:Georgia;" >"many animals are predisposed to take care of one another and come to other beings aid. Their strong similarity to human biology suggests that every person is destined to care for others</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-family:Georgia;" >.</span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >
<br />
<br /></span><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 10"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 10"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Cmonica%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"></o:smarttagtype></span><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Georgia; panose-1:2 4 5 2 5 4 5 2 3 3; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:647 0 0 0 159 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} span.apple-style-span {mso-style-name:apple-style-span;} span.apple-converted-space {mso-style-name:apple-converted-space;} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --></style><span class="apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><i><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);font-family:Georgia;" >"To effectively learn from others, apes need to see an actual fellow ape: Imitation requires identification with a body of flesh and blood. Recently we are beginning to realize how much human and animal cognition runs via the body. The body produces internal sensations and communicates with other bodies that construct social connections and an appreciation of the surrounding reality."</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);font-family:Georgia;" > </span></span><span class="apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><span style=";font-family:Georgia;color:black;" >- </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><st1:place><span class="apple-style-span"><span style=";font-family:Georgia;color:black;" >Waal</span></span></st1:place></span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="font-size:100%;"><span style=";font-family:Georgia;color:black;" > </span></span><span class="apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><span style=";font-family:Georgia;color:black;" >stated.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >
<br />
<br /></span><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 10"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 10"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Cmonica%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Georgia; panose-1:2 4 5 2 5 4 5 2 3 3; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:647 0 0 0 159 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} span.apple-style-span {mso-style-name:apple-style-span;} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} </style> <![endif]--><span class="apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><span style=";font-family:Georgia;color:black;" >Empathy is an automatic response, as old as mammalian maternal care. Mothers and children play games of clapping each other’s hands following a certain rhythm. These games involve imitating the other and synchronization among the two. </span></span><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;color:black;" >
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<br /><span class="apple-style-span">We are far from being isolated , indeed we are strongly interconnected, trough our bodies and emotions at a very high level. This might sound odd in the West, with it's tradition of individuality. Nevertheless Homo sapiens tends to be easily swayed in one emotional direction or another depending on his peers.</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;">
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<br /></span><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 10"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 10"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Cmonica%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"></o:smarttagtype></span><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Georgia; panose-1:2 4 5 2 5 4 5 2 3 3; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:647 0 0 0 159 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} span.apple-converted-space {mso-style-name:apple-converted-space;} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><st1:place><span style=";font-family:Georgia;color:black;" >Waal</span></st1:place></span><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;color:black;" > thinks -<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><i><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);font-family:Georgia;" >"humans can be described as animals that need to work to keep selfish and aggressive urges under control, but also as animals that can engage in cooperative work. They are among the most aggressive primates, but they can also relate to each other properly. Many economists and politicians model human society based on the aggressive instincts mentioned before, even dough survival through cooperation is a frequent scenery. This suggests that there is a long evolutionary history of compromise and peaceful coexistence. It seems empathy is part of the survival package; human society depends on it as much as animal communities"</span></i></span><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;color:black;" >.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;color:black;" >
<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><i><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);font-family:Georgia;" >"The way our bodies—including mood, posture, and so on—are influenced by surrounding bodies is one of the mysteries of human existence. It’s also one of the most underestimated phenomena, especially in disciplines that consider humans as rational decision makers. Rather than individually weighing the pros and cons of our own actions, we occupy nodes within a tight network that connects all of us in both body and mind "</span></i></span><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;color:black;" >. - Concluded </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><st1:place><span style=";font-family:Georgia;color:black;" >Waal</span></st1:place></span><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;color:black;" >.</span><o:p>
<br /></o:p></p> Mariana Sofferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13351209522681966230noreply@blogger.com100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2423483613129126051.post-35089311827622108992009-12-16T01:43:00.000-08:002009-12-24T14:28:50.740-08:00Narrative and Self Construction<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUEEmfUm4lmVeYt5U_yfmDqjB-0Yyhlv7yymHFz-d5pVq4J4aOfC2Y4DPTQul-amwAVF9MyhAUK3q2BLgJ35t0tMznH_GcEZQy6qWxyD33PbjEUT2b94kVI2-nEb2hCqbcHW7_etGXr7I/s1600-h/Self-talk.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 105px; height: 105px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUEEmfUm4lmVeYt5U_yfmDqjB-0Yyhlv7yymHFz-d5pVq4J4aOfC2Y4DPTQul-amwAVF9MyhAUK3q2BLgJ35t0tMznH_GcEZQy6qWxyD33PbjEUT2b94kVI2-nEb2hCqbcHW7_etGXr7I/s200/Self-talk.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415812980700413922" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:georgia;">Self-awareness can be thought as the to the capacity to become the object of one’s own attention where the individual actively identifies, processes, and stores information about the self. It includes the end result of this processing and the recopilation of—self-knowledge. It involves attention paid to one’s own mental states (such as perceptions, sensations, attitudes, intentions and emotions) and public self-characteristics (which include behaviors and general physical appearance).</span>
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<br />According to <a href="http://web.gc.cuny.edu/philosophy/faculty/adler.htm">Jonathan Adler</a> <span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">"one of the most important and least recognized features of the human mind is inner speech which is sometimes refered to as self-talk"</span>. In adults, self-talk is described as "thinking" or “reflection”. Self-talk is a continuous narrative feature of the mind. We often "think" things silently to ourselves - have the conscious experience of having a certain thought. We also silently "say" things to ourselves trough our inner speech.
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<br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">Inner speech facilitates self-awarnes because it creates a psychological distance between the self and the mental events it experiences—which facilitates self-observation— it can act as a problem-solving devise where the self represents the problem and self-information the solution, and can label aspects of one’s inner life that would otherwise be difficult to objectively perceive.</span>
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<br /></span><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-style: italic;font-size:100%;">"Self-talk (thought) begins in children learning language, connecting words to their experiences and actions. Language skills develop slowly in a predetermined sequence that requires daily practice. The meaning of words and sentences develops as sounds are linked to experiences in real time. Children will talk to themselves as they play and learn. Their monologues begin with repeating words and statements they copy and extend to problem-solving and creative narratives that expand the range of linguistic ability."</span><span style=";font-family:webdings;font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">- </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">explained</span></span></span><span style="font-family:webdings;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"> </span><a href="http://www.alphastore.org/Persona/S_Gislason_MD/index.htm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">Stephen Gislason</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">.</span></span>
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<br /></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"> </span><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 10"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 10"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Cmonica%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} </style> <![endif]--><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"> </span><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:webdings;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">Researchers have found that the human brain has a natural affinity for narrative which is baed on inner speach. People tend to remember facts more accurately if they encounter them in a story rather than in a list. According to </span></span></span><a href="http://www.harleneanderson.org/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">Harlene Anderson</span></span></a><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">'s the most influential/relevant component on the self is the narrative; The following propositions are based on her assumptions:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">
<br /></span></p><ul type="disc" style="font-family:georgia;"><li style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">The self is formed, informed and reformed through story telling. </span></span></li><li style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">Therefore the self is a dynamic mosaic, a cloth woven of stories told - reader & writer of own lives.</span></span></li><li style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">An on-going self & other multi-faceted biography which is constructed, reconstructed through interaction & relationship (a being & becoming through language).</span></span></li><li style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">As humans we are interpretive beings. </span></span></li><li style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">We seek to make sense of daily experiences.</span></span></li><li style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"> The stories we have about our lives are created by linking together certain events in a particular sequence across a certain time period and explain or make sense of them (plot). </span></span></li><li style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">Talk is action - “I” telling self and others who we are, where we come from and where we going. </span></span></li></ul>Mariana Sofferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13351209522681966230noreply@blogger.com75