EYE ON CONVERGENCE

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[highercomplexity]

[highercomplexity]

The Beckley/Imperial Psychedelic Research Programme - The Beckley Foundation

“Such changes in brain function are likely to contribute to the emergence of a more complex, less predictable and more flexible state of consciousness, which may induce more free-flowing patterns of cognition, allowing users to break free from rigid modes of thought and behaviour – such as those underlying psychological disorders like depression and addiction. These results have significant implications for the neurobiology of consciousness, as well as for potential applications of LSD as a valuable tool for psychotherapy.”

[highercomplexity]

[noosphe-re]

“We are the technology.”

— Ahmed Salman

[noosphe-re]

“Those who recognized chaos in the early days agonized over how to shape their thoughts and findings into publishable form. Work fell between disciplines—for example, too abstract for physicists yet too experimental for mathematicians. To some the difficulty of communicating the new ideas and the ferocious resistance from traditional quarters showed how revolutionary the new science was. Shallow ideas can be assimilated; ideas that require people to reorganize their picture of the world provoke hostility.”

— James Gleick, Chaos: Making a New Science

[noosphe-re]

“Besides structural connectedness, imaginative divergence is also needed for science and art to achieve creative realism. To be considered a creative success, a scientific theory must do more than simply provide some alternative account of a set of findings; it must also provide a meaningful, enlightening interpretation of those findings that inspires the imagination. The theory of relativity, the theory of evolution, and the quantum theory are all imaginatively divergent. The theory of evolution, for example, has had implications far beyond the original patterns explained by Darwin; it has given us an understanding of how bacteriological strains become resistant to antibiotics, it has made psychologists consider the evolution of behavior, and it has given sociologists ideas about how cultures thrive and disappear. In the arts imaginative divergence is also essential; the works that are best remembered are those that not only are interesting compositions, but also inspire the imagination. Picasso’s “Les Demoiselles d'Avignon” was not just a fascinating painting; it also inspired others (such as Braque and Léger) to use Cubism and other methods to abstract and decompose shapes in paintings. The Celtic romance Tristan and Isolde was more than a marvellous play; it inspired countless other dramas of forbidden and tragic young love, such as Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and the modern musical West Side Story. To be successful, creative endeavors in science and art must strive for creative realism.”

— Thomas B. Ward, Ronald A. Finke, Steven M. Smith, Creativity and the Mind: Discovering the Genius Within

[highercomplexity]

End Of Silicon Era Is At Hand – Software About To Change In Big Way

Moore’s Law means hardware gets about twice as fast every 24 months as chips can have smaller footprints. We are reaching the end of silicon-based efficiency because the laws of physics mean the etching on chips cannot get all that much smaller.

[highercomplexity]

[highercomplexity]

From Sword & Citadel by Gene Wolfe

[highercomplexity]

My Gilbert Memorial, 2012

Bil built a pigeon loft for me when I was 6 and he taught me how to catch minnows and how to make food to raise a young crow and how to trap and band a hawk on a rocky mountain top and how to cook Day Lilly buds and how to tap maple trees and make syrup and he told me stories of spirits and places and not to eat salad and how to cook sloppy joes and he once woke me up in the morning for a canoe trip by pouring a jar of water on my head and he showed me how to catch turtles sunning on logs in rivers and he hiked me to the reservoir and old Buzzy's on the mountain above Iron Springs and he taught me that strawberry mousse is delicious and that dogs will eat raspberries from the bush and he (and Ann and Ky) took care of my pet turkey for years after we moved and he showed me that raw scallions are delicious to munch on in the summer and he filled pages with words i love to read and he took my father on great journeys that filled me with wonder and he was like a father and a mentor to my father and a grandfather to me and he filled my mind and my heart and he listened even as he held forth and he and Ann always opened their home to me and my family and the laughter was abundant and there is still so much more I could fondly recount... Love to all the Gilberts. You are in our hearts and thoughts. (Benjamin Walmer, honorary grandson)

https://www.bilgilbertmemories.org/memorial/first-post 

[highercomplexity]

“We believe that we invent symbols. The truth is that they invent us; we are their creatures, shaped by their hard, defining edges.”

- from Shadow and Claw by Gene Wolfe

[thecenturionjournal]

[highercomplexity]

Through the Russian Wilderness in Search of the World’s Largest Owl

In “Owls of the Eastern Ice,” Jonathan Slaght recounts his quest to track down the elusive Blakiston’s fish owl, a journey that will push him to the edge of endurance.

[highercomplexity]

The Gift of Doubt

Albert O. Hirschman and the power of failure.

[highercomplexity]

A Letter on Justice and Open Debate | Harper's Magazine

July 7, 2020 The below letter will be appearing in the Letters section of the magazine's October issue. We welcome responses at [email protected] Our cultural institutions are facing a moment o

[highercomplexity]

The Secret Lives of Fungi

They shape the world—and offer lessons for how to live in it.

[highercomplexity]

The Synthetic Biology Tech Stack

The Emergence of the New Biology