Archive for the ‘Notes to Selves’ Category

Distinguishing Imagery and Perception

Wednesday, December 17th, 2008
bluebanana.jpg


Imagine these bananas

I’m having a hard time remembering a reference for an experiment I recall hearing about. Any help is appreciated.

As I recall the experiment, subjects were asked to look at a visual stimulus on a screen which was presented in variable degrees of faded-ness (with completely faded stimuli disappearing altogether). Subjects were also asked to imagine (form mental images of) the vanished stimuli as still being present on the screen. At some point in the experiment, there was some sort of measure of whether the subjects were seeing an actually present stimulus versus imagining one. I recall there being some result concerning the subjects not being terrific at distinguishing their own imagery from perceptions of the real deal.

Anyone know what I may be remembering? Or am I imagining this?

Posted in Cognitive Science, Notes to Selves | 7 Comments »

Fake Fight

Tuesday, March 11th, 2008

The thing I like best about Wikipedia is its obsessively detailed coverage of shit that isn’t real. See, for instance, the absolutely gorgeous entry on fictional martial arts and the best fictional martial art of all, Gun Kata.

Gun kata excerpt:

“Through analysis of thousands of recorded gunfights, the Cleric has determined that the geometric distribution of antagonists in any gun battle is a statistically-predictable element. The Gun Kata treats the gun as a total weapon, each fluid position representing a maximum kill zone, inflicting maximum damage on the maximum number of opponents, while keeping the defender clear of the statistically-traditional trajectories of return fire. By the rote mastery of this art, your firing efficiency will rise by no less than 120%. The difference of a 63% increased lethal proficiency makes the master of the Gun Katas an adversary not to be taken lightly.”

I like thinking that the developers of Gun Kata utilized massive computer simulations to generate new karate moves previously regarded as impossible. That’s computational karate, dude. Sister fields include computational skateboarding, computational parkour, and computational cup stacking.

Posted in Fiction, Notes to Selves, Other, The | 3 Comments »

Warren Ellis’ DIY Mind Gangsterism

Sunday, May 28th, 2006

Ellis’ notes on “DIY Mind Gangsterism”

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Posted in Notes to Selves | No Comments »

I call dibs…

Monday, April 10th, 2006

If ever there is a Philosophy of Guns ‘n’ Roses, its subtitle should be Appetite for Deduction.

Posted in Dibs have been called, Notes to Selves, Philosophy | 2 Comments »