Video / transcript of a talk by Mark Pagels with solumn implications.

http://edge.org/conversation/infinite-stupidity-edge-conversation-with-mark-pagel 

"And I want to suggest that the creative process inside our brains, which relies on social learning, that creative process itself never could have possibly anticipated where we were going as human beings. It couldn't have anticipated 200,000 years ago that, you know, a mere 200,000 years later, we'd have space shuttles and iPods and microwave ovens.

What I want to suggest is that any process of evolution that relies on exploring an unknown space, such as genes or such as our neurons exploring the unknown space in our brains, and trying to create connections in our brains, and such as our brain's trying to come up with new ideas that explore the space of alternatives that will lead us to what we call creativity in our social world, might be very close to random."

Great story on the English town of Todmorden and what appears to be a full on tilt at making things happen.

http://confusedofcalcutta.com/2011/11/27/opensource-edible-landscapes-the-todmorden-story/

But what got me thinking was some observations in the comments.

Todmorden looks like it is - well - not "normal"; high suicide, drugs even serial killers.  

Is this why things happen there?

Terrific article over at "Why We Reason" on overconfidence.  

Basically we are clueless and experts and pundits come up little better then chance when it comes to predicting anything.  

The article ends on a sobering note:

"Is there away around our overconfidence? I’m pessimistic. As Harvard psychologist Dan Gilbert says, “The brain and the eye may have a contractual relationship in which the brain has agreed to believe what they eye sees, but in return the eye has agreed to look for what the brain wants.” Unfortunately, this contract seems binding." 

http://whywereason.wordpress.com/2011/11/28/why-everyone-else-is-overconfident/

Reading Nassim Taleb on Anti fragility:

http://www.blackswanreport.com/blog/tag/anti-fragility/

It looks like any system you can understand or describe is not going to be complex enough to support your survival.  

Brave people can make a difference.  

Stanislav Petrov

Vasili Arkhipov

Both saved the world by saying "no" to lauching nuclear missles.  We where that close.

Nice appreciation by Rick Falkvinge.

http://falkvinge.net/2011/10/04/my-two-heroes/

Great and important project on mapping the somatic location of emotions.  

http://www.emotionallyvague.com/index.php

I have been powerfully affected for most of my life by Manfred Kline's "Sentic Cycles" which is similar work but in the other direction, using gestures to evoke emotions.

Quick overview here:

http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/09/05/manfred-clynes-sentics/

and more at the http://senticcycles.org/

I was asked to look at slide that had been prepared with three concentric circles.

It was explained that the green circles was a big set of items, in this case federal OHS laws.

The red circles was a smaller set of state laws.

I asked about the yellow circle.

There was a silent pause, the type of pause and silence when you instantly know you are no longer one of the tribe.

"What yellow circle?"

Another silence; "There is no yellow circle."

There was no yellow circle to anyone else although it was there for me.

Clearly an undiagnosed or recently acquired colour "blindness".  

No big deal except my Central Nervous System if it had a life or death situation that involved colors would see yellow when there is no yellow.  When I see three circles are there three?  There could be or there could be only two with a "made up" one  inbetween BUT I have no way of knowing.  To me there was (and still is) three.

And this has led to some great territory about the illusion of self, panarchy and awareness without identity.

Now - to just organise it all ....

Currency: From the Latin to flow.

Some very deep thinking about currency and tiny, tiny subset of currency that is money.

http://www.artbrock.com