What’s going on in this picture? Marina Abramovic is being introduced. She is about to stand in front of 47 Russian “re-performers” in green jumpsuits, talking about the speed of life, the constant external stimulus of the communication age, and how this engenders a need … Read More →
Monthly Archives: August 2012
Targeting the basal ganglia
Is it nit-picking to complain that this Times Magazine article — about the use of “big data” to predict and control consumer behavior — contains a brief introduction to Ann Graybiel’s work on the role of the basal ganglia in habit formation? I worry that this falls … Read More →
Lehrer was a Science Journalist
I always thought Proust was a Neuroscientist was a terrible title. It promises to dazzle, surprise, and delight me in a way that I will find singularly exhausting. “Did you realize,” it says to me, “that in addition to shaping the course of 20th Century … Read More →
A summer of talking apes
From the perspective of films about talking apes, this has been a very disappointing summer. I like apes, and I’ve always been fascinated by attempts to get them to talk, so last summer was a veritable bonanza for me, with both Rise of the … Read More →