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POPSTechnology Doesn’t Dumb Us Down. It Frees Our Minds. Paul Saffo, the futurist, says he could divide the technology world into two kinds of people: engineers and natural scientists. He says the world outlook of the engineer is by nature optimistic. Every problem can be solved if you have the right tools and enough time and you pose the correct questions. Other people, who can be just as scientific, see the natural order of the world in terms of entropy, decline and death. Those people aren’t necessarily wrong. But the engineer’s point of view puts trust in human improvement. But over the course of human history, writing, printing, computing and Googling have only made it easier to think and communicate.
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POPST-shirt: Hey Hank... Where's my bailout? A friend of mine just put this one up on his site - definitely fits the mood for the moment. If all these banks get to back the money truck up to the treasury, why not everyone. It's going to be an interesting week.
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POPSBeauty and the Brain Future work may elucidate the long-term effects of one's surroundings on brain function and the relationship between aesthetically pleasing spaces and their functionality. What one considers beautiful is, of course, influenced by culture, learning, and experience, and not everything we find beautiful will ultimately be traceable to the structure and function of our brain. The larger question "What is beauty?" still poses a major challenge, but answering it no longer seems so impossible.
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POPSMirror Neuron - Almost everything you wanted to know Very interesting and educative read: Based on context, mirror neurons can distinguish intention. The activity of the observer’s mirror neurons is greatest for the neat scenario—almost double the amount in the messy one—because drinking is a more fundamental intention than cleaning up.
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