14 APR 2015 by ideonexus
A Sunset Bloom
Then we sat on the sand for some time and observed
How the oceans that cover the world were perturbed
By the tides from the orbiting moon overhead
"How relaxing the sound of the waves is," you said.
I began to expound upon tidal effects
When you asked me to stop, looking somewhat perplexed
So I did not explain why the sunset turns red
And we watched the occurrence in silence instead.Folksonomies: poetry
Folksonomies: poetry
1 Lieutenant Commander Data (2338 – 2379)
03 APR 2015 by ideonexus
Mindfulness to Teach Students How to Pay Attention
"One of the primary ironies of modern education is that we ask students to 'pay attention' dozens of times a day, yet we never teach them how," Amy Saltzman elucidates in PBS's Mindfulness: A Teacher's Guide. "The practice of mindfulness teaches students how to pay attention, and this way of paying attention enhances both academic and social-emotional learning."
[...]
Mindful Schools recommends starting with a simple practice like mindful listening, where students sit in silence and notice ...19 MAR 2015 by ideonexus
The Mind Needs Stimulation
A human totally deprived of bodily senses does not do well. After 12 hours in a sensory deprivation tank (where one floats in a body-temperature saline solution that produces almost no skin sensation, in total darkness and silence, with taste and smell and the sensations of breathing minimized) a subject will begin to hallucinate, as the mind, somewhat like a television tuned to a nonexistent channel, turns up the amplification, desperately looking for a signal, becoming ever less discriminat...Folksonomies: cognition perception
Folksonomies: cognition perception
1 
notes
notesFrom Hans Moravec's "Pigs in Cyberspace"
03 MAR 2014 by ideonexus
The Silence of the Universe is Significant
Geoff Marcy, the University of California at Berkeley astronomer who has found scores of exoplanets, and who has diligently searched for signs of anything artificial in the data, says the silence is significant: “If our Milky Way Galaxy were teeming with thousands of advanced civilizations, as depicted in science-fiction books and movies, we would already know about them. They would be sending probes to thousands of nearby stars. They would have a galactic Internet composed of laser beams a...Folksonomies: extraterrestrial life
Folksonomies: extraterrestrial life
1 notes
notesThe fact that we can't detect anything out there means there may be nothing to detect.
23 APR 2012 by ideonexus
Study in Silence to Improve Context-Sensitive Memory Reca...
Context-dependency eects on memory for lists of unrelated words have been shown more often
with recall than with recognition. Context dependency for meaningful text material was
examined using two standard academic testing techniques: short answer (recall) and multiple
choice (recognition). Forty participants read an article in either silent or noisy conditions; their
reading comprehension was assessed with both types of test under silent or noisy conditions.
Both tests showed context-depende... 1 notes
notesBecause memory is context-sensitive, with it being easier to recall memories when immersed in the same environmental stimuli in which they were recorded, it is better to study in silence because exams are given in silent environments.
31 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Life is Anti-Entropy
Life, this anti-entropy, ceaselessly reloaded with energy, is a climbing force, toward order amidst chaos, toward light, among the darkness of the indefinite, toward the mystic dream of Love, between the fire which devours itself and the silence of the Cold. Climbing up and dreaming.
02 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Dr. Frankenstein as Scientific Hubris
I saw the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the Thing he had put together. I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, and then, on the working of some powerful Engine, show signs of life and stir with an uneasy, half-vital motion. Frightful must it be, for supremely frightful would be the effect of any human endeavour to mock the stupendous mechanism of the Creator of the world. His success would terrify the artist; he would rush away from his odious handiwork, horror-st... 1 notes
notesFrom the author's introduction to her book.
29 MAY 2011 by ideonexus
The Personhood Associated with the Word "God"
In his Spiritual Exercises, the Greek novelist Nikos Kazantzakis writes:
We have seen the highest circle of spiraling powers. We have named this circle God. We might have given it any other name we wished: Abyss, Mystery, Absolute Darkness, Absolute Light, Matter, Spirit, Ultimate Hope, Ultimate Despair, Silence. But we have named it God because only this name, for primordial reasons, can stir the heart profoundly. And this deeply felt emotion is indispensable if we are to touch, body with...While deists and others use it to mean a spiritual force, the word is so infused with the idea of a consciousness similar to human beings that it seems irretrievably corrupted for use by spiritual naturalists.
