V. S. Ramachandran explains the wonders of perception and art.

In essence it takes all of the things that creative people have instinctively known since we started painting on cave walls and carving fetishes and applied science to it. We can indeed explain art!

Via IHC

//The Dude

I posit that anything that can be used to represent pixels on a screen will automatically generate a Nintendo related image.

Example:

Via IHC

//The Dude

It struck me today, while brushing my teeth – as it so often does, that it is useless and impossible in every way that I know of to truly be someone else. To walk in their shoes and see the world as they see it.

I had been watching The Prestige and the twin paradox struck me. No matter how convincing they were in play the same man, they were ultimately different and saw the world with their own unique eyes. (I’m trying not to spoil anything, and probably failed.) Then it struck me that it is in fact impossible even if we’d allow for infinite parallel multiverses and infinite possibilities. If I were for example to swap places with a person in another universe, then I could not possibly “be” that person and observe through their eyes. I’d be me in that persons guise and vice versa. Maybe not the deepest of observations, but pretty good for something you realize when brushing your teeth.

It’s no secret that I have a special place in my warped mind for Hunter Thompson. It’s a fascination that has bordered on obsession on many occasions. And as much as I’d like to actually be my idol I know that it is impossible and not really desirable. His style of living was his alone and suited to his psyche.

I’ve seen quite a few people try to imitate his style of writing on various blogs and forums, but they usually get called out for it. “I know mr Hunter S Thompson, and you good sir are not him”
But there is a twist to this. Early in his life when Hunter had decided to become a great American writer he copied out among other texts “The Great Gatsby” on his typewriter. To feel the music and flow of the words.

Now Hunter did become the great American writer, but not by being Fitzgerald. No, he wrote until he found his own voice. It has become known as Gonzo, a word he made his own. At some point I’d like to find my own particular voice, to write my novel. It is all a folly right now, but who knows? Stranger things are yet to come after all.

Enough soft brained mumblings for now…

//The Dude

I guess most people are familiar with the classic image of the mandelbrot fractal.

Now some genius has taken it to the next logical step and rendered it in 3D. What was once trippy can now really blow your mind!

Although the images are stunning, what really gets me off is how what is really a simple mathematical function can generate such astounding complexity. But the real kicker is that this can be found everywhere, in every living thing.

Link: Mandelbulb
Via: Fark

//The Dude

The Hubble Ultra Deep Field in 3D

Astronomy has always fascinated me, no other pursuit has given me a real sense of my place in the existence like it has.

I can still recall sitting with a borrowed telescope in a freezing cold field in the middle of November and seeing the Andromeda galaxy for myself. I felt very small and at the same time very privileged to be able to grasp even this tiny fraction of the Universe.
One day I’ll get myself a nice telescope and again sit in freezing fields in the middle of the night. Maybe you should too?

//The Dude

Via Neatorama

Note: This is a repost due to an accidental deletion