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Pastimes : Human Brain, The -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Shane M who wrote (356)	1/25/2014 1:28:36 PM
From: koan	1 Recommendation Recommended By Road Walker Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 935

<< In a way, I think blurry vision can enhance creative thought. Because I'm not certain what I'm seeing, it opens the possibilities in my mind. I notice this most strikingly when I misread something - often with comical results. My mind's trying to make sense of what it's seeing, but because it's blurry - it has to work harder - perhaps "more creatively" - to make sense of what it's seeing. I'll often misread something from a distance into a phrase that "makes an odd type of sense", but is not what is actually there - usually brings a smile. >> You are a great thinker. Funny you should bring that up today!? I have always felt it is good to put yourself in strange situations to get your creative processes working e.g. going to a foreign country. But to the point you mention. I never kept any alcohol in my house until I was 60 and only drank or smoked a little pot once in a while. But as I got older I did both a bit more. If I smoke pot I know I cannot do left brain gymnastics like math or playing poker. But my writing is often better than when straight. Carl Sagan said (in his book Broca's brain) he thinks pot encumbers the left brain which normally rides roughshod over the right brain and allows it to manifest itself? Alcohol really does just shut down the higher brain centers. But even there, if one is mindful when they are drinking it is like they can see certain things clearer as the alcohol shuts down "prejudices and misconception". I am a pretty good poker player and a few years ago at 66, I went on the road for the winter and made my living playing poker. When I played at the Oaks in Berkeley, California I played against a lot of very smart UC Berkeley kids. They were all probably much smarter than I, but I won 14 nights in a row playing $30/$60. It seemed the advantage I had over them was they could not see the game as well as I could, or figure out what I was doing when I pushed them around. In science they call that knowledge directed perception. My years of playing poker give me more comprehensive vision than they had and their mental gymnastics were not adequate to outplay my experience. As an aside I have always tried to explain to people we are not very good at deducing knowledge, we learn things. So I always ask people to just teach me. Don't make me figure it out.

To: Shane M who wrote (356)	2/7/2014 8:12:15 AM
From: George Statham	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 935

Now that I've broken through and actually posted here, I thought I'd respond even though it's been a little while. One thing I'd noticed when tired and driving late at night many years ago is that I'd see a dog by the side of the road. I'd get closer and realize it was a bush or some brush. I have some familial hearing loss, and there are lots of things I hear that are funny malapropisms. I'm sure lots of what Yogi Berra said came pretty naturally to him too. I believe all this tends to confirm Daniel Dennett's multiple drafts theory of consciousness. In his theory, you're receiving very raw input, a vibration of an ear hair, a photon hitting the retina, and there are different levels of processing and interpretation that are formed or rejected until one interpretation reaches consciousness. When the input is fuzzy, the interpretation that arises can be wrong. But you're right, it is opening possibilities that are usually rejected and don't reach consciousness. Years ago there was something called gestalt psychology and they spent a lot of time trying to figure out what the brain was doing by looking at input like optical illusions. So is it a vase or a face? Figure and ground keep switching. You're at the edge of competing interpretations. Anyway, your post struck me as very interesting because I hadn't heard anyone else speak about the same kind of experience. George