Coconut-Carrying Octopus

A direct link to the above video is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DoWdHOtlrk

This amazing video was linked to an article published today at The Huffington Post, thank you to my friend Pete Chema of Ten Feet Deep for sending it on to me. It immediately reminded me of some of the entries I've posted over the last few months about how humans are not nearly as special as we think, and that what makes us conscious beings is more part of a continuum of different levels and kinds of consciousness. The Huffington Post article is entitled Coconut-Carrying Octopus: First Evidence Of Tool Use In Invertebrate, Researcher 'Gobsmacked'. What's remarkable here is that these creatures are seen gathering coconut shell halves, transporting them to another area, then using the halves to construct a hiding place for themselves - evidence of planning, and an activity that actually leaves the octopus exposed to danger while they are doing it, but gives them an advantage when they are done, which seems to imply a surprising level of forethought.

My video for Alien Life and Sea Dragons showed another amazing sea creature:

A direct link to the above video is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_LO-q20c6o

With this Huffington Post article, I particularly like the concluding quote, because it sounds so much like the things I've been saying with my project. Simon Robson, associate professor of tropical biology at James Cook University in Townsville, had this to say after viewing the complex behavior of the coconut-carrying octopus:

"It's another example where we can think about how similar humans are to the rest of the world. We are just a continuum of the entire planet."

I couldn't agree more.

Enjoy the journey!

Rob Bryanton

Next: Time and Schizophrenia

Time is in the Mind

A direct link to the above video is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RR3kEx53IaY



A direct link to the above video is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bG6nZY9Bxy0

The above video discusses some experiments by neuroscientist David Eagleman of the University of Houston, looking into how different situations alter our perception of time, and how high-risk situations are particularly common for people to come away with the feeling that "it was as if everything went into slow motion". What is the relationship between consciousness and the perception of time?

Here's a link to a recent article in New Scientist magazine that includes discussions of Dr. Eagleman's work, called "Timewarp: How Your Brain Creates the Fourth Dimension". Let me quote a few paragraphs from this piece, which was written by Douglas Fox:

...Eagleman wanted to know whether the brain's clock actually accelerates - making external events appear abnormally slow in comparison with the brain's workings - or whether the slo-mo is just an artifact of our memory.

It's just one of many mysteries concerning how we experience time that we are only now beginning to crack. "Time," says Eagleman, "is much weirder than we think it is."

By understanding the mechanisms of our brain's clock, Eagleman and others hope to learn ways of temporarily resetting its tick. This might improve our mental speed and reaction times. What's more, since time is crucial to our perception of causality, a faulty internal clock might also explain the delusions suffered by people with schizophrenia.

There's a few things I find very useful about what's being said above. First, we return to the old bugaboo about my way of visualizing the fourth spatial dimension and how that relates to "time" as being one of its two possible directions. In the context of the above article, saying "your brain creates the fourth dimension" may seem like a confirmation of the ideas I'm promoting, but the critics who say that the fourth spatial dimension and "time" are two completely different things certainly show us that much controversy about all this remains.

Which leads me to the other significant phrase: "time is crucial to our perception of causality". This, for me sums up quite neatly the difference between the fourth and the fifth dimension. When we look back at the chain of events that led to "now", we perceive that there was only one path, and that is because of the limits of the fourth spatial dimension. I would say that in order for us to be able to conceptualize the multiple paths that extend before us from our current "now" (and likewise, the multiple paths that potentially could have gotten us to this "now" we find ourselves in), we need to think beyond the comparatively simple limits of the fourth dimension.

In other words, causality is the key to understanding a particular chain of events that connect from one position in the fourth dimension to another, and probability is the key to understanding how those two points have multiple connecting paths in the fifth dimension.

Let's look at one more paragraph from the article:

Perhaps the most fundamental question neuroscientists are investigating is whether our perception of the world is continuous or a series of discrete snapshots like frames on a film strip. Understand this, and maybe we can explain how the healthy brain works out the chronological order of the myriad events bombarding our senses, and how this can become warped to alter our perception of time.

This is an idea I keep returning to: our reality is not continuous, despite what our common sense may seem to tell us. Whether we're talking about the planck-unit-sized "atoms of spacetime" that loop quantum gravity tells us our reality is made from, or if we're talking about the illusion that the fifth dimension and above are "curled up at the planck length" (an idea from string theory) because we only experience the fifth dimension one planck frame at a time, the same conclusion can be drawn. And with this article, we see interesting new evidence of an idea we've talked about before, that the brain itself is also operating at a certain number of "frames per second" rather than in a continuous undivided stream, and that ties into all of my ongoing ramblings about the dimensions in very useful ways.

Do you remember Dr. Stuart Hameroff and his theories showing that consciousness works at a certain number of "bings" per second? We talked about this in Music and the Dance of Creativity, Boredom and Consciousness 2, and Boredom and Consciousness 3. As mentioned at the end of our first quote above,this leads us to some fascinating ideas about the relationship between this frame rate and what happens when this frame rate is out of sync with the body. We'll talk about this more in our next few entries, Time and Schizophrenia, Consciousness in Frames per Second, and Time and Music.

Enjoy the journey!

Rob Bryanton

Next: Time and Schizophrenia

Life is But a Dream

A direct link to the above video is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLgieQXQnDU

The video we’ve linked to below is found a few places on YouTube, under a number of names, one of which is "Reality's a Dream". As you'll see, though, the video's real name is "The Quantum Apocalypse". Searching the internet for that particular video title gets tricky now, because there is a science fiction TV drama released in 2010 called "Quantum Apocalypse", and I see a few people are posting the movie we're looking at here thinking that it’s a trailer for that TV show: a bit of confusion out there! As you'll see at the end of this video, two people calling themselves Holofractalist and Faster Than Light used various other youtube sources to edit together the movie we're looking at here.



A direct link to the above video is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dpRPTwsKJs

This video is a great collection of ideas that I've talked about regularly in my book and this blog. I particularly liked the title "Reality's a Dream" being applied to it because it connects these ideas from quantum physics and philosophy back to blog entries like The Comedian (where I talk about Bill Hicks, who appears in this video), Jumping Jesus (based on an idea from Robert Anton Wilson, another person appearing here), Where Are You? (which includes mention of a dream of universal connectedness recounted by comedian Joe Rogan, who tells us he was very high when he came up with this idea), and You Are Me and We are All Together (in which I recount a very similar dream I experienced around the same time, although I was cold sober).

Boats
Joe's dream came to him in a boat off the coast of Hawaii. In my blog entry Dreaming of Electric Sheep I quoted from that deeply mystical nursery rhyme, Row Row Row Your Boat: "life is but a dream". In entries like An Expanding 4D Sphere and The Holographic Universe, I've suggested that our Cosmological Horizon is like we're on a boat in the middle of the ocean, except that this boat is not on a 3D sphere like planet earth, it's a finite but unbounded 4D hypersphere - and that's the beginning of a way to imagine how all these hidden connections can start to make sense.

Enjoy the journey,

Rob Bryanton

Next: Time is in the Mind

The Very Model of a Singularitarian

In entries like Making New Connections, The Stream, Computers and Consciousness, Suffering in the Multiverse, and Jumping Jesus, we've talked about Ray Kurzweil, his concept of the approaching Singularity, and the transhuman movement. Now check out this charmingly strange video:

A direct link to the above video is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hKG5l_TDU8

You will recognize the music, of course, from "The Pirates of Penzance" by Gilbert and Sullivan. The lyrics to this new version of that song were written and performed by Charlie Kam. Admittedly these words do go by a mile a minute, so here's the lyrics, which are copyright 2006 by Mr. Kam.

I am the very model of a Singularitarian
I'm combination Transhuman, Immortalist, Extropian,
Aggressively I'm changing all my body's biochemistry
Because my body's heritage is obsolete genetically,
Replacing all the cells each month it's here just temporarily
The pattern of my brain and body's where there's continuity,
I'll try to improve these patterns with optimal biology,
("But how will I do that? I need to be smarter. Ah, yes...")
I'll expand my mental faculties by merging with technology,
Expand his mental faculties by merging with technology,
Expand his mental faculties by merging with technology
Expand his mental faculties by merging with technology

And with our new technology, renewable clean energy,
Remove our pathogens and overcome hunger and poverty
In short I am a Transhuman, Immortalist, Extropian
I am the very model of a Singularitarian
In short he is a Transhuman, Immortalist, Extropian
He is the very model of a Singularitarian

Knowledge in all forms music, art, science and technology,
Our brains and bodies all precious and any loss a tragedy
Important recognitions and insights are what we should retain
While we destroy all of the useless information that remains
And when a person dies we lose a profound pattern tragically,
And the part of ourselves that interacted with them lit'rally
Religious folks may rationalize that death is really something good
("Something Good? Something GOOD? Eh?)
I think they'd change their minds if Singularity were understood
I think they'd change their minds if Singularity were understood
I think they'd change their minds if Singularity were understood
I think they'd change their minds if Singularity were understood

I create and appreciate all of the knowledge that I know
Toward greater order even though complexity I know may grow
In short I am Transhuman, Immortalist, Extropian
I am the very model of a Singularitarian
In short he is a Transhuman, Immortalist, Extropian
He is the very model of a Singularitarian

The purpose of the universe is that of all our human lives
Since no aliens have come forth this much we can now rationalize
We'll spread our thoughts with nanobots that know how to self-replicate
Through solar system, Milky Way or anywhere we designate
Ideas are our products that will solve the problems of our fate
And new ideas for the problems we can't yet articulate
Let's leverage all our knowledge from the returns that accelerate
(Returns that accelerate? Sounds familiar. Ah yes, the law of accelerating returns by Ray Kurzweil, of course, OF COURSE!)
So the outcome of universe is something we can contemplate
The outcome of universe is something we can contemplate
The outcome of universe is something we can contemplate
The outcome of universe is something we can contemplate

The singularity is near but I won't be indifferent
In case something should go awry I'll do my bestest to prevent
Because I am a Transhuman, Immortalist, Extropian
I am the very model of a Singularitarian
Because he is a Transhuman, Immortalist, Extropian
He is the very model of a Singularitarian

(Yes! Singularity! Woo hoo! Singularity is here! Singularity is near! Singularity!)

Wasn't that fun? According to the Charlie Kam bio, IEEE Explore magazine favorably compared the lyrics of this song to Ray Kurzweil's book The Singularity is Near, and suggested (amusingly) that persons in a hurry could listen to the song if they felt they didn't have time to read the book.

Last blog, we talked about serious scientific approaches to time travel. Here, we're talking about the possibility of uploading or merging our consciousness with some form of technology. Let's continue blending those ideas together in the next two entries: Reality's a Dream, and Time is in the Mind.

Enjoy the journey,

Rob Bryanton

Next: Life is But a Dream

Augmented Reality Season's Greetings

A direct link to the above video is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozEfHjAbmwE


All the best of the holidays to you and yours! As regular readers of my blog know, this year here at Talking Dog Studios we've been expanding our tool set into the exciting new world of augmented reality. You'll recall that back in June we created an AR version of the tenth dimension helix for you to play with. Now we've created a unique Christmas present for you - an augmented reality page that lets you look into your webcam and see yourself as Santa Claus. There's lots of different Santa faces to choose from, and when you see one you like, just click on the "Take a Picture" icon to save a photo of you as Santa to your computer or to share with your friends on facebook. Check it out!

http://www.talkingdogstudios.com/ar/santa

This AR uses facial recognition, so no tags required. We hope you get lots of laughs from this free web page!

Best wishes,

Rob Bryanton
Talking Dog AR

Other related blogs:
How Big Is...
Crazy Wakeboarder
More on Augmented Reality
Augmented Reality

Next: Life is But a Dream

How to Time Travel

A direct link to the above video is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BscaUbwVR0


A direct link to the above video is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SafwXdP7ylc

This is a great video from National Geographic showing serious scientific discussions of how we might some day be able to travel through time the same way that we travel through space now. The physicist featured prominently in this video is Dr. Sean Carroll, who I've talked about a number of times in this blog, in entries such as Wormholes, What Would a Flatlander Really See?, Time in Either Direction, Scrambled Eggs, and The Big Bang is an Illusion.

I've been a big fan of Dr. Carroll's work ever since I came across an article he wrote for Scientific American last year called The Cosmic Origins of Time's Arrow. There are two quotes I've pulled from that article before:

Our universe may be part of a much larger multiverse, which as a whole is time-symmetric. Time may run backward in other universes.

and

The universe began empty and will end up empty--the appearance of stars and galaxies is a temporary deviation from its usual equilibrium condition.

Persons familiar with Imagining the Tenth Dimension will instantly recognize how excited I am to see mainstream physicists finally starting to say the same things I've been saying with my project. Now, I see that Sean Carroll has a book coming out next month, called From Eternity to Here: the Quest for the Ultimate Theory of Time. Here's a link to a page at his blog telling us a bit more about the book:
http://preposterousuniverse.com/eternitytohere/

And here's another link for you:
http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/carroll09/carroll09_index.html

This page from edge.org features a 24 minute video of Sean Carroll discussing some of his ideas. The presentation is called "Why Does the Universe Look the Way it Does?". There is a full text transcription of the presentation there as well, very useful for future reference back to these ideas.

From Eternity to Here goes on sale January 10, 2010, I can't wait to read it. You can pre-order it right now from Amazon.com if you're feeling impatient!

Enjoy the journey,

Rob Bryanton

Next: Life is But a Dream

Mandelbulbs

A direct link to the above video is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BscaUbwVR0

We've looked at this video before: it's called "A Mandelbrot the Size of the Known Universe". According to the description at youtube for this three and a half minute long movie, if the final frame were the size of your screen, the full set would be larger than the known universe!

A direct link to the above video is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATWrMlIKRBk


We've talked a number of times, in blog entries like How to Make a Universe, Dreaming of Electric Sheep, The Invariant Set, Nassim Haramein, and A 3D Sphere on a 4D Hypersphere, about how the concept of infinite recursion keeps coming up again and again, both in discussions of consciousness, and in discussions of the underlying structures of our universe. The Mandelbrot Set is a famous example of a fractal set which can be endlessly zoomed in on, continually revealing more and more detail, and the above image from wikipedia shows the initial starting state of a zoom sequence into this fascinating structure. Now take a look at this:

This computer-generated image is part of a stunning new exploration of the Mandelbrot Set where the underlying equations have been transformed to generate 3D objects. I invite you to go to this link:
http://www.skytopia.com/project/fractal/mandelbulb.html
and enjoy many more jaw-dropping examples of this exciting new process which really, I think, helps us to see how fractal recursion is such an important part of the natural structures of our world, and of the universe. Once you're done there, then go check out these stunning fractal creations my friend Chuck Salyers just pointed out to me:
http://205.243.100.155/frames/lichtenbergs.html

Enjoy the journey!

Rob Bryanton

Next - How to Time Travel