Jonah Lerher--Edge 286

Neuroscience has contributed so much in just a few decades to how we think about human nature and how we know ourselves. But how can we take that same rigor, which has made this research so valuable and, at the same time, make it a more realistic representation of what it's actually like to be a human. After all, we're a brain embedded in this larger set of structures.

You can call it culture, call it society, call it your family, call it your friend, call it whatever it is. It's the stuff that makes people sign onto their Facebook a thousand times a day. It's the reason Twitter exists. We have got all these systems now that really make us fully aware of just how important social interactions are to what it is to be human. The question is, how can we study that? Because that, in essence, is a huge part of what's actually driving these enzymatic pathways in your brain. What's triggering these syanaptic transmissions and these squirts of neurotransmitter back and forth is thoughts of other people, what other people say to us, interacting with the world at large.

The above is a quote from science writer Jonah Lerher, from his video which is in the most recent issue of Edge. I subscribe to Edge and TED and all sorts of other things which are designed to spread ideas. I like ideas. I often don't even have time to read or listen to all of the things I have access to, but maybe someday I will. (Tonight, we came home from Star Trek-the second time I have seen it-and Edge was in my mbox. It seemed to be a perfect segue from the future as imagined by Roddenberry and J.J. Abrahms to the future that is coming to us from real scientists in the 21st century.

Lerher wrote Proust was a Neuroscientist, which I read and enjoyed, because it pointed out how artists made discoveries about the brain that scientists took years to understand.

It's funny...I didn't facebook until this semester and just started twittering this week, so social networking has been on my mind. There is a dynamic, a tension, between devoting massive amounts of time to staying connected virtually and actually living in the environment in which you are located.

It also brings up questions about boundaries. When you can be connected 24/7 to friends and family, strangers and celebrities and they can reach out and touch you (virtually) at any time, the boundaries that allow us to be focused and in the moment are pretty damned flimsy.

People, IMHO, need boundaries...at least I need boundaries. It is hard enough to stay in the moment with them. Otherwise purple fish. [courtesy non-sequiters r us]