The Michael Canfield Channel

Some interesting commentary on Malcolm Gladwell and "Blink" for Johan Lehrer

Link: The Frontal Cortex : Malcolm Gladwell and Science:

In Blink, Gladwell describes our "adaptive unconscious" as a "giant computer that quickly and quietly processes a lot of the data we need in order to keep functioning as human beings." Could he possibly get any vaguer? That sentence could easily have been written 50 years ago, back when Freud was still cool and computers were the size of refrigerators. What Gladwell never mentions is that the "big unconscious computer in our brain" is actually composed of many different brain regions, which are only loosely interconnected. Our "blink" decisions aren't simply a by-product of some invisible mainframe in the head. Rather, they emerge from a continuous dialogue between our many different neural parts, some of which we are consciously aware of, and some which we aren't.

Connie Chung says Farewell

Ever wonder what a David Lynch-produced cable talk show would look like? Probably like this: YouTube - memories.

(My favorite element is the piano player silently mime-ing the keys with a skeletal grin plastered on his face).

Extra-Terrestrial Colonies

A lot of blogs have commented on Stephen Hawking's statement that we need to move into space to better our chances for survival as a species. (Here's one that also includes a famous - unused - and to me disappointing-sounding Star Trek treatment: Bryce Zabel: Spaced Out: Hawking Colonies & Re-Booting Star Trek).

How about let's not? (At least let us consider not doing it for this reason.) I don't see how a Mars colony would have any better chance of survival long term than any other scenario. To make a species viable, I suspect you'd have to have a few million inhabitants. These Utopian colonies are presumably always made up of the best and the brightest, and therefore insulated from the problems they are meant to move away from, namely war and environmental abuse, or runaway tech like an engineered virus. That seems to presume a very rosy view of the future of the race, as if transplanting a few humans to another planet will magically make them a better species. It may be easier to plant a few small groups of humans on Mars and the Moon in the next 40 years than it would be for us to collectively agree to solve the global economic crisis in the next 40 years but these colonies would likely fail.

We like to talk about how the Earth can become uninhabitable but that does not make Mars or the Moon more habitable by comparison. Nuclear winter or global warming could be sever enough to wipe out all major life forms on this planet, but not all life. Just as happened 65 Million years ago, when the dominant species were wiped out, life continued to evolve in other forms including primates. A few small colonies of humans could survive on the less-habit-able Earth in bunkers than they could on Mars in bunkers.

I'm not saying we shouldn't colonize Mars. But we should do it for fun, or adventure, or hubris, or to make money, or for any of the other reasons human beings like to do things. Let's just not kid ourselves that we have a better chance there than here. We will be bringing our sole predator with us. Wherever you go, there you are.

X-Men III

Saw X-Men the other day and am scratching my head as to why it got such tepid reviews - at least considering that the first two were better reviewed. I enjoyed this, and cannot agree with the sentiment that it this installment relied too heavily on special effects at the expense of character. To the contrary, I thought the big action last act worked because of everything that had gone before. This wasn't a generic action climax, and sympathy was built for all three sides of the war.  Magneto's final fate (well temporarily final fate, anyway) carried additional resonance because of his specific behavior towards other mutants earlier in the film. I would have liked more Rogue but then I always want more Rogue. And I still stand by my belief that if X-Men has to be a movie franchise (instead of an HBO series as it should be) these movies capture the spirit of the Marvel Multiverse Sturm and Soap Opera just about as well as any movies can. Kelsey Grammer was pitch perfect as Beast, and Halle Berry actually had stuff to do in this one. The digital erasing of two character's wrinkles for the early flashback scenes was seriously creepy however.

John Patterson wishes Robert Aldrich still lived.

Mainstream maverick.

Oh, gross.

I like to think I have become immune to spam over the years but just seeing this skeevy bastard's name and likeness show up in my inbox to pimp his newest scheme set me off. Work safe:

View this photo of a fuckface.

Today I am a man.

In the Jewish tradition a boy becomes a man after being Bar Mitzvah-ed in his 13th year. Tim Pratt, co-editor and co-publisher with Heather Shaw of Flytrap, (and author of 2 books here, with more on the way) has  accepted my "419 Memoirs" for issue 6 of that celebrated little 'zine, which makes for my 13th original fiction sale. Tim is also the only editor in the 'verse who has ever scooped from the Canfield well more'n twiced. And more'n once-d for that matter!

And here is an MC Channel exclusive:

I can tell you that the title is correctly pronounced at least the following ways: "four hundred and nineteen memoirs," "four one nine memoirs," and "four nineteen memoirs" -- though the latter two pronunciations share synonymous meaning.

BTW:

Besides writing breakout novels and award-winning BotY -included short fiction, Heather and Tim give up precious XBox and Warcrack hours putting out Flytrap, so subscribe if you have not. It is a bargain and the post office will deliver it no questions asked!

Jury Duty is Over

But my schedule is blown and I am completely disorientated. Tomorrow will have to be for getting things straight around here. If I remember that tomorrow, anyway ...