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Displaying (6) Comments | Comment on this piece | Report objectionable art
kCMIU9 very nice read! Will check back some other time to see if you add additions to your post.
By: | Dec 21, 2018 | Report Comment
One of my favorite parts of being a dobule-major student is when a concept in a philosophy class can be applied to something in what I previously thought was an unrelated area of interest such as film. But, surprisingly, one of the first things we studied in my digital editing class was the nature of mirror neurons and their importance in making consistent edits in full-length films.So I decided to do a little research on mirror neurons myself and have seen that they are a particularly developing and equally controversial subject in the field of Neuroscience. The controversy lies in the fact that many of the assertions made by psychologists and scientists of numerous disciplines have been adequately backed up by substantial research. However, the interest and excitement lies in the fact that mirror neurons are being used to support many areas of human behavior and cognitive functioning and other processes of the mind. But one central question that deals with philosophy comes to my mind does the concept of mirror neurons support free will or determinism?This question I pose in the realm of the class nature vs. nurture context. Intersetingly, there is a group of controversial scientists, particularly E.O. Wilson and Steven Pinker, who have been labeled by many as bio-determinists. This label is an attach on their beliefs and research supporting their ideas that human beings do not have any free will at all and the entirety of their actions and motives is based solely on Biology, evolutionary traits, and genetics. Something like the field of neuroscience and brain functioning would more than likely fit in well with many of Wilson's and Pinker's ideas, but mirror neurons pose a whole new problem.Because mirror neurons are primarily concerned with the human behavior of imitation, are we more determined by our external surroundings (nurture) or our internal framework (nature)? One would think that mirror neurons side with the nurturing aspect of the dilemma. There is a close relationship between watching another perform an action and that same action being done by ourselves. Therefore, mirror neurons are a central aspect to the human emotional spectrum of empathy. Besides that, mirror neurons have also been used as a basis for studies such as language learning and psycholinguistics, developmental education by imitation, and has even been linked to some cognitive disorders such as autism. In my field, film editors who watch a lot of movies have an almost intuitive sense of where to make a good cut and close up thanks to mirror neurons.One last question that mirror neurons may pose for thinkers. Because of the seemingly interdependent relationship between brain functioning and imitation of external stinuli, is there an equally interdependent relationship between nature and nurture instead a previously thought divisive relationship?
By: | Sep 25, 2015 | Report Comment
Cheers pal. I do aptepciare the writing.
By: | Jul 08, 2015 | Report Comment
A prtvcoaoive insight! Just what we need!
By: | Jul 08, 2015 | Report Comment
I was once on Mare Island, San Francisco Bay and heard the tale. Back in the 1500 s Spanish explorers upon lieavng the bay left several horses on this small island for possible future use and so the nearby natives would not take them and probably for less baggage on the way home. Hundreds of years later other explorers found the island flourishing with many healthy horses, almost all were mares (female) and only a few studs (males). Was this because the males systematically killed off the young males? This courted group extinction. Was there an extraordinary percentage of female births over many years? Highly unlikely! Or was it a mixture of these and/or other circumstances which worked to maintain a sustainable population on this small island? The environment set the pattern of behavior of this group for this group to survive, stay healthy, and to flourish and yet maintain their numbers. Entropy is the measure of the disorder (or order) that exist in a system. Without a certain degree of order a system will not remain stable, will revert to back to chaos, and then on to eventual annihilation of that system. And so I leave you with this old Gowachim riddle: Question: Who governs the governors? Answer: Entropy. (Herbert). And I add this note of interpretation: the governors in this riddle means creators of order, not simply the sociopolitical philosophers.Herbert, Frank. The Dosadi Experiment. New York: Berkeley, 1978. Print
By: | Aug 12, 2014 | Report Comment
Thanks for your thoughts. It's hleepd me a lot.
By: | Nov 18, 2012 | Report Comment
Love in winter
CC/NYPartmakers
found this image during our last snowfall
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