Tuesday, October 25, 2011

"Proust..." post follow-up

At the moment I cannot recall a time where some stimulus triggered a long lost long-term memory, but this sort of thing happens for me somewhat regularly. I will eat some cookies and see if I can come up with a specific example.

My favorite chapter of the Proust book was probably the one about composer Igor Stravinsky. As a musician it was a really fascinating read for me, and it's inspired me to experiment with and appreciate dissonance.

Other books I've enjoyed in the Cog-Sci program have been "Radiant Cool" by Dan Lloyd (we read this in Cog 411: Neural Networks) and "This Is Your Brain On Music" by Daniel J. Levitin (we read this in Cog 316: Cognitive Musicology). However, most of my reading about topics in Cog-Sci has been extracurricular. I highly recommend the following books: "The Invisible Landscape: Mind, Hallucinogens, and the I Ching" by Terence and Dennis Mckenna, "Prometheus Rising" and "Cosmic Trigger" by Robert Anton Wilson, "Undoing Yourself with Energized Meditation and Other Devices" by Christopher S. Hyatt, and "Programming the Human Biocomputer" by John C. Lilly.

The theme of much of my extracurricular reading can be described by the following quote from "Programming the Human Biocomputer."

(Note that Lily refers to the brain as a biocomputer. Also note that Lilly invented the sensory deprivation tank in the 1950's I think.)

"Exploration of the inner reality presupposes that the inner reality contains large unknowns which are worth exploring. To explore them it is necessary to recognize their existence and to prepare our computer for the exploration. If we are to explore the unknown we should take the minimum amount of baggage and not load our self down with conceptual machinery which cannot be flexibly reoriented to accept and investigate the unknown. The next stage of development of those who have the courage and the necessary apparatus to do it, is exploration in depth of this vast inner unknown region. For this task we need the best kind of thinking of which we are capable. We must dissolve and/or reprogram the doctrinaire ideological approaches to these questions."

"Oz is Ever Floating" by Oysterhead <-- song about Dr. John C. Lilly.

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