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Hacky McAxe

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Our brain had to cut back on some basics to allow us greater processing power. Our eyesight is imperfect, but good enough to save us from dangerous creatures and find food.

There are gaps, which our brain fills in for us. This is the reason for pareidolia, where we see see images in objects - like Jesus on a piece of toast, and why we can filter out things like spots on a windscreen. Animals like birds can see a greater spectrum of colours; but our perception is good enough for us to be able to detect objects, hunt, and make things. It is also why magicians can fool us with illusions.
This is one of the reasons I got into psychology. I love the concept that what we see isn't what is real.

There's a brilliant book written by David Eagleman (Neuroscientist) called "The Brain" that I highly recommend to anyone. There's also an audio book of it on Audible. He narrates the audio book himself and he's really good at it. The book goes into details about some of the most interesting neurological stuff, but it's written in a way that literally anyone can understand it.
 

Chris Harding

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All great stuff. Dr Karl also has a podcast called "Shirtloads of Science". I highly recommend it. He basically hosts episodes with professors of Sydney Uni where they explain concepts. Professor Gerraint Lewis has an few of great episodes on black holes and Neutron stars.

Also, if you're looking for light-hearted stuff. Two of my favourite podcasts are The Infinite Monkey Cage with Professor Brian Cox and Robyn Ince. They host a panel type show with scientists and comedians. Very entertaining. Also, The Curious Cases of Rutherford and Fry with Adam Rutherford (Biologist) and Hannah Fry (Mathematician). They get listeners to ask questions then they dig into the science of it. It's really interesting stuff.

There's another podcast that started recently with Dr Eric Lander who worked on the Human Genome Project. It's called "Brave New Planet". Only a few episodes out but each is really interesting. They look into future technologies that can be used for everything from combating Climate change to fighting wars with future drones. It's great stuff.
Thanks. I'll look those up. Incidentally, I've met some interesting people in my time- David Attenborough, Phil Currie (paleontologist), Fred Watson (cosmologist), David Suzuki (climatologist), and Stephen Jay Gould (evolutionist; sadly now deceased). Interesting and really nice people to talk to. Also shared a lift with the Dalai Lama in a Zurich Hotel. We only said hello, but it was filmed for the nightly news, so I can chalk it up as a BBQ stopper.
 

Hacky McAxe

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Just amazing.. Is this the same thing when we drive a car? Our brain filter’s what we see?
Yep. There's a little trick that blows your mind. Not easy for you to do and not really something you have to do yourself to understand it. But if you hold your arm out with your thumb up and look at your thumbnail, that's roughly what we see. The rest is built up from the mind piecing things together. Our eyes constantly dart around picking up pieces of the world, our mind holds on to that stuff.

Say for example if you're looking at a TV, and there's a purple monkey to the left of the TV. If someone swapped that monkey to a pink elephant and you didn't notice, then until you looked at it you would still see a purple monkey sitting there in your periphery.

We still pick up stuff though. Our peripheral vision is great for motion detection but it can't see anything with detail so our mind fills in the blanks.
 

Mr 95%

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Yep. There's a little trick that blows your mind. Not easy for you to do and not really something you have to do yourself to understand it. But if you hold your arm out with your thumb up and look at your thumbnail, that's roughly what we see. The rest is built up from the mind piecing things together. Our eyes constantly dart around picking up pieces of the world, our mind holds on to that stuff.

Say for example if you're looking at a TV, and there's a purple monkey to the left of the TV. If someone swapped that monkey to a pink elephant and you didn't notice, then until you looked at it you would still see a purple monkey sitting there in your periphery.

We still pick up stuff though. Our peripheral vision is great for motion detection but it can't see anything with detail so our mind fills in the blanks.
Intelligent design..or evolution?

ps..disregard this question, I’m being a troll so let’s stay away from it!!!:grimacing:
 

Hacky McAxe

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Thanks. I'll look those up. Incidentally, I've met some interesting people in my time- David Attenborough, Phil Currie (paleontologist), Fred Watson (cosmologist), David Suzuki (climatologist), and Stephen Jay Gould (evolutionist; sadly now deceased). Interesting and really nice people to talk to. Also shared a lift with the Dalai Lama in a Zurich Hotel. We only said hello, but it was filmed for the nightly news, so I can chalk it up as a BBQ stopper.
Awesome. I've met a fair few scientists and professors, and have many friends who are well respected scientists and professors. But no one too famous.

If you asked me a few years back who I would want to meet, it would probably be Stephen Hawking. One of the greatest minds of our time.
 

Chris Harding

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Just amazing.. Is this the same thing when we drive a car? Our brain filter’s what we see?
Yeah - it's our brain filtering things that don't matter, so we focus on survival things. It's why we don't always see things that are right in front of our face. It's also why we can't remember where we left the keys, because the brain has to put aside minor things to rapidly process what is happening now. When we aren't concentrating on something important, we can often recall those minor things.
 

Chris Harding

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Awesome. I've met a fair few scientists and professors, and have many friends who are well respected scientists and professors. But no one too famous.

If you asked me a few years back who I would want to meet, it would probably be Stephen Hawking. One of the greatest minds of our time.
Conversation would have been a problem. It took time for him to converse.
I've read his book "A Brief History of Time"- twice, but still have trouble grasping much of what he says.
Karl Sagan and the Amazing Randi are the guys I would have loved to meet.
 

Hacky McAxe

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Intelligent design..or evolution?

ps..disregard this question, I’m being a troll so let’s stay away from it!!!:grimacing:
If you adhere to simulation theory, it could be actual intelligent design.

Simulation theory is the concept that we may all be part of a simulation created by advanced humans or other species. We could all be living in a computer.

It's an extension of the Brain in a Vat concept that philosophers came up with long ago, that was used in the Matrix. The concept that we could all be brains living in vats in a simulated world. Or maybe you're the only real brain and the rest of us are simulated.

But that's what philosophy does. It invents Gods.
 

Hacky McAxe

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Conversation would have been a problem. It took time for him to converse.
I've read his book "A Brief History of Time"- twice, but still have trouble grasping much of what he says.
Karl Sagan and the Amazing Randi are the guys I would have loved to meet.
That reminds me of another podcast. Science Rules! With Bill Nigh. It's great 'cause he just interviews experts, but it does feel a bit loaded at times. Often those experts will be ones that are CEOs of companies and feel like they're trying to sell their product.

It reminded me because Bill Nigh mentions often that he took one lecture with Carl Sagan.
 

Mr 95%

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@Hacky McAxe @Chris Harding Actually the technology that I was trialing last Wednesday was the one Steven Hawking trialed with over a 5 year period.. Its just amazing..it can operate via your eyes..or any twitching muscle fibre.. It’s called Neuronode..Amazing..if you are interested how it works check out the website..

All I wanted to do was play a video game on the PS4 ..Now I think I can pilot the Space Shuttle!


 

Hacky McAxe

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@Hacky McAxe @Chris Harding Actually the technology that I was trialing last Wednesday was the one Steven Hawking trialed with over a 5 year period.. Its just amazing..it can operate via your eyes..or any twitching muscle fibre.. It’s called Neuronode..Amazing..if you are interested how it works check out the website..

All I wanted to do was play a video game on the PS4 ..Now I think I can pilot the Space Shuttle!


So what you're saying is that we need to steal a space shuttle and take it on a joy ride?

Say no more
 

Chris Harding

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Sounds interesting!

Thank you Sir.
You are most welcome.

I failed high school, and picked up a clerical job while all my mates went to university. Having a nothing job made me determined to learn as much as I could to advance myself.

Went to TAFE and got my HSC, then my accountancy diploma. Used to go to the library and borrow books on history and science, just to force myself to learn something - most went over my head, but some stuff stuck. It was by attending lectures, and talking to people, that I really learned stuff.

Did the usual thing for guys my age, and went to London for work. Cycled and hitchhiked around Europe, and stopped over in South Africa, back when it was under the apartheid regime. The exposure to different cultures was a bit of a wake up, and helped me mature and gain confidence.
 

Chris Harding

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@Hacky McAxe @Chris Harding Actually the technology that I was trialing last Wednesday was the one Steven Hawking trialed with over a 5 year period.. Its just amazing..it can operate via your eyes..or any twitching muscle fibre.. It’s called Neuronode..Amazing..if you are interested how it works check out the website..

All I wanted to do was play a video game on the PS4 ..Now I think I can pilot the Space Shuttle!


Why not? The shuttle is just an oversized glider.
It's not rocket science, as they say.

So many craft these days can fly themselves, but the ability to do it by simple eye muscle movement is amazing technology. What freedom for someone physically unable to do normal things.
 

Mr 95%

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Why not? The shuttle is just an oversized glider.
It's not rocket science, as they say.

So many craft these days can fly themselves, but the ability to do it by simple eye muscle movement is amazing technology. What freedom for someone physically unable to do normal things.
It truly is life changing..
 

KambahOne

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With the discovery of liquid water on the moon all the radical ideas that were shelved are now starting to be reviewed for their potential.

Lunar Crater Radio Telescope - https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/niac/2020_Phase_I_Phase_II/lunar_crater_radio_telescope/

An ultra-long-wavelength radio telescope on the far-side of the Moon has tremendous advantages compared to Earth-based and Earth-orbiting telescopes, including: (i) Such a telescope can observe the universe at wavelengths greater than 10m (i.e., frequencies below 30MHz), which are reflected by the Earth's ionosphere and are hitherto largely unexplored by humans, and (ii) the Moon acts as a physical shield that isolates the lunar-surface telescope from radio interferences/noises from Earth-based sources, ionosphere, Earth-orbiting satellites, and Sun’s radio-noise during the lunar night. We propose to deploy a 1km-diameter wire-mesh using wallclimbing DuAxel robots in a 3-5km-diameter lunar crater on the far-side, with suitable depth-to-diameter ratio, to form a sphericalcap reflector. This Lunar Crater Radio Telescope (LCRT), with 1km diameter, will be the largest filled-aperture radio telescope in the Solar System! LCRT could enable tremendous scientific discoveries in the field of cosmology by observing the early universe in the 10– 50m wavelength band (i.e., 6–30MHz frequency band), which has not been explored by humans till-date.

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A Liquid Mirror Telescope on the Moon - https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2008/09oct_liquidmirror

"It's so simple," says Ermanno F. Borra, physics professor at the Optics Laboratory of Laval University in Quebec, Canada. "Isaac Newton knew that any liquid, if put into a shallow container and set spinning, naturally assumes a parabolic shape—the same shape needed by a telescope mirror to bring starlight to a focus. This could be the key to making a giant lunar observatory."

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