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The Assemblage Brain

Author: Tony D. Sampson
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781452953281
Category : SOCIAL SCIENCE
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description

The Assemblage Brain

Author: Tony D. Sampson
Publisher: U of Minnesota Press
ISBN: 1452953295
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 330

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Book Description
Once upon a time, neuroscience was born. A dazzling array of neurotechnologies emerged that, according to popular belief, have finally begun to unlock the secrets of the brain. But as the brain sciences now extend into all corners of cultural, social, political, and economic life, a yet newer world has taken shape: “neuroculture,” which goes further than ever before to tackle the profound ethical implications we face in consequence. The Assemblage Brain unveils a major new concept of sense making, one that challenges conventional scientific and philosophical understandings of the brain. Drawing on Deleuze and Guattari, Tony D. Sampson calls for a radical critical theory that operates in the interferences between philosophy, science, art, and politics. From this novel perspective the book is structured around two questions: “What can be done to a brain?” and “What can a brain do?” Sampson examines the rise of neuroeconomics in informing significant developments in computer work, marketing, and the neuropharmaceutical control of inattentiveness in the classroom. Moving beyond the neurocapitalist framework, he then reestablishes a place for proto-subjectivity in which biological and cultural distinctions are reintegrated in an understanding of the brain as an assemblage. The Assemblage Brain unravels the conventional image of thought that underpins many scientific and philosophical accounts of how sense is produced, providing a new view of our current time in which capitalism and the neurosciences endeavor to colonize the brain.

The Self-Assembling Brain

Author: Peter Robin Hiesinger
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691241694
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description
"In this book, Peter Robin Hiesinger explores historical and contemporary attempts to understand the information needed to make biological and artificial neural networks. Developmental neurobiologists and computer scientists with an interest in artificial intelligence - driven by the promise and resources of biomedical research on the one hand, and by the promise and advances of computer technology on the other - are trying to understand the fundamental principles that guide the generation of an intelligent system. Yet, though researchers in these disciplines share a common interest, their perspectives and approaches are often quite different. The book makes the case that "the information problem" underlies both fields, driving the questions that are driving forward the frontiers, and aims to encourage cross-disciplinary communication and understanding, to help both fields make progress. The questions that challenge researchers in these fields include the following. How does genetic information unfold during the years-long process of human brain development, and can this be a short-cut to create human-level artificial intelligence? Is the biological brain just messy hardware that can be improved upon by running learning algorithms in computers? Can artificial intelligence bypass evolutionary programming of "grown" networks? These questions are tightly linked, and answering them requires an understanding of how information unfolds algorithmically to generate functional neural networks. Via a series of closely linked "discussions" (fictional dialogues between researchers in different disciplines) and pedagogical "seminars," the author explores the different challenges facing researchers working on neural networks, their different perspectives and approaches, as well as the common ground and understanding to be found amongst those sharing an interest in the development of biological brains and artificial intelligent systems"--

Mind Wide Open

Author: Steven Johnson
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0743258797
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
BRILLIANTLY EXPLORING TODAY'S CUTTING-EDGE BRAIN RESEARCH, MIND WIDE OPEN IS AN UNPRECEDENTED JOURNEY INTO THE ESSENCE OF HUMAN PERSONALITY, ALLOWING READERS TO UNDERSTAND THEMSELVES AND THE PEOPLE IN THEIR LIVES AS NEVER BEFORE. Using a mix of experiential reportage, personal storytelling, and fresh scientific discovery, Steven Johnson describes how the brain works -- its chemicals, structures, and subroutines -- and how these systems connect to the day-to-day realities of individual lives. For a hundred years, he says, many of us have assumed that the most powerful route to self-knowledge took the form of lying on a couch, talking about our childhoods. The possibility entertained in this book is that you can follow another path, in which learning about the brain's mechanics can widen one's self-awareness as powerfully as any therapy or meditation or drug. In Mind Wide Open, Johnson embarks on this path as his own test subject, participating in a battery of attention tests, learning to control video games by altering his brain waves, scanning his own brain with a $2 million fMRI machine, all in search of a modern answer to the oldest of questions: who am I? Along the way, Johnson explores how we "read" other people, how the brain processes frightening events (and how we might rid ourselves of the scars those memories leave), what the neurochemistry is behind love and sex, what it means that our brains are teeming with powerful chemicals closely related to recreational drugs, why music moves us to tears, and where our breakthrough ideas come from. Johnson's clear, engaging explanation of the physical functions of the brain reveals not only the broad strokes of our aptitudes and fears, our skills and weaknesses and desires, but also the momentary brain phenomena that a whole human life comprises. Why, when hearing a tale of woe, do we sometimes smile inappropriately, even if we don't want to? Why are some of us so bad at remembering phone numbers but brilliant at recognizing faces? Why does depression make us feel stupid? To read Mind Wide Open is to rethink family histories, individual fates, and the very nature of the self, and to see that brain science is now personally transformative -- a valuable tool for better relationships and better living.

Unthought

Author: N. Katherine Hayles
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022644788X
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 263

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Book Description
N. Katherine Hayles is known for breaking new ground at the intersection of the sciences and the humanities. In Unthought, she once again bridges disciplines by revealing how we think without thinking—how we use cognitive processes that are inaccessible to consciousness yet necessary for it to function. Marshalling fresh insights from neuroscience, cognitive science, cognitive biology, and literature, Hayles expands our understanding of cognition and demonstrates that it involves more than consciousness alone. Cognition, as Hayles defines it, is applicable not only to nonconscious processes in humans but to all forms of life, including unicellular organisms and plants. Startlingly, she also shows that cognition operates in the sophisticated information-processing abilities of technical systems: when humans and cognitive technical systems interact, they form “cognitive assemblages”—as found in urban traffic control, drones, and the trading algorithms of finance capital, for instance—and these assemblages are transforming life on earth. The result is what Hayles calls a “planetary cognitive ecology,” which includes both human and technical actors and which poses urgent questions to humanists and social scientists alike. At a time when scientific and technological advances are bringing far-reaching aspects of cognition into the public eye, Unthought reflects deeply on our contemporary situation and moves us toward a more sustainable and flourishing environment for all beings.

Catalyst of Power

Author: Jon Whale
Publisher: DragonRising Publishing
ISBN: 1873483058
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
Discusses the topics such as: experience your own Assemblage Point, a crucial energy vortex of our Energy Body; discover how the position of the Assemblage Point controls how we feel and behave; learn how to shift and relocate the Assemblage Point to improve mental and physical performance and accelerate personal growth; and more.

Hallucinations

Author: Oliver Sacks
Publisher: Knopf Canada
ISBN: 0307402193
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description
Hallucinations, for most people, imply madness. But there are many different types of non-psychotic hallucination caused by various illnesses or injuries, by intoxication--even, for many people, by falling sleep. From the elementary geometrical shapes that we see when we rub our eyes to the complex swirls and blind spots and zigzags of a visual migraine, hallucination takes many forms. At a higher level, hallucinations associated with the altered states of consciousness that may come with sensory deprivation or certain brain disorders can lead to religious epiphanies or conversions. Drawing on a wealth of clinical examples from his own patients as well as historical and literary descriptions, Oliver Sacks investigates the fundamental differences and similarities of these many sorts of hallucinations, what they say about the organization and structure of our brains, how they have influenced every culture's folklore and art, and why the potential for hallucination is present in us all.

Nouns of Assemblage

Author: Riley Michael Parker
Publisher: Housefire
ISBN: 9781937395001
Category : Organisms
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
NOUNS OF ASSEMBLAGE collects sixty-three of the strongest voices in small press fiction, from J. A. Tyler to xTx, from Kevin Sampsell to Cameron C. Pierce, with stories ranging from romantic to absurd to over-the-top violent and back again, covering the full gamut of what small press has to offer. Every story in this collection was written from a different collective noun, or "noun of assemblage," such as A MURDER OF CROW (by Tyler Gobble), or A LITTER OF PUPS (by Joseph Riippi), or A PLAGUE OF LOCUSTS (by Frank Hinton), and none of these stories are available anywhere else. This is the first official title from HOUSEFIRE, the innovative and groundbreaking publishing company located in Portland Oregon.

Demystifying Deleuze

Author: Rob Shields
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781926958200
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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Book Description
The theoretical work of Gilles Deleuze has transformed cultural studies and has made a significant impact on disciplines as diverse as sociology, queer theory, feminist studies, film, music, and philosophy. Until recently his books were notorious for their density and eccentric flair. While there are a wide array of introductions that complement and clarify his work, this assemblage stands apart by shedding his concepts of jargon and stressing the crucial, radical core of his philosophical ideas. [i]Demystifying Deleuze[/i]is a timely and approachable primer for students, scholars and critically-minded readers.

The Believer's Brain

Author: Kenneth M. Heilman
Publisher: Psychology Press
ISBN: 1317812891
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 188

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Book Description
About 90% of people have faith in a supreme being, but our yearning for the divine, and whatever it promises, involves a large divergence in mental states and behaviors. Some adhere to doctrine, supplication, and fastidious religious practices; others have a strong sense they are part of something greater and more universal. However, all religious and spiritual paths are mediated by complex brain networks. When different areas of the brain are stimulated, a person can have a variety of experiences, but there is no specific ‘God spot’ where stimulation enhances religiosity or spirituality. Functional brain imaging shows that there are specific areas of the brain that ‘light up’ when subjects perform certain religious activities, but imaging only provides anatomic correlations, not functional explanations. The Believer's Brain takes a step beyond these singular methodologies, providing converging evidence from a variety study methods of how humans’ brain networks mediate different aspects of religious and spiritual beliefs, feelings, actions, and experiences. Although the book reveals how our brain is the home to the religious and spiritual mind, understanding this gift will not diminish our spirituality or our love or our belief in a supreme being, but will increase appreciation of the apparatus that mediates these mental states.