Author Archives: Steve Mays
Dream Collector
The amazing historical animated GIFs of French photographer Nicolas Monterrat
How LSD affects consciousness
Researchers have published the first images showing the effects of LSD on the human brain, as part of a series of studies that are examining how the drug causes its characteristic hallucinogenic effects. (More at Nature)
“Within some important brain networks, such as the neuronal networks that normally fire together when the brain is at rest, which is sometimes called the ‘default mode’ network, we saw reduced blood flow — something we’ve also seen with psilocybin — and that neurons that normally fire together lost synchronization. That correlated with our volunteers reporting a disintegration of their sense of self, or ego. This known effect is called ‘ego dissolution’: the sense that you are less a singular entity, and more melded with people and things around you.”
The Death of Expertise
Tom Nichols is a professor of national security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College and an adjunct professor in the Harvard Extension School. He mourns “the death of expertise.” A few excerpts;
“But democracy denotes a system of government, not an actual state of equality. It means that we enjoy equal rights versus the government, and in relation to each other. Having equal rights does not mean having equal talents, equal abilities, or equal knowledge. It assuredly does not mean that “everyone’s opinion about anything is as good as anyone else’s.”
“What I fear has died is any acknowledgement of expertise as anything that should alter our thoughts or change the way we live. […] The perverse effect of the death of expertise is that without real experts, everyone is an expert on everything. […] Having a strong opinion about something isn’t the same as knowing something.”
And my favorite…
“The University of Google doesn’t count.”
Pixelmator Repair Tool (2016)
This sunset was prettier than this photo shows and was marred by the phone/power lines. Pixelmator recently updated a few features, including a Repair tool that does a really nice job of eliminating the lines. A pro, taking her time, could get an even better result.
