science
-
The Optimistic Directive
A philosophical look at Neal Stephenson's push for optimistic science fiction.
-
The Brain is What We Do with It
There is yet no consciousness of the brain’s plasticity and thus no awareness of the potentials for development, reorganization. ‘Neuronal man’ has yet to gain a sense of his own freedom.
-
Why Are We So Obsessed With Improving IQ?
Does knowing your IQ really matter? A response to David Hambrick's New York Times opinion piece, "I.Q. Points for Sale, Cheap."
-
What Scientists Can Learn From Ballet
Dancers and scientists do share a common creative process, the mastery of complex skills, a drive to transcend limits, and a desire to excel. We can learn from each other!
-
Who Creates The Innovator?
Is intelligence important to innovation? Who creates the innovator: The parent, the teacher, the mentor, or the innovator themselves? Can passion pay the bills? I tackle these questions and more as I review Tony Wagner's thought provoking book Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People That Will Change The World.
-
Portrait of a Scientist as a Jazz Musician
"Like in jazz, we are guided by a thematic problem, develop material statement by statement, explore tangential ideas, and readily adapt to mistakes and unexpected results".
-
The Art and Science of Collaboration
When someone reads your rough draft, it's like letting them see you half-dressed. It's about arriving at a level of intellectual comfort – or having faith in the process. In a successful collaboration, both people feel like they did less than half the work.
-
Is Academia Inhospitable to Big Discoveries?
To tackle the brain, academia must be turned upside down.
-
The Fear of Neuroesthetics
Science is reductionist by its nature. It cannot study a complex system as a whole; rather, it isolates its constituents first and tries to build a picture of the whole from studying its parts.
-
Brain Stimulation Makes the ‘Impossible Problem’ Solvable
'Thinking cap' makes a virtually impossible problem — possible.
