Are the best tools Swiss army knife-like - flexible, adaptable, multifunctional, and easy to use? Or is a knife-like tool - optimally sharpened, single-purposed for cutting - ideal? When framed as a simplistic dichotomy, it is obvious that tools do not have a universal or intrinsic “bestness,” but are context dependent and best viewed instrumentally… Continue reading The Swiss Army Knife
Tag: Perception
Mind Through Matter
Cognition - the ability to detect, record, and assimilate salient features of environments - is a fundamental feature of all biological agents. It enables organisms to move from a perpetually reactive state to one that is predictive, it decreases surprise and novelty, and its products reduce the demands of physiological and psychological homeostasis. Utilizing the… Continue reading Mind Through Matter
Great Expectations
Visual illusions (see below) provide unique insights into the generative aspects of perceptions and the gaps between perception and reality. They not only illustrate the disproportionate impact our learned and innate knowledge of the world - our priors - have on our perceptions, but also that perception is not a direct reflection of the world… Continue reading Great Expectations
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