Mindful of Wonders

This video describes the extraordinary mental abilities of Daniel Tammet. He is one of the world’s few savants. Really the word genius does not even scratch the surface. I guess the way to describe it is this: While I am sitting here trying to make this description half-amusing, he has managed to learn an entire language in a week and can casually do calculations to 100 decimal places in his head. He really has a breathtaking mind. I don’t feel comfortable admitting it but I actually wept watching this video because of how lucky I felt to be able to witness such brilliance in my lifetime. On second thought, it is the world that is lucky to have Daniel.

I don’t want to write too much about the video because I do not want to spoil it for the people who read the comments first. Instead what I do want to write about are the people we idolize. Why is it the actors the singers or the models? I love music, movies and models as much as the next guy, but at the end of the day all these people are terrible role models. I want this guy on MTV!

ergoproxy

Use Your Illusion – Your Brain Does!

Well, here is a satiating video on our consciousness, which explains, not only “An Illusion of Sound” but how our brains actively work to fool us, even as they try to figure out our surroundings. Dan Dennett, a compelling and erudite speaker, combines the best of the worlds of philosophy and neurology, to explain how we inadvertently try to fit disparate elements to uncover (or create) patterns. The video was featured on TED [link], a site compiling a series of talks by the brightest minds on all fields, which take place in Monterey, California. This is internet education at its best! Enjoy. For those of you, who wonder what “An Illusion of Sound” is, click here.

Speedgrapher

An Illusion of Sound

OK, now when ergoproxy told me that he had found a video of an audio illusion, I found myself weirded into silence. You know, “video is seeing as audio is hearing”. However, he HAS told me of more improbable things, so I checked it out. Turns out that the video part is just a black screen and of course, the audio is the gist of it. For the experience to be successful, we must set some things straight first: I cannot tell you how this works because it will probably make you so attentive that the illusion will fail (ergoproxy had explained a bit of it to me and my being a physicist, the illusion worked only the 3rd time I tried it).

Secondly, you have to do it right; let the video load completely before you play it. After it has loaded, try to relax and clear your head (better avoid a distracting environment, i.e. noises, people talking etc.). Then play the video and just listen to the sounds. After it ends, quickly press the replay button and keep listening. Repeat a third time. You should notice the pitch of the sounds increasing continuously. After you have done that, let your ears (and mind) rest for a while. Then, listen to the audio again but this time around, include roughly 1 minute intervals between hearings. Do you notice anything different? [Leave your comments if you like and in approximately 4-5 days, we will post a new text which explains the effect, as well as a video elaborating on the causes, well beyond our meager knowledge].


Speedgrapher