Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Timely timely

Timely as in it is less than a month since my last post, not that 4:30 AM isn't a fan-freakin-tabulous time to update. I miss having people around to talk with late into the night, apparently when most people are getting sleepy I get the conversational equivalent of the munchies. On that note, here is a thought that I wanted to write about last night, but I had the willpower to force myself to just lie awake in bed, not succumb and get on the computer. No such restraint tonight.

Previously, when thinking of the brain as some state-based computing machine, I had restricted my consideration to the purely electrical, the firing of neurons and whatnot. However, last night it occurred to me that since things like serration affect our mental state, there must be a chemical component to the working of our brains. I found this to be an interesting thought. Since computers are so ubiquitous in my culture, I can relate to a purely electrical brain. Considering a chemical component is like dunking your computer in a stew pot and having it give different outputs based on how the soup tastes as you add different ingredients. Except the computer also controls what is going in the pot. Trippy.

anywho, moral is: surrendering to insomnia leads to better blogging habits.

2 comments:

Max said...

Do you listen to Radiolab, Kenny? It might make for nice late night fare. There was certainly a very interesting story on the brain, our ability to create really any sort of chemical we want, etc. I believe the piece was titled, "Placebos."

Techmage said...

Thanks Max, more things to think about as I lie awake is exactly what I need. I did enjoy the show though. When you think about it, all our life is lived within our head, so it makes sense that it should have so much power.