New England Journal of Medicine Study Finds Cognition in Vegetative Patients - WSJ.com

New England Journal of Medicine Study Finds Cognition in Vegetative Patients - WSJ.com:
"Study Finds Cognition in Vegetative Patients"

This is amazing and, I think, reinforces what I said about pattern matching and sentience a couple of posts ago.

It's also tragic and horrifying, being trapped in your own body all this time, aware but unable to communicate.

Reader, you have much to be thankful for.

Transparent, nanowire based touch screen

Sensitive enough to detect your breath? That's sensitive. (More)

And look, it's made in Portugal.

Pattern matching and sentience

We are pattern matching machines, like all creatures that hunt or evade. That's a big group. In fact, I can't think of a creature that doesn't engage in one of those two activities. Even a significant number of plants hunt or evade, and while those behaviors are simplistic and devoid of neural activity, they still involve pattern matching at the chemical level.

So, the activity is out there, and it's a major part of the business of being alive. We humans are exceptionally adept pattern matchers. We love the activity. When you look at stars and see the shapes of animals or Greek gods, you're engaged in pattern matching, and your appreciation of art and music are based on it as well.

As sentient creatures, we are isolated, having little or no contact with similarly gifted creatures as we poke about our planet and the surrounding area. Sure, there are gorillas that can use sign language and some other mammals may approach self awareness, but those cases are not clear cut. The isolation we therefore suffer makes it easy for us to distort our perception of ourselves until we think pattern matching is a sentient only behavior. We need to be mindful of this mistake, as it only strengthens the gulf we already feel between ourselves and the rest of nature, and reinforces our overall smug attitude as a species.

China, Freedom, and Google

When I see articles like this one about Google's potential decision to lift the censorship of search results in China, I get a feeling of real hope. It almost makes one believe all the dreams we bandied about during the goofy days when the internet was young and anything seemed possible.

What I really like is the idea that Chinese people are gathering at Google's offices in Beijing to demostrate support. That's fantastic!

Could it be that totalitarianism is actually impractical in an age of information?

John is prepared for NYE.

Morning

Happy Birthday Liba!

Sent from my HTC

Missed the plane...

But rerouted and now running less than an hour late.

Travel tip: tip the skycap like a mofo and watch him smooth talk the ticketing manager. Also it helps if he has the hots for your girfriend.

Sent from my HTC

Who is this man? It's Frank Robaina, international man of mystery. Frank, for coming over for dinner tonight, and dropping off the awesome comic books, thants.

We'll be sure to text you all the gruesome details of our journey.