Lord of Light

Title: Lord of Light
Author: Roger Zelazny
Genre: Sci-Fi
Synopsis: The Gods worshiped on a distant planet are in fact the first settlers from way back that had superior technology. They keep this from the population and rule with a strict caste system.
Verdict: Really liked the theological premise and how the different faiths were portrayed (Hindu, Buddhist and Christian especially). The oppressive tendency of blind faith and corrupting nature of power are evident and all is done with good humor. Battle scenes went on some. 

Love Film

Joined love film and enjoying the movies but whenever someone asks me what I’ve seen I hit a blank. So here’s some quick summaries to jog my memory like this filing cabinet should & I’ll try and keep pace with my viewing from now on!

In Time – OK movie to watch at home. Interesting sci-fi premise about the global currency being time, all engineered to live a certain time and you can buy credit so the rich can live forever etc. But it turns into a bank job car chase flick with a surprising small police force (and only 1 who runs!). Liked the future turns retro idea but looper did it much better.

Unknown – A good thriller with lots of twists which I really enjoyed. Man loses memory and comes out with the insight that ‘going insane is like a war between knowing who you are and being told who you think you are’ – which one will win? Action but with a gripping story and enough surprises to keep me guessing.

Real Steel – Fighting robots? Actually that more a backdrop for another Speilberg kid adventure – teaches the adults a thing or two about life and you get a warm glow feeling it’s all going to be OK. Not quite as sickly as I made out there and I was impressed Speilberg still has the skills to make these work. Better than super 8 (but that might be cause it had fighting robots in!)

Another Earth – Would have made a sweet short story but for a film too long and dull. They find another earth that mirrors ours and in my opinion make very little of that fact. The story centres around a car accident and the repercussions. Would have worked better on stage.

Troll Hunter – Fun idea executed in an entertaining manner. Just suspend belief for a couple of hours and be prepared for subtitles.

Red State – Kevin Smith does horror? Well there’s a bit of gore in this kids abducted by crazy far right Christians yarn (think westboro Baptist church gone more mad) and Smith manages to entertain and make you think about the political system and motivations of others while telling a tall tale.  The ending is abit anticlimactical but guess it was a neat way to wrap up and save the budget since was on a shoe string. 

Boomtown 2012

This weekend a large field in Winchester became my Bass Mecca where I was lucky enough to cram far too much fun into a couple of days. It’s the first time I've been to boomtown and it’s a top festival, possibly the best I've ever been to.  I was drawn to it by the fantastic DJ line up of breaks and beats I love and spat out wowed by both the music and the dedication to creating a proper festival vibe like you dream of how festivals should be. It’s small enough to be non-corporate and seems run just for fun. There’s no big name bands headlining, the organisers know what they like & put the best of that on for everyone to enjoy – plus making sure there so many odd performances happening all over the place you have genuine laugh out loud moments and never forget your somewhere very special indeed. The town feel with actual streets containing bars / theaters / bank takeovers and secret entrances make it so much more than a few marquees in a field. 

Here’s a brief rundown of the fun I had me when I was there:

Once I’d arrived I was straight off to see DJ Parker who lived up to my expectations of seamlessly mashing genres to get my groove on from groovy funk to tasty breaks and ending on bouncy drum & bass (I didn’t learn to pace myself this wkend).  Then I was off to the town centre stage to see the dub pistols live – I did catch them last weekend at standon calling where they blew the sound desk! No technical hitches this time so the set flowed perfectly, the sun blazed down and I skank leapt solar charged and massively excited.

Then for old time sakes I went off to checkout Zion Train who I recall from megadog days in Nottingham. They’ve still got it and I was eased into dub techno from 15 years ago that still sounds fresh and the positive lyrics go so well with the sunshine. After that I was on my way to catch the plump djs but got distracted by the sounds of Stevie with a phat b-line and got introduced to the boombox stage – a massive ghetto blaster (double decker bus size) pumping out dope bass funk – skalliwaggles was on the controls then and kept me captive for too long ;)

Back to the bassline circus for the disturbing spectacle that is High Rankin’s live show. His tash and leotard made me think I was watching the reincarnation of Freddy Mercury possessed by the spirit of filthy dubstep. This is brostep stadium style with spinal tap guitars and bass to 11 at least – the kids love it! Defiantly a spectacle to behold and a sonic assault that brings on a cheeky grin.

Darkness had descended outside too and I had to get some warmer clothes but made it back at midnight in time for the Arcadia spectacular show which is what it says on the tin. This stage is fantastic and sums up for me why festival are so gr8. This is not a normal gig with DJ at a club, it’s a whole experience. And with a massive mechanical spider from outta space bearing down on you with a pyrotechnics show to make you think you are in some CGI movie scene you know it’s gonna be taken to another level. Seriously, this is a full on sensory experience to make dancing outside even more fun.

The fireworks were followed by the Stanton Warriors who were mightily impressive. I’ve not brought any of their tunes in a while as don’t fit my current sets but the masterclass in electro funk they played here was perfect for the moment and kept me on the floor the entire time. I stuck around for some shy fx – old jungle as you’d expect but I had to make a move to see Pyramid who were a massive highlight. The tent wasn't too packed and they worked the crowd hard much to everyone’s satisfaction. This is a MC DJ combo who work well together to keep the energy up. Couple of highlight from their set for me were mashing up the acapella of ‘we are your friends’ with chase & status Eastern Jam which worked so well and then towards the finale they dropped freestylers ‘over you’ which is my current favourite running tune and as I felt I’d run a marathon was very fitting. My leaping about scored plenty of high fives and I went back to tent ecstatic that at last I’ve heard the tunes I love to DJ played as they should be – loud to an up for it audience with room to dance.

Saturday:

Woke to blazing sunshine – a good sign for the day ahead. Things start slow at boomtown as they go on late so I had time to grab breakfast and explore the site some more. This lead to me finding the perfect morning starting spot; the hidden woods stage which is a great shady oasis (literally with sand n cocktails) playing roots from black star dub; set the day off well.

After that I went to the main site for lunch and was blessed to hear DJ Skitz scratching up a hip hop medley of classics warning up the crowd for Rodney P. Refuelled once more I was up for catching the dirty dubsters but they were a bit too mellow for my musical appetite. As fate would have it that led me to stumbling across and ghetto funk impromptu takeover. B-Side was pumping out his phat funky sounds at a smoothies bar (apparently run by friends of theirs so they popped down with a rig!) That kept me entertained nicely.

Back to Lion’s den, usually dub roots reggae but I was intrigued by DJ Krinjah from the US – 1^st time in UK. Loving his ragga jungle amens – not so keen on the MC in tow but that’s the way they do it there. Will be checking out some soundcloud mixes to see if any sets without that shouty man as krinjah kept the breaks rolling in an old junglist style I’ve not heard for some time!

All of that had just been a warm up really and I was off to the leisure centre with high hopes for Itchy & Skratchy (there’s 3 of them) and they delivered. Almost two hours of glitched funk (some tipper – always a winner) to drum and bass gave me a workout like I didn’t think I was capable of after Fridays shenanigans. Just too excited by music as I’ve not been able to find this in London clubs and they certainly hit the spot bang on for me. It was truly fantastic to have all the music I love in one place on a sun drenched weekend too, and there was more to come.

To chill afterwards I went to see the nextmen who I’d prefer if they lost the MC they’ve had last couple of times I’ve seen them. They still play a great selection of party tunes but whereas they used to blend effortlessly and surprisingly till u thought where’d this come from, now it all lost to the MC shouting encouragement over it all. Guess it works for some people. Anyway, turns out to be a blessing as that gave me the chance to catch David Rodigan who is, I think, the John Peel of reggae. In his sixties he’s been behind reggae in the UK for decades and it was so inspiring to see someone with a genuine passionate for music burning bright. This was not they kind of DJ set I’m used to – he was more radio DJ in that he talked and introduced songs but not in that crass radio 1 ‘here’s some funny banter’ but just doing service to the tunes he was playing, be they classic Jamaican dubplates , 90’s oldskool or new dubstep greats like breakage. To still be so passionate about music that you can hold captive a peek time crowd on Saturday in the main tent of a festival was to me an inspiring tribute to the power of music. No wonder so many producers are dropping sample of him into tunes –living legend.

And boomtown kept delivering, next up the subslayers takeover of the arcadia stage which I’ve been so looking forward to – and Jay Cunning and King Yoof delivered big time. All the new 140 jungle tunes I love and another finale to finish me off – 601 rage mixed with pyramid remix of Emeli Sande’s Heaven wow - is all I can say.

To wind down from this I’m glad I spotted Ewan Hoozami was playing in one of the many smaller rooms. It’s amazing how much was packed into the programme and being the breaks addict I am I’d packed every hour with something fantastic from the programme. This meant I never really got time to explore these smaller musical happenings and there must have some real gems I missed but can’t be everywhere at once. This has totally whetted my appetite for future years at boomtown. Back to funkington manor, Ewan was true to form with a scratchy & groovy blend which was all that I needed right then.

After all that I had to have some tent chill time as night had fallen and my legs were about to drop off. But with so much going down I had to head back in, this time to meet Tony et al – just in time to catch the arcadia show again (the repeat was not dull at all – that’s how amazing it was – see here.

Saturday night always the busiest at a festival and ratpack weren’t really doing it for us (as they had previously at the secret shindig) so took the by now the well beaten path back to the bassline circus for some brakeage. His dj set seems to have gotton abit 4x4 – perhaps the big time beckons? Seemed to go down well with the huge crowd; much more packed in this tent too. Searching for a tent with space in lead us to bodyworks where panacea was playing. His brutal drum n bass set actually made sense in my exhausted mind. Sure the percussion seemed to be going at 200bpm but the subtle sub bass changes at half speed really did it for me and it’s an intricate web to get caught in. Mind willing but body aching I had to admit all good thing come to an end so I headed off to bed thoroughly satisfied I’d maxed out on great music and vibes.

Indeed I left Sunday morning knowing I’m put my all into the two days when all my favourite artist were playing and there’s only so much punishment my legs can take before they run no more. But overall boomtown proved itself to be an amazing festival. Sure there were lots of top acts I wanted to see but more than that the odd performances, stumbled across bands and dedication to putting on something unique for the exclusive reason of making people have fun charmed me completely. And did I mention enough different ciders that once I found the proper bar I didn’t have the same twice? Put simply a full on party put on by what must be party people with one purpose – to party. 

trip to mars

No joke - they wanna use reality TV to fund sending peeps (one way) to Mars:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_One

That's the maddest thing I've heard of in ages - wonder what the ethics of broadcasting that could be?

Artistic Spirituality

A morning musing on the similarities of art and religion lead me to this excellent quote from St Francis Assisi:

He who works with his hands is a labourer,
He who works with hands and mind is a craftsman,
But he who uses hands, mind and heart together is an artist.

To me these are just different levels of concentration:
Conscious
Mindful
Enlightened

And the joy of zen is to know enlightenment is present in every moment so you can be an artist always :)

To remember my age...

I need this it seems:
http://www.mathcats.com/explore/age/calculator.html
Got it wrong again and am a year younger than I though!

Don’t believe all you read - A couple of sci-fi reads of late

Blue Earth Remembered by Alastair Reynolds was OK but a bit disappointing. It would have been good if this had been a new author but his Revelation Space and Chasm City books were fantastic and the hype for this book lead me to believe it would be the same.  The previous books had been major tomes creating vast futurist universes which were as enjoyable as Iain M Banks’ culture novel. In Blue Earth Remembered the setting is a near future earth where human kind has only spread across the solar system. There’s many a neat extrapolation from our current technology, such as keyboards being obsolete because everything is voice commanded or thought of in augmented reality. However my main gripe was the beginning story petered out to be insignificant and what became the major plot seemed to me to be a tag on at the end. Entertaining but he has done much better in my opinion.

Paolo Bacigalupi’s The Windup Girl had the opposite effect. I picked this up as it had won the Hugo award in 2009 but I’d also some reviews saying it wasn’t that great. And sure enough it started off slow and I was thinking it was more of an industrial espionage thriller that happened to be set in the future. His future is a bioengineered chaos where crops have failed, fossil fuel run out and a Thailand surrounded by sea walls try’s to remain independent of multination GM crop companies. And that’s not even going into what the windup girl is all about.

The joy with this book I found is the plot quickly developed but slowly (?) perhaps effortlessly is a better term. You got to know and identify with the characters and different plot lines were woven into a beautiful tapestry you couldn’t imagine before but never did it seem complicated or scattered. And the pace at the end was phenomenal - like being hoist up on a rollercoaster, enjoying the view from the top, then freefalling and being thrilled by the ride. I was almost breathless at the end, a read I’d recommend to any sci-fi fan.

Positivity – Barbara Fredrickson

Perfect for a sciency mind like mine this book on positivity was an illuminating read which gave me a much better understanding of happiness. OK that sounds odd, and yes, one key point is not to analyse too much, however some reflection on this topic was useful as I was stuck in a binary black or white situation – I like being happy and don’t like being sad.

I feel this read gave me a much better vocabulary about my own states of happiness so I can connect with them better. I was also pleased that it disproved a concern I’d had that being overly positive meant having your head buried in the sand (or in the clouds – either way elsewhere!). However the book aptly displays that:
a) appropriate negativity keeps us grounded, real and honest and
b) positivity can lead to an upward spiral. 
The downward spiral of negativity is well documented and known in the western world – something the positive psychology movement it trying to counter and a good job too as I think the materialism of chasing surface pleasures makes the downward spiral more accessible and hides the ladder of the upward spiral.

So what’s with the upward spiral? It’s defiantly not grin and bear it; or only looking on the bright side. It’s more about keeping perspective by rejoicing in the simple pleasures and knowing that often negativity is inappropriately blown up in our minds. These help give the ability to bounce back from the enviable knocks of life.

But that’s staying level – where’s the going up? Well I liked the convincing evolutionary argument:
‘The anthropologist Lionel Tiger casts hope as the evolved antidote to our gig human forebrains. Unlike any other earthly creature, we humans can envision our own futures and, in so doing, all possible calamities. Without hope, our unique human ability to forecast our inevitable death and demise would leave us in motionless despair. With hope, we become energised to do as much as we can to make a good life for ourselves and for others.’

And it’s being filled with hope and other positive emotions that make us more confident and resilient so we are more likely to try new things, take risks, and be more creative rather than clinging to tried and tested methods. It’s refreshing that evolution, so often portrayed as harsh survival of the fittest, can be seen in this light. I also found the idea that positivity can lead to flourishing logical and backed up with experiments showing subjects in positive states are more receptive, creative and happier has given me hope to tap into some of that. It’s great to know what the brain is capable of, especially when it’s positive!

TED Education

Not just for kids I hope :P
Did you know you can fit a million earths inside the sun...

Bold as Love - Gwyneth Jones

I really enjoyed this read as it reminded me of classic Jeff Noon in his Vert heyday which is a top book. Bold as Love is set in a conceivable but far out near future where environmental and (again as in all most near future sci fi I’ve read recently) religious tensions have led to a meltdown. The absurd but oddly believable solution in this parallel universe is for the government to set up a counter-culture think tank of musicians / rock stars to pacify the disillusioned masses that ends up running the county.

It believable because the rock star / policy influencer line has been blurred in recent time (think since live aid celebrities have spoken up more on political issues – U2 a case in point). It’s absurd because it takes that ’three days at a festival – what if the whole world was like this’ and runs with it. However for those that have been there in a festival bubble forgetting reality it’s a wonderfully coherent flight of fantasy.

The musical vibe was spot on with a mix of futuristic techno-masked Vj’s and indie junior starlets brushing with the dark side of rock n roll. There are lots of good ideas crammed into the book. Perhaps that contributed to it losing focus towards the end. I was a little disappointed that it didn’t tidy up all lose ends. Instead I felt it disintegrated into chaos (as life does?) towards the very end, perhaps intentional to capture that festival vibe? Or maybe that’s because it the beginning of a series. Still, I think I’ll be back for the others in the sequence as it was fun and easy read :)

Revealing Economic Observation

Analogy attributed to Professor Douglas Orr of City College of San Francisco

“If you want to learn about an airplane, the cheapest way to do it is with a model airplane. Maybe you go out and get a build-n-paint F-16 from your local hobby shop. It’s a great way to get details about the appearance and dimensions of a real jet fighter. Or maybe you go out and get a little balsa-wood glider, which is a great way to get an intuition for basic aerodynamics. But every kid understands implicitly that F-16s are not built by snapping plastic chunks out of molded frames and gluing them together, just as every kid understands that you don’t go to the airport and get strapped onto a giant balsa wood trojan glidar and hurl [yourself] off a bridge.
"As you learn about mainstream economics you will be continuously urged by your textbook to apply the models you are learning to the real world, and you will be faced with constant reminders of the predictive power of these models. But the reason I’m standing here talking to you is to remind you, just as constantly, that every single morning, in offices from Wall Street to the IMF, economists are strapping entire populations to wooden planes and launching them off bridges, throwing up their hands in helpless befuddlement at the inevitable grisly results, cashing their checks, and heading out for the golf course by 2pm.”

Big 5 Personality Test

I'm a O53-C74-E18-A94-N14 Big Five!!

1 Giant leap – what about me?

1 Giant leap – what about me

Click above for what I think is an amazing film I recommend everyone watch. I say film but it’s more a concept multimedia project and having a heads-up on how it was made before you watch it only makes it more amazing in my opinion.

Two guys travelled to 50 countries with a laptop and video camera to record artist and interview people. Out of this chaos they have created a beautiful, life affirming mosaic which shows starkly how our consumer driven ego insanity does not satisfy what it is to be human.

The insights are awesome, the music and visuals beautiful and the journey fulfilling. If you are interested in any of the collaborating artist I think you will get a lot out of it. Some people involved include:

Noam Chomsky, Michael Frant, Carlos Santana, Eckhart Tolle, Baghavan Das, Alanis Morissette, Eddi Reader, Billy Connolly, Tim Robbins, K.D.Lang, Bob Geldof, Jhelisa, Maxi Jazz, Stephen Fry.

Supersense by Bruce Hood

It took me ages to read this. Puzzling as it’s a fascinating subject and an argument I agree with but the book was really hard to read.

The book is basically about how our minds have developed to be primed to believe in supernatural phenomenon to explain the world around us. This leads on to the idea that religions are just fit this already existing structure rather than are imposed brain washing forced on the young. This way of thinking goes a long way to explaining why religion persists and is believed by intelligent people despite evidence that it is not logical. It showed me the debate about god / atheism will not be resolved as belief is, although illogical, intuitively correct.

Most of that summary is actually gleamed from the New Scientist special edition on God I’ve just read. This condensed all the best ideas I read in the book to eight easy pages without reference to supersense. Clearly lots of people are working in this area and I was unfortunate to find the one book I found hard to get along with.

To me the book was just a jumbled mess of anecdotal evidence with a hotchpotch of well-known experiments, conjecture and ramblings. I was hard pressed to follow any narrative even though there were summaries at the end of each chapter. I found a few gens of wisdom but it was a hard slog to get to the end.

My advice would be to save time and read New Scientist 17 March 2012 issue as that, to me, is the best way to engage with these new ideas.

Science fact or science fiction?

I’ve been aware of Libet's 1979 experiments for some time where he showed the brain has activated movement before a person is consciously aware of the decision. It’s one of those science facts I understood theoretically but the other day when I was reading the explanation of it in my new Sci-Fi read ‘mindscan’(another Robert Sawyer novel) it clicked on a practical level. The explanation used was:

“you're lying in bed, quite mellow, and you look over at the clock, and you think to yourself, I really should get up, it's time to get up, I've got to go to work. You may think this a half-dozen times or more, and then, suddenly, you are getting up — the action has begun, without you being consciously aware that you've finally, really made the decision to get out of bed. And that's because you haven't consciously made that decision; your unconscious has made it for you. It — not the conscious you — has concluded once and for all that it really is time to get out of bed."

I've had that for sure. This rekindled my interest in the scientific evidence for this explanation, especially to check out if the sci-fi description below is correct:

“The action begins 550 milliseconds prior to the first physical movement. Two hundred milliseconds later, the action that's already been started comes to the attention of your conscious self — and your conscious self has 350 milliseconds to put on the brakes before anything happens. The conscious brain doesn't initiate so-called voluntary acts, although it can step in and stop them.”

You see I hadn’t picked up on the 350 millisecond veto before and it does make sense so did some web searching and read this:

http://www.blutner.de/philom/consc/consc.html

It’s a nice easy to digest summary which does verify the sci-fi and concludes:

“Consciousness is not a high level authority that gives orders to subordinated instances. Instead, its main role is a selective one: make a decision between the bulk of possibilities that are proposed by unconscious processes.”

So there’s all kinds of possibilities already happened in my brain at 550 milliseconds and at 350 milliseconds I can veto the action or carry it out. Explains how indecision happens so much especially in now that we have more and more choices and freedoms. It's exactingly as I read in Incognito.

“Your conscious brain takes ownership of the action, and fools itself into thinking it started the action, but really it's just a spectator, watching what your body is doing.”

(Mindscan again) Thought provoking fiction – love it :)

Flashforward – Robert Sawyer

Strangely I was attracted to this book by negative reviews on amazon. Lots of people were saying how it was odd the TV show better than the book. Now I’ve not seen an episode of the TV show because the ads I did see gave the impression the global leap of human consciousness into the future was caused by terrorists. Frankly I’d have believed alien intervention was more probable explanation! Fortunately the book chooses neither of these scenarios and instead centres on the more plausible explanation of experiments at the Large Hadron Collider going awry.

Of course time travel would mess with the fabric of physics as we understand it (look at the fuss that was caused when neutron might have travelled faster!!) so there’s plenty of nerdy science in this version of the story. I’m guessing that’s what gave for some poor reception in those expecting a copy of the TV show. I’m the opposite – in fact the physics is central to the book and I’ve no idea how the TV show worked without it. Mainly because the underlying theme of the book is the notion of free will and whether the future is fixed or full of a multitude of alternative (parallel) futures. So in the book you get to learn about some of the new mind boggling theories from physics about the nature of reality while being pulled along by a fascinating detective story.

Giving a glimpse of the future is an excellent narrative tool to build intrigue without spoiling the end – I’ve seen loads of films recently that begin with the end then jump back. For me the balance of science and story was just right but judging by the reviews it’s not for everyone. And likewise I won’t be rushing out to grab the DVD as I believe I’ve witnessed the best execution of this story possible.

Reasons to check facebook privacy settings

Saw this the other day - great way to display data - Nov 2009 was a shocker:
http://mattmckeon.com/facebook-privacy/

Books on belief

If anything is for sure in this age of expanding information it is that life is far more complex than we can comprehend. That’s why now we have experts in fragmented fields rather than the enlightenment geniuses of all knowledge. And the experts usually say how much has yet to be found out as we are always on the cusp of more understanding. I find it is always good to remember that for all current theories of physics to make sense we have to acknowledge that an estimated 83% of the matter in the universe is the currently-undetermined ‘dark matter’.

Even so our mind still strives to form a coherent narrative to make sense of this chaos we advance through. I think this is where religion steps in but should not be used to fill the gaps of the traditional sciences. These explain the external world by logical increments of evidence based research. For me this is why the Dawkins et al new atheism is speaking the wrong language to change the mind of any believers. The arguments set forth there are doing a great job of showing why the scientific method should be taught in schools rather that rote learning. As Christopher Hitchins summed up in God is not Great: “Religion has run out of justifications. Thanks to the telescope and the microscope, it no longer offers an explanation of anything important.”

And of course both of those instruments point to the external world; but what about the human spirit? The science of our inner world (psychology / neuroscience) shows our minds do not always follow logic like a computer. I agree with Hitchins that we should not dismiss the historical and cultural values of religions contributions to society. Alain de Botton says similar remarks in the Ted talk here.

And these types of arguments seem to be appearing now as people realise that it is not exclusively science verses religion. Indeed Hitchins book points out that:
“Sigmund Freud was quiet correct to describe the religious impulse, in The Future of an Illusion, as essentially ineradicable until or unless the human species can conquer its fear of death and its tendency to wish-thinking.”

For me Carl Jung’s work on archetypes explains how ancient religions have remained. They convey, in their own but similar way, ideas about the human experience we cannot put into words or explain with logic. I see beliefs as lenses to view the world through so it makes sense to your mind. We don’t all have the same mind so there’s a variety of lenses. If you find those that work for you – fantastic, just don’t insist we all use the same ones. And that goes for the atheist too as Julian Baggini puts so well in the Guardian Is religion really under threat?

Also it’s important to note a difference between secularism and atheistism. Lady Warsi made headline talking about a ‘militant secularisation’ but to me it sounded like the disagreement was with militant atheism. I’m all for militant secularisation, separating religious belief from politics, especially in a society with many different beliefs (including the belief in no god(s)). However I'd rather any belief should be kept personal – including atheism. Healthy discussion is to be encouraged if both sides are up for it but evangelical preaching, which recent atheists have fallen foul of, should be avoided. Mind you I figure it's interesting that the country with the most secular foundation (the USA) is now possibly one of the most evangelical.....

Finished Christopher Hitchins ‘God is not Great’
Reading Bruce Hood ‘Supersense’ (more on that later…)

Near Future Sci-Fi

Just read a couple of sci-fi books which did not involve whizzing around outta space (which I also enjoy a lot too). Both extrapolated current developments and painted versions of the future which were not too much of a stretch for the imagination.

First up was Genus by Jonathan Trigell which was set in Kings Cross, London, transformed into a ghetto of ’unimproved’ after genetic engineering and designer babies has become the norm for those that can provide it (which is most people as parents will mortgage their lives to give their children the best start). There’s also been a couple of religious wars thrown in which has made England a tiny enclave.

The book read like an enjoyable detective movie and the future setting made for some playful ideas (i.e. the Kray like gang who are all identical clones so no one ever knows who’s done what) but the characters were remarkably one dimensional. I kept reading as the plot was intriguing – like continuing to watch a movie to find out what happens. If it were a movie it would have been enjoyable with a good plot but nothing to rave about.

Air by Geoff Ryman is a book to rave about. Set in a remote Asian village which is the last to receive the latest technological innovation, air, which is basically the internet in your head. This book deals with more far-fetched innovations than Genus but by making the characters and setting so real and believable you go with it. The setting made for an intriguing read, not at all what I expected. Really showed off Ryman’s writing skills, I felt like I was there observing it rather than watching a movie. In fact I think what made the book so great was that the setting contrasted old world with new showing a dilemma we always face with new technology. As one character says in response to being asked if believe the old folklore:

‘Not really. Not with the top part of my head. But, this old stuff – it produces the right words. You just say what the old people would have said, and something is explained. Somehow it’s all easier to bear’.

That links nicely with the non-fiction books I reading on belief right now. But back to Air – it worked on so many levels and completely sucked me. Whereas most books have a predictable tidy up at the end this kept me guessing and I ended it with the feeling that was a completely satisfying read.

Soundcloud Shocker

Here's my new bass mix - not for the faint hearted!


This version is missing the first track. The first track should be an excellent Kouncilhouse mash up of Leftfield 'Melt' made all drum and bass with Alec Reece. However soundcloud has software that detected the track so I had to edit it out :(
Seems a bit overboard as that track (and the rest of the mix) is not sharing CD tracks for people to download but djing with them which is what they were made for. Welcome to the new age of the internet folks. Here's a great TED talk that explains it much better than I can.

Future Jungle?

Great selection of new tunes - slow amen filled jungle or dubstep with more breaks? a.k.a breakstep...

Drunken Noodles by djburnz

Books by David Eagleman

SUM – this is a collection of short stories about hypothetical afterlives that I enjoyed so much I’ve been recommending everybody reads it. Although each story is just a few pages long they are packed with thought provoking material that made me appreciate life. The prose was such a pleasure to read I found it hard to believe he’s a neuroscientist rather than a novelist. More info and other rave review here:
http://www.possibilian.com/

Incognito – The Secret life of the Brain.
Again Eagleman’s elegant, easy going writing style was a joy to read and he beautifully conveys that now is an amazing time to be alive. We have at last the tools to understand the marvellous mystery machine that makes us who we are like never before. The cautious point here is ‘beginning to’ since the more we find out how the more mystery of why is unleashed.

Many of the explanations of how the brain works used illusions or case studies of brain damage that were also used on this year’s Royal Institute Christmas Lectures (which were also very enjoyable).

Eagleman’s analogy that your brain is like a country and the conscious mind is simply reading the headlines of what has already happened was helpful to put a nice perspective on things. The chapter on the brain being composed of rival teams was also illuminating and enjoyable, adding more understanding to theories I’ve already heard. And not long after reading that I found myself watching a Ted talk by Daniel Goldstein about the battle between your present and future self.

After this there was a change of tone with a lengthy chapter about law and criminal justice. This certainly proved how far reaching these new theories and their consequences can be. Think about the headlines analogy he used. With this suspension of free will it makes sense to ask for a ‘shift from blame to biology’ in the criminal justice system. This is obviously very different from how we currently conceive of ourselves being accountable for our actions.

Although it was good to consider the implications of these radical ideas, highlighting how these new finding have repercussions for us all, I did feel that this chapter lacked the objectivity of the rest of the book. Eagleman came across as being unequivocal about his suggested approaches of pharmaceuticals and surgery. This was at odds with the caution at the beginning of the book and also the examples in the chapter of how prior understanding has been superseded in the criminal justice system.

Overall I thought the book was a clear introduction to the current developments in neuroscience with theories that can turn your world upside down. It will be interesting to see where it all leads.

Cognitive Media - Fantastic animation / talk about the brain

This is brilliant - just over 10 minutes and you discover so much about your brain and the society we have created. Informative and entertaining :)

http://www.cognitivemedia.co.uk/blog/2011/10/the-divided-brain-and-the-making-of-the-western-world

Kindle Delight

What a great way to start off the new year than with a new toy – a kindle. Having filled up with many a good read (I hope) I’ve gotten stuck in and actually feel it’s a more comfortable read for me; and I’m not even squished on a packed tube yet.

Best feature by far is the dictionary that brings up a definition whenever you move the cursor next to a word.

Most perplexing feature I’ve found is that all books begin on the first page of the first chapter. Perhaps it’s just me that wants to read all the bits the author / publisher include before the ‘kindle start’? Glad to see they still include it all at the beginning, especially when these pieces are explanations or quote that must be there at the beginning to be read first? But by including them on the kindle version I do wonder why this strange non-beginning default has been chosen.

Glad there’s a work around – normally is. Expect some book reviews soon.