In an interview (with Morgenbladet - almost rivaling Wired as my #1 source lately -at least until I pick up the notes from the last two issues) early this summer the Norwegian author and sort-of-philosopher Jostein Gaarder made some interesting comments. What follows are rough translation, preserving the intent if not the wording and nuances, followed by my reflections and links.
"The whole authorship is recognizable by an eruptive need to express oneself when it comes to the big questions"? Just do it, like the old Nike slogan said. Some times this blog feels the same way. Some articles or events are just too big to let go with just a casual discussion. The drive of reflection and the possibility of interaction drives the words from the mind, into the fingers and out to the page (be it html or paper). But not all of us want to end up translated into tens of different languages, recognized at sight (not to mention sound) in large parts of the world. The act of thinking and writing is in many ways its own reward.
"?Descartes was concerned with the relation between soul and body. That is something I'?m extremely fascinated by, but today I would discuss it with a neurologist. And the existence of God is best discussed by astrophysicists" -? the science and understanding of the mind is making leaps and bounds right behind the covers of SciAm Mind (note to self: pick up the latest issue, and finish the last couple of articles from the summer issue,? post are in the queue). We are approaching the mind from all angels; chemical, electrical, decisions and DNA. And with each understanding we uncover a whole stack of new questions and areas of research. So the amount of knowledge and specialization grows until it truly is too much for one person to grasp? and then we start looking at the stars, where the numbers are in billions, and the distances beyond our ability to truly grasp. In a way I'm glad the sky is blue during the day, so we can "forget"? the stars and go about our business, leaving the dreaming for the nighttime.
"There are fewer and fewer cultural references in my books. Previously I could walk around thinking about something Schiller had written. Today I'?m thinking about the Devon age, when the amphibians crawled out of the seas." The second I read this, one name and one book jumped up and shouted "?hey, over here"?; JG Ballard and Drowned World. A scifi masterpiece, one of the key concepts of the book is the pre-historic core memory we all possess. Normally it is hidden far down, but extreme events or prolonged exposure to the right climate (hot, humid and limiting) will bring it right back. And during the last fortnight I've felt it coming on -? the heat phasing out the need or desire to do anything other than just sit still in the sun. Leaving all things requiring mental input until the sun goes down, sometime after nine, be it making dinner or washing clothes.
