J.J. Abrams is one of the foremost story tellers of our generation. Creator of Lost and director of Mission Impossible 3, Super 8, and Star Trek, Abrams is renowned for pulling viewers into a story until, well, they have a hard time finding their way out. In this TEDTalk, Abrams shares his...
Mark 4:35-41
posted by DJL
On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great gale arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being...
Mistakes & Learning
posted by DJL
I’ve been working through Jonah Lehrer’s How We Decide, a really fine book that explores the neuroscience behind how we make decisions. In one of the early chapters, Lehrer describes the role dopamine neurons play in decision-making. Essentially, they are those elements of the brain that register experience and create emotions. Interestingly, these neurons actually learn from experience. That is, they take note of successes and failures and improve their predictive performance (creating an emotion before something actually occurs – pleasure at the sight of an ice cream cone, anxiety when noticing that the back door to the house is...
Mark 4:35-38
posted by DJL
On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great gale arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being...
Book Spine Poetry
posted by DJL
Killing two birds with one stone this Memorial Day. 1) Folks from time to time ask what I’m reading; 2) I love Maria Popova’s book spine poetry and have wanted to try. So, here it is, what I’m reading – the second time for the more existentially confounded....