and sooner or later, it's over, I just don't wanna miss you tonight

This is not the usual conversation on the dance floor, let me make that plain. But it's also not rare, or at least, not rare for me. Still, I thought it was worthy of capture.

We're also coming in near the middle, because...well, that's when I arrived.

[16:22] Sxxxx Fxxxxxx: well the brain plasticity is tremendous in the first five years, but the same happens during adolescence. And plasticity research shows how much the brain is capable of rewiring itself. So keep learning - it'll keep moving
[16:24] Sxxxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: Isn't that amazing [Sxx]
[16:24] Sxxxx Fxxxxxx: it really is. A lot of research into older brains came from recovery from severe brain damage

True. Learning how brains recover from severe trauma helped us learn how to help brains slipping into Alzheimer's, and other age-related degradations, process information in better, or at least different, ways. We still have a long way to go, but we're learning good things.

[16:25] Sxxxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: it just rewires around the damage
[16:25] Sxxxx Fxxxxxx: a part could be completely non existent, but yet, its functions cuold be taken up by a different part of the brain not normally associated with those functions
[16:26] Sxxxx Fxxxxxx: it's why stuff like 'left-brained/right-brained' distinctions are complete [bullsh*t]

The biggest revelation of brain pathway research is that the human brain is not two lobes that process independently, but more...holographic. There is the mind/brain split, which is as much philosophical as biological, but as far as left and right brain workings, she's correct. It's all one thing.

[16:27] Sxxxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: That fits in some situations maybe ...but not the full picture
[16:27] Sxxxx Fxxxxxx: tell someone they are right brain dominant and what that means - taht's what'll happen
[16:27] Sxxxx Fxxxxxx: I learned of a new one recently - linear vs fractal thinkers
[16:28] Sxxxx Fxxxxxx: pfffft

To be fair, I do like that one.

[16:28] Sxxxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: I was told by my psych teacher that both sides of my brain worked together...I hope that is good
[16:28] Sxxxx Fxxxxxx: you can learn to be either, but that's not how you are always wired unless you want it to be
[16:28] Sxxxx Fxxxxxx: or trained to be
[16:29] Sxxxx Fxxxxxx: I would hope so [Jxxxx]!
[16:29] Sxxxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: using both sides works for me...I can do art and scripting
[16:30] Sxxxx Fxxxxxx: it's a ridiculous idea that you shouldn't be able to do both
[16:30] Sxxxx Fxxxxxx: ok, shut me up

We are trained to say things like this, btw. That's female training 101--get us to apologize for having opinions and our own thoughts.

[16:30] qxxxxxxxx Lxxx: agreed [sxx]
[16:30] Sxxxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: my father taught me to use my brain like that
[16:30] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Nah, why? You're right
[16:31] qxxxxxxxx Lxxx: love how actual conversations and information flow occurs at the wandering Star

I admit, that's something I love, too. Never can predict the topic, but it's always interesting.

[16:31] Sxxxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: i like chatting with [Sxx]
[16:31] Dxxxxx Axxxx: i'm swapping fashion tips with [Txxx] :)
[16:31] Sxxxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: yes Q...it is the best
[16:33] Sxxxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: collaboration is the best thing about the internet
[16:33] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): That...doesn't happen at other places?
[16:33] Sxxxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: depends on the group

So, maybe I just have different perceptions on what makes a good club? Or maybe I just hang out at fun places.

[16:33] Sxxxx Fxxxxxx: okk so I left the keyboard to shut myself up, but I have one thing to add. Corpus Collusum - why have it if the two halves weren't meant to communicate, support and aid the other!
[16:34] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): So you can give them really tiny spears and gladiator skirts?
[16:34] Sxxxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: yayyy [Sxx] is back
[16:35] Sxxxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: some of us use our brains more than others of us
[16:35] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Also true
[16:35] Sxxxx Fxxxxxx: You've just reminded me of an article I read once about how an athlete healed themselves of really bad injury through learning about the damage so well they could visualise it
[16:35] Sxxxx Fxxxxxx: then
[16:35] Sxxxx Fxxxxxx: they visualised tiny bow and arrows being shot across the fibres
[16:36] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Oh, I like that
[16:36] Sxxxx Fxxxxxx: came back top class athlete
[16:36] Sxxxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: wow that is powerful
[16:36] Sxxxx Fxxxxxx: written off as 'lucky to be able to walk again'
[16:37] Sxxxx Fxxxxxx: mind is an amazing thing
[16:37] qxxxxxxxx Lxxx: brains are PLASTIC... they will change as needed and you are what you think you are
[16:37] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): There have actually been several studies on how running quad- and paraplegics through walking or exercise simulation games actually gives them measurable muscle differences and better resting pulse rates
[16:37] Sxxxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: interesting

I think it's fascinating. And it's an EXCELLENT reason to take up running in SL, riding, swimming, whatever--because if we keep our virtual bodies active, some of that does carry over to our physical bodies.

[16:37] qxxxxxxxx Lxxx: our consciousness is an emergent property of our physical brain (biological and electrochemical)
[16:38] qxxxxxxxx Lxxx: so makes sense that both consciousness and the physical matter can effect each other
[16:38] Sxxxx Fxxxxxx: emergent property of all our physicality
[16:38] qxxxxxxxx Lxxx: nods
[16:39] Sxxxx Fxxxxxx: brain/body distinction set psychology back ages
[16:39] qxxxxxxxx Lxxx: and we are as much a conglomerate of bacteria/viruses as we are meat and bone and orgnas
[16:39] Sxxxx Fxxxxxx: we are an ecosystem :)
[16:39] qxxxxxxxx Lxxx: you have more bactertial entities than human cells
[16:39] qxxxxxxxx Lxxx: within you
[16:39] qxxxxxxxx Lxxx: which is kind of mind blowing

We are large, we contain multitudes.

[16:40] Sxxxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: when I was fencing and I thought of it as physical chess I started winning
[16:41] Sxxxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: how do the bacteria think I wonder
[16:41] Sxxxx Fxxxxxx: funny, but I think I used to win karate competitions knowing the opponent wasn't as clever as me.
[16:41] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Bacteria don't think, they just react to stimulus
[16:41] qxxxxxxxx Lxxx: they are a group mind (or at leats they use chemical signaling to do stuff together)
[16:42] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr) nods
[16:42] qxxxxxxxx Lxxx: but then thought is not a process it is an emergent property....
[16:42] qxxxxxxxx Lxxx: it just IS
[16:42] qxxxxxxxx Lxxx: because something else IS

Yeah, it's conceptually tricky to evaluate thought, because we're using thought to break down how we think. It gets very meta.

[16:42] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Right.
[16:42] Vxxxxxxx Hxxxxxxx scratches his antlers.
[16:42] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): In that sense, all thoughts are reactions as well
[16:43] qxxxxxxxx Lxxx: nods
[16:43] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Just to different forms of stimuli
[16:43] qxxxxxxxx Lxxx: we live a good few ms behind reality

And that is the bit that tangles me up the most. We don't actually see anything when it happens--we just get impressions after and fill in the blanks. So much of what we experience is supposition.

[16:43] Sxxxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: so we have entities in us that do chemical signaling
[16:43] Vxxxxxx Hxxxxxxx eats popcorn slowly....
[16:43] qxxxxxxxx Lxxx: our perception is slow
[16:43] Sxxxx Fxxxxxx: hmmmm actually..... we make a decision ms before we consciously are aware of it.
[16:44] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr) nods
[16:44] Sxxxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: when we are on auto pilot

No, pretty much constantly, that's our state of being. We make decisions and then tell ourselves we've made a decision, and that's when we think we've decided. So much is chemical.

[16:44] qxxxxxxxx Lxxx: yeah - one has to be careful what terms one uses lol
[16:44] Sxxxx Fxxxxxx: no - not when on autopilot
[16:44] Sxxxx Fxxxxxx: like if I said - choose a dot
[16:44] Sxxxx Fxxxxxx: out of 20
[16:44] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): one of my favorite quotes was paraphrased from Chuck Wendig: "You are a ghost, driving a meat covered skeleton, while riding a rock floating through space. Fear nothing."
[16:45] qxxxxxxxx Lxxx: i liek that emily °͜°
[16:45] Sxxxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: whoa
[16:45] Vxxxxxx Hxxxxxxx: you forgot the speed! that's the scariest part!
[16:45] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Yes! True!
[16:45] Vxxxxxx Hxxxxxxx: lol
[16:45] Sxxxx Fxxxxxx: you will have decided which one before you can in anyway consciously manifest which one you've chosen, even as a thought

There's a really great heist film, Now You See Me, that actually deals a bit with this. The closer you look at what a magician is doing, the less you see. The best ones use our own perceptions against us, and we're happy and amazed, instead of angry and hurt, that we've been completely taken in.

[16:45] qxxxxxxxx Lxxx: the rock is not floating
[16:45] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): No, it's more hurtling, or slowly spinning, depending on your perception of speed
[16:45] qxxxxxxxx Lxxx: it is falling tworads the gravity well of the sun at a nasty high accelleration
[16:46] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Which is the "Everything dies, baby" end of the argument
[16:46] qxxxxxxxx Lxxx: but has enough momentum that it keeps not quite falling inwards
[16:46] qxxxxxxxx Lxxx: we all fall towards the earth (our nearest largest gravity well) at 9.8m/s
[16:47] Vxxxxxx Hxxxxxxx: Gravity is coool.
[16:47] Sxxxx Fxxxxxx: no wonder I have no idea I get bruises I can't explain
[16:47] qxxxxxxxx Lxxx: so Laurie Anderson was right when she said we are walking but we are falling and catching our selves from falling
[16:47] Sxxxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: but as long as we have the magnetic core we won't lose our atmosphere

Which probably won't happen, regardless of how much I adore the innate stupidity of The Core.

[16:47] qxxxxxxxx Lxxx: true
[16:47] Vxxxxxx Hxxxxxxx: Newton broke all kinds of laws when he invented gravity
[16:48] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Which is a good thing for us, we kind of need that
[16:48] qxxxxxxxx Lxxx: and it also drives teh tectonic plate actrivity
[16:48] Sxxxx Fxxxxxx: lol Emilly
[16:48] Sxxxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: walking and falling
[16:48] qxxxxxxxx Lxxx: magnetic core also gives us the radiation shielding
[16:49] Sxxxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: such a delicate balance here
[16:49] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Yep. Otherwise poof, no life.
[16:49] qxxxxxxxx Lxxx: yep
[16:49] qxxxxxxxx Lxxx: we are the end result of some pretty amazing set of coincidences

We are indeed. And that is a wonder and an astonishment every day.

[16:49] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr) nods
[16:49] qxxxxxxxx Lxxx: well not quite end result
[16:49] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Middle? Only it's not even really the middle, either
[16:50] qxxxxxxxx Lxxx: and heer we are doing our very best to destroy teh balance on which our existence rests
[16:50] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): That's humanity for you in a nutshell
[16:50] Sxxxx Fxxxxxx: 'we'?
[16:50] Sxxxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: we are just starting to understand the machine
[16:50] qxxxxxxxx Lxxx: yes all of us are at fault somewhere along teh line for some infinitesimal part
[16:51] Sxxxx Fxxxxxx: I think a few really who've bound us into it.

Also true, but humanity is very, very good at both fouling our nest, and blaming someone else for doing it.

Still. Fun conversation all around. It was a good day on the dance floor.