Ep 199: Unconscious learning, your brain, and savant syndrome

Ep 199: Unconscious learning, your brain, and savant syndrome

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Unconscious learning, your brain, and savant syndrome Today we talk about your brain and unconscious mechanisms of learning. From losing a skill for no apparent reason, to acquiring languages, to unfortunately learning paralysis and pain, to savants who apparently learn without consciously attempting to, we cover some oddities about the way your brain works and …

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Their first task was easy

Their first task was easy

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Their first task was easy. Can the digital organisms I wrote, called “figures,” learn to call a good command and avoid a bad one? My first job was easy. It only took 6 lines of code. Each digital creature, each “figure,” has a certain amount of energy. Figure.energy = 12,168; Each time a figure has …

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It’s about time I tried using my artificial life as an artificial intelligence

It’s about time I tried using my artificial life as an artificial intelligence

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It’s about time I tried using my artificial life as an artificial intelligence. It’s been the goal since day one. Before I could do that, I had to come up with the algorithm in the first place, and then make sure that the figures could actually evolve. To evolve, they need to change, and some …

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Ep 198: A rough sketch or two, of you, inside of you.

Ep 198: A rough sketch or two, of you, inside of you.

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A rough sketch or two, of you, inside of you. Inside your brain, there are individual neurons that correspond to specific places on your body. If you figure out which cell goes to what part, you’ll notice that the map in your brain looks like a nightmare sketch of you, drawn by a mad artist …

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Ep 197: right brain, left side body; left brain, right side body… why?

Ep 197: right brain, left side body; left brain, right side body… why?

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right brain, left side body; left brain, right side body… why? Our brains have crossed wires. Each cerebral hemisphere controls the opposite side of the body. When I move my left hand, it’s my right brain that’s doing it. Today, Phil and I look at a theory about how and why that’s true for us, …

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Ep 196: How neurons find their home

Ep 196: How neurons find their home

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How neurons find their home Even before birth, billions of brain cells have to figure out what sort of cell to be, where to be, and which other neurons to connect to. Today we talk about the complicated processes that help neurons find their home.

Ep 195: Baby’s brain before birth

Ep 195: Baby’s brain before birth

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Baby’s brain before birth As we continue our close look at the human brain, we take some time to look at how it grows and develops. The story starts before you are born, when a man and woman love each other very much, and…

Ep 194: The lowly, yet complex, neuron

Ep 194: The lowly, yet complex, neuron

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The lowly, yet complex, neuron Finally done with natural history, today we start talking about the brain. It is extremely complicated. Even a single brain cell, one neuron, is an intricate little machine. Today we take a look at the neuron, and how it sends signals.

It’s like fishing.

It’s like fishing.

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I’m sitting on the edge of a binary ocean, casting hyperdimensional nets into the infinite waters of possible programs. My digital creatures, which I call “figures,” will run on my computer for hours, until I finally catch something.

It bloody well works!

It bloody well works!

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Written on Wednesday October3, 2018 Small sample sizes and all those caveats. I’m tossing out the number of figures being born as a threshold. That will pop out of any of them at any time, and it’s just luck. One of them starts reproducing very quickly, and happens to find a window of relatively few …

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