Philosophy Wire: Falling trees…

Treefalls happen all the time, but this one just happened to occur in the exact spot where a decades-long ecological study was in progress, giving University of Illinois researchers a rare look into tropical forest dynamics. "After the treefall, we saw a very large spike in the total number of hummingbird species," says Henry Pollock, a postdoctoral scholar. "The year after the treefall happened, we got 16 unique individuals of this one species, and total diversity of hummingbirds more than doubled." And then, almost as quickly, the birds disappeared. "What that suggests is these birds are incredibly mobile and opportunistic," Pollock says. [1]

Falling trees.
Noise.
For a second there, the world speaks.
And there is no one there to listen.
Except birds.
Now the birds are leaving again.

Listen.

Falling seed.
Only Silence.

Listen.

The world is ready to speak once more…

(c) Philosophy WIRES - Commenting world news from philosophy's perspective…

Philosophy Wire: Where am I going?

The brain appears to implement a GPS system for spatial navigation; however, it is not yet fully understood how it works. In the journal Science Advances, researchers from Freiburg, Bochum and Beijing now suggest that rhythmic fluctuations in brain activity, so-called theta oscillations, may play a role in this process. These brainwaves might help remember the locations to which a person is navigating. This is the result of the researchers' study conducted with epilepsy patients who had electrodes implanted in the brain for the purpose of surgical planning. With the aid of these electrodes, the researchers recorded neuronal activity during a navigation task in a virtual reality setting. [1] Walking every day we are. In the clearing of existence. Trying to make sense of that forest from which we came out. Always trying to find our destination. Always trying to find out where we came from. Never succeeding. Because the clearing is not here to help us find our way out. But a way to get lost. Walking deep inside the forest we are. Going deeper and deeper by the day. Too occupied to question our path. Ignoring the child in us asking “Pappa, why are we going deeper and deeper if we are lost?”…

(c) Philosophy WIRES - Commenting world news from philosophy's perspective…

Philosophy Wire: Light. Dark. Being blind. Seeing everything…

Scientists have used machine learning to train computers to see parts of the cell the human eye cannot easily distinguish. [1] Once upon a time we saw nothing. And we could see everything. Now we have eyes. And yet we need to train a machine without eyes for us to see. Once upon a time we were thrown in a forest. Living in darkness. But then light lured us. And we got lost within its brightness…

(c) Philosophy WIRES - Commenting world news from philosophy's perspective…