Who's the boss?
My blogging life is being cut short these days. Not for lack of caring, but for lack of time. Fact is, I find writing here very cathartic even if the threat of someone actually reading this is very low. The idea of someone enjoying is secondary; I write for myself, as an avenue for releasing my thoughts into a form I can sift through and sort out. If anyone else derives any insight from it then I consider a side effect though it would please me to no end.
If you haven't picked it up by now, my entries are about ideas for the most part. As a scientist I shouldn't be saying this, but facts bore me. Truth is easy to find (however disputable it may be) but the excitement lies between the lines, in that grey space that makes us question the words we say. I'm also terrible with them. Anyone who knows me can attest to the fact that my memory is faulty at best, non-existant at worst. Whether or not I dislike facts because of a bad memory or because I have a bad memory because my brain just doesn't want to bother with them is to yet to be determined and undoubtedly not important. I have deep respect for the brain (mine in particular, of course) and if it wants to act a certain way, then so be it.
Given the incredible aptitude of the brain I know (or does the brain know?) how unwise it may be fuck with it. Now Dave, why would you say something like that? Is there something going on in your life that would bring up such a discussion? I'm glad you asked.
I've recently signed up to be a test subject in a particular experiment being performed at my company. Rest assured, all you concerned readers, that there is nothing funny being injected into my arm, no pills being placed on my tongue and, most importantly, nothing being shoved up my ass. No, this is a neuroscience experiment whose intent it is to probe into the inner workings of mind in order to reshape and train it to suit a scientist's hypothesis. My brain is being retrained for the sake of future astronauts who may one day being to avoid one of the unfortunate side effects of long duration space flight upon reaching ground: vertigo. I'll avoid the discussion on this other than to say that in space there is no up, down or sideways simply because there's no gravity. Over time, astronauts get used to this and when they finally come home their brains have to readjust, a process that might be avoided given the proper countermeasures.
But I diverge. The study consists of me walking on a treadmill in front of a giant projection screen. Upon this screen is projected a virtual reality-derived room or hallway, depending on the day. I walk on a treadmill for twenty minutes while staring at this screen. Sounds easy, right? I will also mention that today the room on the screen was rotating counterclockwise continuously as I stared at it. That is, the floor become the ceiling which became the floor and so on and so forth. I'd say it rotated completely every 7 seconds or so. As you may guess, it isn't easy to walk straight when you're brain thinks you are flipping upside down every so often. No, in fact your body starts leaning towards the direction of the rotation because your brain believes you are falling in that direction and it wants to keep up with the floor.
You can imagine how disconcerting that can be. It gets even worse once the screen stops rotating because your brain eventually gets used to it so when the motion stops, everything appears to be rotating in the total opposite direction. Now, the trippy thing is that my body and brain know I'm not rotating because they can sense that I"m not actually rotating. It's my eyes that are confused and they are sending their confused little signals to my brain who at some point understood where up was and now doesn't know my head from my ass. Like I said, it isn't wise to mess with your brian.
What's even trippier is the realization that I have absolutely no control of my body other than being able to not piss myself everytime I have to go to the bathroom. Even that I'm fully conscious of the fact that I am, and will always remain, perfectly upright during this experiment, my brain still has the gall to decide that this isn't the case. Everything in my being is cognizant of the fact that up is up and down is down and that the subterfuge I see in front of me is nothing more than a computer simulation. Yet, my brain decided otherwise. I think we know where the power lies in this relationship.
-Rube
If you haven't picked it up by now, my entries are about ideas for the most part. As a scientist I shouldn't be saying this, but facts bore me. Truth is easy to find (however disputable it may be) but the excitement lies between the lines, in that grey space that makes us question the words we say. I'm also terrible with them. Anyone who knows me can attest to the fact that my memory is faulty at best, non-existant at worst. Whether or not I dislike facts because of a bad memory or because I have a bad memory because my brain just doesn't want to bother with them is to yet to be determined and undoubtedly not important. I have deep respect for the brain (mine in particular, of course) and if it wants to act a certain way, then so be it.
Given the incredible aptitude of the brain I know (or does the brain know?) how unwise it may be fuck with it. Now Dave, why would you say something like that? Is there something going on in your life that would bring up such a discussion? I'm glad you asked.
I've recently signed up to be a test subject in a particular experiment being performed at my company. Rest assured, all you concerned readers, that there is nothing funny being injected into my arm, no pills being placed on my tongue and, most importantly, nothing being shoved up my ass. No, this is a neuroscience experiment whose intent it is to probe into the inner workings of mind in order to reshape and train it to suit a scientist's hypothesis. My brain is being retrained for the sake of future astronauts who may one day being to avoid one of the unfortunate side effects of long duration space flight upon reaching ground: vertigo. I'll avoid the discussion on this other than to say that in space there is no up, down or sideways simply because there's no gravity. Over time, astronauts get used to this and when they finally come home their brains have to readjust, a process that might be avoided given the proper countermeasures.
But I diverge. The study consists of me walking on a treadmill in front of a giant projection screen. Upon this screen is projected a virtual reality-derived room or hallway, depending on the day. I walk on a treadmill for twenty minutes while staring at this screen. Sounds easy, right? I will also mention that today the room on the screen was rotating counterclockwise continuously as I stared at it. That is, the floor become the ceiling which became the floor and so on and so forth. I'd say it rotated completely every 7 seconds or so. As you may guess, it isn't easy to walk straight when you're brain thinks you are flipping upside down every so often. No, in fact your body starts leaning towards the direction of the rotation because your brain believes you are falling in that direction and it wants to keep up with the floor.
You can imagine how disconcerting that can be. It gets even worse once the screen stops rotating because your brain eventually gets used to it so when the motion stops, everything appears to be rotating in the total opposite direction. Now, the trippy thing is that my body and brain know I'm not rotating because they can sense that I"m not actually rotating. It's my eyes that are confused and they are sending their confused little signals to my brain who at some point understood where up was and now doesn't know my head from my ass. Like I said, it isn't wise to mess with your brian.
What's even trippier is the realization that I have absolutely no control of my body other than being able to not piss myself everytime I have to go to the bathroom. Even that I'm fully conscious of the fact that I am, and will always remain, perfectly upright during this experiment, my brain still has the gall to decide that this isn't the case. Everything in my being is cognizant of the fact that up is up and down is down and that the subterfuge I see in front of me is nothing more than a computer simulation. Yet, my brain decided otherwise. I think we know where the power lies in this relationship.
-Rube
posted by The Rube at Tuesday, February 07, 2006
2 Comments:
My favorite parts of this entry.
"to avoid one of the unfortunate side effects of long duration space flight upon reaching ground: vertigo."
I know exactly how that unfortunate side effect feels. Vertigo by U2 SUCKS! I'm glad you're doing your part for mankind to obliterate it or at least lessen the agonizing pain.
"It gets even worse once the screen stops rotating because your brian eventually gets used to it so when the motion stops"
I don't know, as much as I abuse and shake my Brian around, he's never really gotten used to it. Maybe it's that fancy NASA equipment.
I feel like quoting BrokeBack Mountain now, "Rube Man, I wish I knew how to quit you, but I cain't".
I couldn't find a link to e-mail you. Is it okay that I linked to your blog? It's just that your writing is amusing as well as extremely interesting given your occupation. You look like an upstanding individual except for your love of Jack Johnson and your dislike of mushrooms. Remember, not only am I the President of the Mushroom Lovers Club , but I'm also a member.
I'm not a cyber stalker, just a harmless procrastinator who multi-tasks on the computer while my kids practice reading out loud and rehearsing multiplication tables.
I'm bitterly disappointed to find that you changed brian back to brain, thus making my quote irrelevant.
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