Who are you fooling? No one at all

have no place to go

Meditations

simplify

Stop Animation

The Octopus Project - "Whitby" Video from stereogum on Vimeo.

Civic/Cerebral Rhythm

 What's the rhythm of your city?


Is there syncopation in your city? Syncopation, described as rhythmic 'displacement', requires complexity to produce novel experiences. Another kind of rhythmic change, a 'transformation', is described by musicologist Richard Middleton 'as a remapping of its partner'. Change the pace of your life; remap your cerebral city.

In his newest book, 'How to Build a Brain', Ray Kurzweil points out how the organization of our cities is similar in some respects to the organization of our neural networks. This is not a new insight - the interconnectedness and scaled complexity of cities invites comparison to our most intricate of organs.

Our brains continue to grow throughout our lifetimes, which runs contrary to popular understandings of brain decay. Old dogs can learn new tricks, and old neurons can fire new synapses. Brain growth slows as our experiences grow less 'novel', so if your brain is rotting you can blame your habits rather than our biology.

In a similar sense - rhythmic consistency in your pace of life, a function of living in the same place for many years, could suppress brain growth. Just as a city mired in history is likely to decay, so too will a brain.

Here's the good news - Novelty is born from complexity, and cities are immensely complex things. Find a new dance partner, and find yourself transformed.

it's a big world out there

time to have an adventure