From: mike99 (mike99@lascruces.com)
Date: Sat Jun 12 2004 - 14:30:44 MDT
You may have been joking, Marc, but I would certainly be interested in
seeing how 'Bayesian meditation workshops' might work out.
I have been reading the literature on scientific investigation of
meditation's effects on brain and behavior. One of the more intriguing (if
preliminary) results obtained by Todd Murphy, who is a neuroscience PhD
candidate under the famous Michael Persinger, is that the more adept one
becomes at meditation, the less adept one becomes at logical and
mathematical thinking.
I don't know if his results will hold up. But they do have a surface
plausibility to me based on my own experience. I do meditate, but I try not
to overdo it. Too much meditation (e.g., hours per day, every day) has
effects similar to too much alcohol: Moments of bliss followed by hours of
deadening hangover.
So maybe a balanced approach, as in your proposed 'Bayesian meditation
workshops' could get the best from both modes of brain functioning,
meditational and mathematical.
Mike LaTorra
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-sl4@sl4.org [mailto:owner-sl4@sl4.org]On Behalf Of Marc
> Geddes
> Sent: Saturday, June 12, 2004 2:11 AM
> To: sl4@sl4.org
> Subject: O.K, weeks up. Let's get back to bashing Sing Inst ;)
>
>
> Just kidding.
>
> A week of calm flowing through me made me think of the
> idea of 'Bayesian meditation workshops'. I'm thinking
> week long workshops which could be a combination of
> yogic exercises, zen contemplation, meditation,
> philosophy and of course Bayesian mathematics ;) The
> idea is to combine spirituality and mathematics.
> Sounds a bizarre silly combination at first I know,
> but if you think it through carefully and consider
> that Bayes is actually the secret to the universe it
> actually makes perfect sense. There's already an Orkut
> community called the 'Bayesian Illumuni'. Bayesian
> meditation workshops and retreats could become very
> popular, especially after the Singularity. Adepts
> could spend hundreds of years in peaceful settings
> simply contemplating the deeper meanings of Bayes
> Theorem.
>
>
> =====
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> - Gen. John Stark
>
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> -H.G.Wells
>
>
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>
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