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cognitive world

TED Talks Oliver Sacks: What hallucination reveals about our minds

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Mentally healthy people often with significant visual loss, having vivid, complex recurrent visual hallucinations (fictive visual percepts). Sounds unbelievable? Listen to Olivier Sacks TED talk about Charles Bonnet syndrome.



Elbow - Weather To Fly

Eva Cassidy, Kate Melua - What a wonderfull world


Eva Cassidy closed her final concert (before upcoming) death with this L. Amstrong's song.

"My Brilliant Brain - Born Genius "


Marc Yu - brilliant young pianist!

Ray Kurzweil oncoming tech and advanced technology and Singularity University (TED)

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'Ray Kurzweil: A university for the coming singularity.'
Brilliant short TED talk.

Information Technologies double their power every year.
1 transistor for a 1$ in 1960, now, we can buy half a billion of transistors.
DNA sequencing data is doubled every year while the cost goes down by half every year.

Ray Kurzweil emphasizes also the growing data about the brain.
We will finally turn these data into working models
and simulation of brain's regions (thanks to appropriate software).

We will start to influence our health and our intelligence to much bigger extent than we can now.

In the second part of TED talk Kurzweil has announced the opening of Singularity University,
which aims to assemble, educate and inspire people who want to understand
and facilitate the development of advancing technologies. They will apply
and guide these tools to address humanity challenges.

Academic tracks include:
1. Futures Studies & Forecasting
2. Policy, Law & Ethics
3. Finance & Entrepreneurship
4. Networks & Computing Systems
5. Biotechnology & Bioinformatics
6. Nanotechnology
7. Medicine, Neuroscience & Human Enhancement
8. AI & Robotics
9. Energy & Ecological Systems
10. Space & Physical Sciences
Singularity University is supported by NASA and Google.

'How Evolution Happens' (video)

The Doors - People Are Strange - Symphonic version


Great concert and party with Nigel Kennedy


On Sunday, I went to Blue Note, where was Nigel Kennedy/Jarek Śmietana's concert.
I met Ania (my friend studying Cognitive Science with me), Shane and Canadian friends there.
Alex and Dave were excited to be at so small Nigel's rock concert.
We were standing quite far from the stage, but after a break we moved closer,
so we could see this performance better. It was an absolutely amazing concert.
The band played such a good stuff and so vividly.
Who was playing?
Jarek Śmietana - guitar
Krzychu Dziedzic - the drummer ('he is so ******* fast', so does Nigel - rock song )
Adam Kowalewski- double bass and bass - 'Professor of Young (...)'-(Nigel)*
Wojciech Karolak – keyboard

After the concert, Alex, who is a guitar player
(I guess that pretty good, as he was in the band playing with Brian Adams)
was the first to talk to Nigel.
Ania, Shane, Dave, Adam, Krzychu and I sat at the tables (these ones for 'snobs' :wink:)
and we were talking with the Band about the concert, music, etc.
Guys invited us to Nigel's private room.
What is Nigel doing when a fun comes to him?
He is open, talkative and he exchanges friendly hits with lenched fists (polish 'Turtle').


After some time Nigel had to go back to the hotel and he invited us to come with him! :smile:
2 Kennedy's dogs invited us there :smile: We were listening to the different kinds of music, sitting, dancing, playing fusball, ... Can you imagine how happy we were?
We left hotel at about 6am and I had to say Nigel definitely wasn't sleepy then.

What so amazing about Nigel? I think he is a genius. He causes the musician playing with him are completely engaged. He has this kind of childlike enthusiasm which people often loose while getting older. He feels the music, I cannot even imagine how, strong.

I love his hypnotizing playing of different kinds of music.
He was born to be a conductor, he can guide the orchestra by his glaze, movements and smile.
You have to watch this: Vivaldii - Winter I
Classical music is still alive and can be played with a freshness.

There is one song from 'East Meets East'
the first Nigel's album which I heard 5 years ego.
Kennedy with the Polish Chamber Orchestrate: Beethoven and Mozart concertos (with interview with Nigel)
Here: Kennedy plays jazz
I think he really enjoys being with people. Not surprisingly they love him
(Adam said that especially in Germany, UK, USA and Poland).

He entertains the audience not only by his playing, but also by his hilarious behaviour, e.g.:
Tribute to Jimi Hendrix - Purple Haze.

Nigel has a nice polish wife - Agnieszka (who is a lawyer) and they live in Cracow (Kraków).

Here is the unofficial Nigel Kennedy people info's website
More photos from the concert and party.


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*Adam Kowalewski is teaching at the The Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice.

Saxophone music - Jan Garbarek

About 4 years ego I felt in love in Garbarek's music, from the first notes :smile:

If you like this track, I recommend you first listen to the fantastic 'In prise of dream'.
Here is one of my favourite songs omn this album.
Deep sounds, clear long notes and male small choir (The Hilliard Ensemble)
you can find in the fabulous album recorded in the cloister - 'Officium' and more ascetic - 'Mnemosyne'.
Just stop thinking, close your eyes and enjoy Garbarek's music :smile:

TED talk: Juan Enriquez: "Beyond the crisis, mindboggling science and the arrival of Homo evolutis"

Wingsuits - amazing extreme sport


(views from Norway)
Fantastic! I'd love to try it!

Dominic Frasca - playing 10 and 6 strings guitar