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The Brain's Images: Co-Constructing Reality and Self
Paul Grobstein
Bryn Mawr College
11th Annual Usability Professionals Association
11 August 2002
From the "reflex machine" to the brain as a semi-autonomous, evolving, creative agent
Finding complexity/change ...
... finding the idiosyncratic explorer/story teller/"painter" ...
Adding mood, expectations of input, learning
"... the assembly of neurons that is the brain is constantly changing, due to its own activity. Assemblies of elements much simpler than neurons (bricks for example) can make an astounding array of different things, including such complex ones as the Taj Mahal. Now imagine that each Taj Mahal is actually itself a continually evolving structure, one constantly being reshaped by its own surroundings and by its own somewhat unpredictable dynamics. That begins to give some sense of what neurobiologist currently understand the brain to be ..."
Implications so far
(for usability professionals and others)
Yeah, yeah, but what about the self, and the sky?