I am really psyched (haha) for later today -- running my first subject through a fMRI. We prepped him for the experiment yesterday -- a variation on Tower of Hanoi, and I realized while playing with the software earlier that it's fun to the point of being addictive. I think there's a certain commonality, games like Tetris, Puzzle Bobble, and our Hanoi implementation, that underlies why I find them all so hard to put down once I start. I wonder if it's at all tied to my like of more complex strategy games, like CivCTP and Alpha Centauri. I don't like all games, but I think there is a commonality. Further, I wonder how this kind of thing ties into tests of intelligence -- from what little I remember of IQ testing and a number of other standardized tests I've taken at some point, they seem to share elements with these types of games. Is a gamer of this sort going to end up ahead in IQ tests? Is that fair? Well, it might be -- perhaps more intelligent people are drawn to these kinds of games. On the other hand, perhaps that type of intelligence is narrower than the kind we're looking for. It falls down to how generalizable skill is from one of this kinds of game to another, and what we want to call intelligence. It is plausable that problem-solving of this sort is a big part of intelligence, but it seems to me that.. well, a bigger unit that either is isomorphic to or a subset of general intelligence, is the ability to analyze a domain, map operator-space (may be discrete or effectively continuous), and navigate state-space, possibly using high levels of strategy and metastrategy monitoring, within the constraints of the resources of the brain for each iterative or recursive step. These types of games tend not to have effectively continuous operator-spaces on the lowest levels (Puzzle Bobble being somewhat more continuous). They do, however, seem to effectively test a fairly large subset of small-domain intelligence. The "small" must be stressed, however, as both more complex games (SMAC, CivCTP, as mentioned earlier) and complex mental tasks in real life done by people may be orders of magnitude more operator-laden or state-space large than that.

Yesterday, I also visited the BIRC, a centre jointly run by Pitt and CMU for people working on neural imaging. I attended to go to two talks, one by Dr Behrmann, a former professor of mine who I greatly respect. The facilities looked nice, and the talks were pretty interesting -- the first was about retrieval of correlation between neural activation and stimuli, using a number of filtering techniques on the raw data. It was slightly surprising to me what stages in the filtering were the most effective, and as I learn to use the scanner and manipulate the data myself, I'm sure I'll be able to put her work into a better context. The second, Dr Behrmann's talk, was about her research into Prosopagnosia, in particular, genetic prosopagnosics versus trauma-induced prosopagnosics. I was unaware that the first group existed, and while some of her slides were reused from class, the overall content was a lot deeper. I'm glad I went. We'll be using their facilities for the scanning today, and I'm going to need to learn how to get to the place on my own within the next few weeks.

On the way there yesterday, we passed through some odd areas of Oakland, some places that my mind naturally caricatures... Very narrow, windy streets that go upwards, and that give a feel of being their own place, no other entrances than the ones I see, with tall apartments.. sort of like a twisted London of my nightmares. It left a strange impression that stuck with me for awhile.

A few days ago, Mimi (my grandmother from Texas) called to talk about some events going on at CMU that she saw on TV. I haven't heard from her for ages -- I really want to visit her sometime.. she's living in Austin now, not far from my Uncle Mark, Aunt Holly, and my nephews Ryan and Connor. It'd be fun to see them all again.. I hope I can visit with my Dad.. It'd be weird to visit alone, and in all honesty, it'd be easier for me not to need to worry about paying for a trip.

I'm going to be playing Badminton with K (and maybe N and someone else) on friday, if things go as planned. Hurrah! I think part of the joy of Badminton is that it's a ludicrous enough sport that it's hard to take it seriously, and so people just tend to have fun without becoming competitive. At the picnic Dmitry had on the 4th, we all had a ball playing on the insanely uneven ground, with the Shuttlecock occasionally coming apart and the searches for the head part.

I decided that I didn't want to wait on ordering the Neuros, and ordered it a few minutes ago. I was going to get it anyhow, and I do have savings, so it really doesn't make sense to deny myself time with it for the sake of trying to keep a budget. Unfortunately, I lost my headphones a few days ago, so I might need to pick up a new pair. Oh well.

I've been even more reflective than usual, and have come to realize a few things about myself, or at least suspect, that may be rather shocking.

Sorry about making it private. If you know me well enough, I might share it with you on request.

The complexity of a certain area of my life is now really intense. Wow.

Also, it's strange -- I never mean to manipulate people except in ways that are visible to them, and when I'm tempted to do so, I typically try to let them know, and possibly refuse to comment on things that I think I can't avoid said manipulations on. However, sometimes I realize after the fact that other things I comment on might be seen as manipulative, and I wonder if this is chance, or if I actually am manipulating them without being as aware of myself as I should be. It is, na klar, usually impossible to tell the difference from the outside, and perhaps from the inside in many cases too. In such cases where the doubts come later, is it better to mention said things to the possibly manipulated person, especially if the topic is already delicate, or is it better to avoid commenting on such topics, or is it better to keep the doubts internal and guard oneself? There are so many ways to work out the conflicting values and the possible realities from these kinds of situations.

Finally, I tossed up the book I wrote in my childhood. With the understanding that I was much younger when I wrote it, I present to you: The Old House. I hereby legally relinquish the copyright and place it into the public domain. Of course, understand that my permission here, from my perspective, is meaningless anyhow, because I don't believe in intellectual property. I hereby grant you, reader of my blog, the philosophical, personal right that you actually already have to copy any data you have access to, modify it as you see fit (provided that in doing so, you don't misattribute it), and share it with others. This is your right, and something you should demand from your society, and exercise otherwise when it is worth the risks from the information hoarders and their servants.

Ahh, it's time to go have lunch and move money around.