i had a few reactions:
1. advances such as these will chip away at mind-body dualism
slowly but surely.
2. the PBS show (mentioned below) had two similar segments:
Eldelman uses a huge brain-reading machine, and
the segment on dectecting false memory.
3. i thought "brain fingerprinting" is a misnomer, because
it works like a lie-detector (polygraph).
a true "brain fingerprinting" would work by matching
remnants of brain activity left at the crime scene
with the suspect's unique brain activity patterns.
fin-ger-print \-,print\ n (1859)
1: the impression of a fingertip on any surface; esp:
an ink impression of the lines upon the
fingertip taken for purpose of identification
2: chromatographic, electrophoretic, or spectrographic
evidence of the presence or identity of a
substance; esp :the chromatogram or
electrophoretogram obtained by cleaving a
protein by enzymatic action and subjecting
the resulting collection of peptides to
two-dimensional chromatography or electrophoresis
><Jeffrey Peter>; "M.D." <drkid at my-deja.com> wrote in message
>> jtnews <jtnews at bellatlantic.net> wrote:
>>>> > Anyone watch 60 Minutes tonight on Brain Fingerprinting?
>> >
>> > What do you think of the technology? Is it real science
>> > or quackery?
>> > Should such evidence be used in court?
>> > How can it be abused?
>> > Can you ever get a false positive? False negative? How?
>>>> I have not seen the 60 minutes episode. However, I have read a little
>> about it. If I am not mistaken, all the technology shows is that the
>> person has a certain memory encoded in his brain. [...]
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Edelman on consciousness
i learned about Edelman's work recently from a PBS show hosted
by Alan Alda. it seems that a good book came out in March.
URL: http://www.krasnow.gmu.edu/ascoli/universe.html
Abstract: This essay is a commentary on Edelman and Tononi's
A Universe of Consciousness How Matter Becomes Imagination,
a scientific book on the mind-body relationship. [...]
In A Universe of Consciousness (Basic Books, NY, 2000),
Gerald Edelman and Giulio Tononi face the mind-body problem
straight up, guiding the readers hand-by-hand through a
fascinating and exciting journey of 222 intense pages.
--
;;; TANAKA Tomoyuki
;;; http://www.cs.indiana.edu/hyplan/tanaka/GEB/ "GEB" FAQ