Comments on: Being a lobster and using a hammer: “homuncular flexibility” and distal attribution http://www.deaneckles.com/blog/113_being-a-lobster-and-using-a-hammer-homuncular-flexibility-and-distal-attribution/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=being-a-lobster-and-using-a-hammer-homuncular-flexibility-and-distal-attribution Dean Eckles on people, technology & inference Sat, 14 Jan 2012 20:27:32 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Sean Quinn http://www.deaneckles.com/blog/113_being-a-lobster-and-using-a-hammer-homuncular-flexibility-and-distal-attribution/comment-page-1/#comment-39555 Sean Quinn Fri, 14 Oct 2011 12:52:59 +0000 http://www.deaneckles.com/blog/?p=113#comment-39555 Hey, thanks for this, I'm going to try and attack Shaun Gallagher's anti-representationalist argument for skill acquisition/refinement in the last tute presentation of my degree on Monday. I'm fairly happy with my argument for minimal representations, but as a tradesman carpenter who has also started quite a few apprentices over the years, who'll be talking to younger, fresh-from-school classmates and academics, I think a little demonstration that there is some representation required in first starting to use a hammer correctly would be a nice little empirical demonstration. Hey, thanks for this, I’m going to try and attack Shaun Gallagher’s anti-representationalist argument for skill acquisition/refinement in the last tute presentation of my degree on Monday. I’m fairly happy with my argument for minimal representations, but as a tradesman carpenter who has also started quite a few apprentices over the years, who’ll be talking to younger, fresh-from-school classmates and academics, I think a little demonstration that there is some representation required in first starting to use a hammer correctly would be a nice little empirical demonstration.

]]> By: Dr. John K. Fung http://www.deaneckles.com/blog/113_being-a-lobster-and-using-a-hammer-homuncular-flexibility-and-distal-attribution/comment-page-1/#comment-5347 Dr. John K. Fung Mon, 01 Jun 2009 07:10:03 +0000 http://www.deaneckles.com/blog/?p=113#comment-5347 This is very interesting. A lot of time, in Eastern "Internal" Martial Arts, the practitioners often require to learn to "feel the Qi/Chi" and do certain mental imaginations such as rings, spheres etc. I believe such mental training influences the way the body functions, and may even re-map the homunculus a certain way, giving the pratitioner "higher" abilities. I thinks Qi/Chi and other forms of "energetics" practices is an illusion, kind of like a virtual reality machine that works by influencing the pratitioners' most complex organ - the brain. This is very interesting.

A lot of time, in Eastern “Internal” Martial Arts, the practitioners often require to learn to “feel the Qi/Chi” and do certain mental imaginations such as rings, spheres etc.

I believe such mental training influences the way the body functions, and may even re-map the homunculus a certain way, giving the pratitioner “higher” abilities.

I thinks Qi/Chi and other forms of “energetics” practices is an illusion, kind of like a virtual reality machine that works by influencing the pratitioners’ most complex organ – the brain.

]]> By: Dean Eckles http://www.deaneckles.com/blog/113_being-a-lobster-and-using-a-hammer-homuncular-flexibility-and-distal-attribution/comment-page-1/#comment-3488 Dean Eckles Wed, 22 Apr 2009 06:57:25 +0000 http://www.deaneckles.com/blog/?p=113#comment-3488 Great comment -- and I appreciate the pointer. It's interesting how the lack of substantial difference in sensory input with smell comes along with some vacillation in how we talk about smells (vs. sights): we talk about the smells themselves -- locating them either as perceptual objects or scents in the air -- but also about the distal objects. More generally, if there was no difference in perceptual experience between people, then a broader version of this vacillation -- and problem for our communication being meaningful -- would obtain. Great comment — and I appreciate the pointer.

It’s interesting how the lack of substantial difference in sensory input with smell comes along with some vacillation in how we talk about smells (vs. sights): we talk about the smells themselves — locating them either as perceptual objects or scents in the air — but also about the distal objects.

More generally, if there was no difference in perceptual experience between people, then a broader version of this vacillation — and problem for our communication being meaningful — would obtain.

]]> By: Jofish http://www.deaneckles.com/blog/113_being-a-lobster-and-using-a-hammer-homuncular-flexibility-and-distal-attribution/comment-page-1/#comment-3476 Jofish Tue, 21 Apr 2009 21:19:01 +0000 http://www.deaneckles.com/blog/?p=113#comment-3476 I think spending a little more time thinking about the metaphor of senses is valuable, particularly in social interactions. For example, if we think of having a conversation while looking at each other, then what I see is nearly 100% different from what you see. But if I say "Oh, do you smell that bread baking?" then we're both having an identical sensory experience: smell is inherently a communal, shared, localized sense. I think that example is from <i>The Transmission of Affect</i>, in which the late Teresa Brennan makes some very nice points about the ways in which we understand emotion in similar kinds of ways. I think it'd be up your alley, actually, although the approach she takes differs significantly from yours. I think spending a little more time thinking about the metaphor of senses is valuable, particularly in social interactions. For example, if we think of having a conversation while looking at each other, then what I see is nearly 100% different from what you see. But if I say “Oh, do you smell that bread baking?” then we’re both having an identical sensory experience: smell is inherently a communal, shared, localized sense.

I think that example is from The Transmission of Affect, in which the late Teresa Brennan makes some very nice points about the ways in which we understand emotion in similar kinds of ways. I think it’d be up your alley, actually, although the approach she takes differs significantly from yours.

]]>