Introductions

[Sudhir P]

Hi,

I'm Sudhir Palliyil. I was a researcher in neuroscience until recently (at National Centre for Biological Sciences - NCBS,Bangalore). Now, founding a startup concentrating on automating some routine jobs that need to be done in bio labs.

One of the many things i do in my free time, is to help some teacher-friends, concentrating on making a class interactive using the socratic method of teaching. And that was one of the reasons i was interested in modeling stuff on education, once the theme cropped up.

And as a semi-biologist, i have been always fascinated by how all the myriad details of constructing an organism, is compressed into the genetic code. Where all of life comes out as 'emergent' behaviour of the system. I'm neither naive nor ambitious enough to embark on modeling such a complex thing. But, am curious nonetheless, at least to understand others' models about bits and pieces of it.

-sud

[Rajesh Kasturirangan]

Hi Sudhir (and others),

Thanks for the intro. Some more from the rest please.

One thing that interests me quite a bit is the intersection of synthetic biology and computer science. Given how 3D printing is coming along, I wonder if we can imagine a world where we can print out an organism. In other words, go on your laptop, design what you want the cell to do, press enter and out comes a living cell of your specifications.

I know this sounds outlandish and even a bit creepy and seemingly unrelated to model thinking, but it might be fun to do a 20 step ladder of models starting with molecules and ending with the working cell. Probably falls within both the naive and the ambitious categories, but we will soon be in the age of borganisms (not a typo, cyborg + organism = borganism) and might as well start imagining it now.....

Rajesh

--
Rajesh Kasturirangan
www.regularities.org

www.rajeshkasturirangan.com

[Janani Subramanian]

Hi Everyone,

I am Janani and I currently work with an educational NGO, Agastya that's trying to spark curiosity on a mass level.

I am a neuroscientist by training - I studied visual cognition in the non-human primate (monkey) brain before this (U.Pitt). 

And before that I was studying flight circuits that enabled insect to fly during low vision (NCBS).

And before that a little bit of biotechnology. 

My nomadic journey will sound very coherent if you buy into the following "story" - that I've been slowly making my way across the "evolutionary ladder <ladder sounds wrong>". From insect-->monkeys --> children --> adults next maybe??

In any case, mind, behavior, society and culture (including but not limited to the nature v/s nurture debates) interest me. 

The educational system, I think is big part of that society/culture that determines so much of what happens later on, and I'm naturally interested.

Some questions I have for the educational system.

 1)In India at least, some of us have had to fight a little bit to do something that is perceived is "off the beaten path". And therein is part of my motivation in the educational crisis - can an educational system intent on creating clones <and that too not great quality clones> really work? 

2)Even if employabilty is one the goals of an educational system, wouldn't it be better off by providing them a range of skills/options that  make them employable in a variety of fields (and also increase the chances of their finding something they also like). These are questions I hope a good a model would be able to answer.

For instance, is such a utopian educational system only possible in a place of large resource/low population (everyone's taking about the amazing Finland these days). How do we adapt that to places like india/china/africa. Is the all-pervasive technology one way of doing that? 

3) What is the most influential role of the teacher - the knowledge or the human touch. What must we be training teachers for, exactly.

4) There's a lot of points where interested people outside "the system" can intervene. I'm looking for a model that can tell us what the 2/3 key behavioral changes should be, and where we can intervene to make that change happen. 

I imagine, often, that in some alternate universes, I'm a lawyer, an economist, a computer scientist - all paths that I wish I could also take in this single lifetime. 

And this model-making group is, happily for me, turning out to be a place to try out all those wannabe-avatars.

Glad to be here.

Cheers

Janani 

[D KALYANARAMAN]

I am Kalyanaraman. I did my undergrad studies in engineering and subsequently management. I passed out much later -- that was when I got married. 

I have been running companies since 1979. (manufacturing and then software products). In 2006 I sold the IPs and merged the company with another software product company (Tally).  

I decided to retire in 2011 and pursue my first love, writing. I have produced a couple of plays. I am now in the process of completing my first novel. I am afraid it has nothing to do with business, cognitive phenomena, engineering or molecular biology. The genre is, er… um… comic fantasy.

Why did I join this course?

Perhaps intellectual stimulation to an aging brain, perhaps the potential discovery of another passion…

The one thing that keeps me motivated to be n the group is that I may just be able to contribute -- perhaps just by virtue of the diversity that I may bring in. 

@Ganu and @Rajesh:  Please don't call me Durga. Call me Kalyan. Else, in retaliation, I might just start calling you Subbu and Kasturi :-)

At the moment, I am extremely happy to be a part of a talented, informed and enthusiastic group like this.

kalyan

[harpreet kaur jass]

HI 

I am Harpreet, work in central university in department of education.My educational background involves graduation in elementary education, post graduation in education and human development. and pursuing my doctoral work in human development. 

I am interested in the this course and particular project which involves working with people from different backgrounds, for me NIAS has always been thinking, pure thinking, beyond disciplines, which I have been experiencing collectively for the first time on these forums of seminars and summer schools, I am finding the same here. I wish to learn about education from a 'non-education' perspective through this course and through the lens of model. I was thrilled to know so many people have opinion about education in India, an opinion which has concern and is informed. This would help Indian education system to develop their own perspective and model and not to borrow and apply without modification what we get from Non- Indian perspectives. I look forward for an initiation into Indigenous model of education (other concerns will be shared on relevant forum)

thanks 

--
Ms Harpreet Kaur Jass
Assistant Professor
DES, Faculty of Education
Jamia Millia Islamia
New Delhi- 25
India

[MG Subramanian]

Dear Kalyan,

Point taken, as evident above :-))

Dear all,

I roughly had the same journey as my friend (and old classmate) Kalyan till we got through engg and management. I have been a manufacturing man most of my life with some occasional and fruitfully  distracting forays forays into product development, business development, HR and start-up mentoring. For the last two years (of my 60 odd years of life so far) I have spent time between a for-profit education company and a non-profit Agastya International Foundation.Both have been fun.

I happen to think that this forever-aging world is trying to educate kids for the kind of past it faced not for any kind of future it visualises.I don't see how an attitude that says" I want to educate my kids BETTER than I was." is workable. What makes sense to me is that we say " I want them to be educated differently!".I don't see why model thinking cannot be taught in class 9!  A new world order will be born if_ and_ only_ if  we can make the existing order se irrelevant,at least selectively irrelevant, by creative but non-violent sabotage. 

Model thinking can help in this I think! 

When we know that simple causes can cause complex effects or at least non-intuitive effects, we can be

-stopped dead from trying

-empowered to try!

-ganu (Subbu and MG will also work!)

On Fri, Mar 2, 2012 at 11:35 AM, D KALYANARAMAN <dkalya...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Rajesh Kasturirangan]

.I don't see why model thinking cannot be taught in class 9!  

Thats the whole reason for having you here, so that we can start designing model thinking for school kids and even try that out with the Agastya YI children.  

[Sowmyan Tirumurti]

Some 25 years ago, I was bitten by the entrepreneurial bug and along with a friend went on to take up the agency for Spectrum, the home computer that works with a tape recorder and a TV. (One of the demo tapes it had was on cellular automata! - life). 

When we launched our business through a public demo, people asked us as to how they are expected to teach their children, when they themselves did not know any thing about computers. The next time we went with our 8 year olds to show that they took to it like fish to water. In most households it is the kids, more than adults,  who know how to invoke most features of household gadgets.  

I agree that we should not hesitate to introduce model thinking to kids. Giving them netlogo and letting them play would be the natural way of helping them discover. It is more useful than remembering in which year Plaza war or Panipat war was fought. 

[MG Subramanian]

I don't yet know how it can be taught, which is why I am here..I guess that's what you might call a 'fit' :-))

But seriously..

I spent a month last April playing hours of Angry Birds, enjoying every minute of it but equally admiring all the physics that has gone into it- the entirely plausible physics, not cartoon physics,that most projectiles and their targets exhibited and the one funny recalcitrant projectile that acted like a boomerang. Now a boomerang is as responsibly Newtonian as any falling apple but I had some real learning to do to succeed in my aims of throwing it.I never got too good at it.

More recently I came across James Paul Gee who has some serious conviction about the value of playing video games. 

Of course we don't have to sweat to teach playing games, but I think we can teach building games, which IS model building, plus or minus a nanogram!  Even to class 6 for that matter. 

It is just not clear to me whether-

* it is realistic to expect some targetted and assessable learning will take place--say laws of motion, the digestive cycle or decimals and fractions--by model building rather than model playing.The constructionist in me says 'yes!' but the world (even I) needs proof ,not just faith.

* it is necessary at all to target anything? Isn't it good enough if the kids somehow learn to learn and become good problem solvers?

* in either case- targetted or untargetted - how do we design learning environments that optimally use the natural flair of children to be collectively intelligent teachers of all in their team. Is physical togetherness score over virtual networking?

rgdas

-ganu

[Sowmyan Tirumurti]

Naveen,

In complex systems and chaos related areas one hears a classic quote that 'when a butterfly flaps its wings in Beijing, it may snow in NewYork' or some thing to this effect. To the extent Geniuses are not born routinely in family lines, and in large numbers, I would presume them to be a rare product of complex systems. This could include every thing, including genes, environment, childhood, teacher etc. Some of them may be promoters and some may be attenuators. It is mankind's thinking that all the things you talked of can help. 

What one can do is to keep improving their clarity of understanding and thinking in their area of pursuit, remain humble and innocent in their pursuit of truth, be industrious and curious in pursuing innovation. One can only help what one can do personally. To blame any external factor would be an excuse. 

To quote BhagavatGita: 'Let not the fruit of action be your object, nor let your attachment be to inaction'. 

With best wishes,

Sowmyan

 

On Wed, Mar 7, 2012 at 1:33 AM, naveenatmit <navee...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hello Sir,

"Genius are not born, But they are made, made by teachers and the
environment provided during childhood."

I was asked to write the answer for the question "My ambition" in my
Higher secondary examination. How could i leave this question as a
choice, i chose this and started answering with the above stated line
as a first point. I'm repeating it once again here, "Genius are not
born, But they are made, made by teachers and the environment provided
during childhood." Please provide a feedback for this line.

If this is true, major factors that influence the new born child (to
become genius, to be successful in life, to do well in school----
>education)  are the environment and the teachers.

My name is Naveenkumar S. I am from a village called Ayigoundam
palayam in Erode district, TamilNadu. I did my schooling in Perundurai
(7km away from home----> part of the model in Education). After that,
in 2006, i joined one of the most prestigious institute Madras
Institute of Technology (not surprisingly, without knowing "what is
technology" and without knowing that i should learn technology and
uniquely, with a background thought process of "i should become a
school teacher- one who cares about what my student didn't understand
rather than about how many marks should i give to his answer in the
answer sheet written by him) to do my engineering in Electronics and
Communication.

In 2010, I joined IBM, Bangalore, immediately after college (2days
gap)  and then i am working as a Hardware Design Engineer at Wabco
India Ltd, Chennai since Feb, 2011.

Wrote GATE 2010, 2011, 2012. Will be writing 2013 as well. :) :) Since
i am one of the student yet who don't know what to do in life, even
after having a dream of becoming school teacher. As of today, I have
learn t to live now (present).

I am more interested in working with you all. I am working to get a
good internet connection.

My dear friends, i am really amazed with the work that you have done
till now. Looking forward to contribute on my behalf !!

Lets Model and become meaningful :)

Cheers,
Naveenkumar S

On Mar 2, 10:32 pm, MG Subramanian <mgsu...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I don't yet know how it can be taught, which is why I am here..I guess
> that's what you might call a 'fit' :-))
>
> But seriously..
>
> I spent a month last April playing hours of Angry Birds, enjoying every
> minute of it but equally admiring all the physics that has gone into it-
> the entirely plausible physics, not cartoon

> physics<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartoon_physics>,that

> most projectiles and their targets exhibited and the one funny recalcitrant
> projectile that acted like a boomerang. Now a boomerang is as responsibly
> Newtonian as any falling apple but I had some real learning to do to
> succeed in my aims of throwing it.I never got too good at it.
>
> More recently I came across James Paul

> Gee<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Paul_Gee>who has some serious

> conviction about the value
> of playing video

> games<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYJpbjvcpIM&feature=related>
> .

>
> Of course we don't have to sweat to teach playing games, but I think we can

> teach *building* games, which IS model building, plus or minus a nanogram!

>  Even to class 6 for that matter.
>
> It is just not clear to me whether-
>
> * it is realistic to expect some targetted and assessable learning will
> take place--say laws of motion, the digestive cycle or decimals and

> fractions--by model *building* rather than model *playing*.The

> constructionist in me says 'yes!' but the world (even I) needs proof ,not
> just faith.
>
> * it is necessary at all to target anything? Isn't it good enough if the
> kids somehow learn to learn and become good problem solvers?
>
> * in either case- targetted or untargetted - how do we design learning
> environments that optimally use the natural flair of children to be
> collectively intelligent teachers of all in their team. Is physical
> togetherness score over virtual networking?
>
> rgdas
> -ganu
>

> On Fri, Mar 2, 2012 at 8:26 PM, Rajesh Kasturirangan <rkast...@gmail.com>wrote:

>
>
>
> > .I don't see why model thinking cannot be taught in class 9!
>
> > Thats the whole reason for having you here, so that we can start designing
> > model thinking for school kids and even try that out with the Agastya YI
> > children.

--
T Sowmyan
+91 80 25242236
http://sites.google.com/site/tsowmyan

[Sharath chandra]

Hi Naveen ( and all)

Nice to meet you lot. I have been typing and saving drafts and not sending them, as it was great reading all this stuff.

Skipping a formal introduction, I have been on the road of life long education ever since I set up my first chemistry lab at 14, currently involved in various activities from new/old media art, electronics, cognitive science, radio transmission, sociology, journalism and film making.
 
Anyway Naveen your attempts at GATE seem relentless and I wish u luck, but let me assure you that a pedantic 3 letter degree (Phd) hardly matters, and one could do research in 14th century Basket Weaving and still be left clueless. Doing what one likes is what counts.

  I am currently initiaiting a community open education program , more of an experiment, of which I will talk another day.
 
For now, here is a good passage that differentiates Kantian and Utilitarian perspectives, that will be good for dinner:
http://dmlcentral.net/blog/david-theo-goldberg/badges-learning-threading-needle-between-skepticism-and-evangelism

Regards
Sharathchandra

[naresh shah]

Hello Ram,

I personally think Turing's test is garbage. You can't build functional robots by copying how humans do tasks. Kind of a similar analogy to how we don't build aeroplanes by copying a bird's aerodynamics. Instead, understanding aerodynamics is far more important and comes from sources other than birds. Turing's test is largely ineffective in measuring the competency of AI tools. Just telling.

Regards,

Naresh 

On Fri, Mar 9, 2012 at 9:02 PM, Uber Mensch <uberdeve...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hello friends

I am Ram. I believe in few of Nietzche's ideals and I believe man (no implied gender here) must surpass mankind to do good to mankind. 

I am a college dropout, just have a formal high school education(completed a master's degree in Commerce through distance education) and by each passing day, I found my education wanting. 

I amn't sure whether I belong at this level (To be blatantly honest, going by other's academic qualifications, I seem woefully short) but that increases my hunger to improve more.

I am interested in political science, cognitive and social psychology, economics, philosophy, artificial intelligence and computers.

And as Rosseau put it in his Discourse on Inequality, the more the technology advances in developed nations, the more number of people are going to be hit further in other nations unless education is made free and compulsory  via a global curriculum. 

And regarding Kasturirangan's comment on borganisms (I believe creating cyborgs in itself would take another 3-4 decades since our best machines haven't crossed Turing's test on a consistent basis), I am sure in a space of 3 - 4 decades a lot of men would be fighting against machines for their livelihood and its a grave scenario.

My long term goals include

• creating a research framework
• running massive simulations
• help people take active part in government
• creating artificial knowledge engines
• earning some money

I have thought over a simulation on agriculture which we would hopefully discuss in the future.

My short-term goals for this year

• understanding this course
• learning calculus
• Get more proficient in statistics and probability

My tool-set comprises of (I haven't got proficient in any of these tools)

• Python (with its whole lot of scientific libraries)
• R
• Erlang (for distributed computing)
• Haskell (for functional programming)
• Scilab (for mathematics)

[Uber Mensch]

[Sharath chandra]

Turing's test was a great techno-social comment by a misunderstood genius of his time.

However some modern day AI practioners and followers of 'The Singlularity' paradigm embrace it with the hope that Ray Kurtzweil's 'Spiritual Machines' will one day be a reality.. or some such drivel.

On Fri, Mar 9, 2012 at 9:07 PM, Uber Mensch <uberdeve...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hello friends

nt

[MG Subramanian]

Dear Uber Whatever!

 

I would like to join the college you dropped out of ASAP. Those guys seem to produce some awesome dropouts.  Any inconvenient entry level age restrictions?  I am 60 plus!* Do I have to plunk any ubercompetitive entrance exam spectacularly or anything? Not sure if I would be asked to paradrop_out in a billowing academic gown** during graduation ceremony. But push comes to shove, I have a few  skilled haberdasher friends!

 

:-))

 

Welocome!

 

 -ganu

 

 P.S: * Tell them I am closer to realising my transience, the ultimate dropout_ness in us mortals,  than anyone else their admissions committee may fancy.

 P.P.S:** Do dropouts have their alma antimater?

 

 

On Fri, Mar 9, 2012 at 9:02 PM, Uber Mensch <uberdeve...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hello friends

I am Ram. I believe in few of Nietzche's ideals and I believe man (no implied gender here) must surpass mankind to do good to mankind. 

I am a college dropout, just have a formal high school education(completed a master's degree in Commerce through distance education) and by each passing day, I found my education wanting. 

I amn't sure whether I belong at this level (To be blatantly honest, going by other's academic qualifications, I seem woefully short) but that increases my hunger to improve more.

I am interested in political science, cognitive and social psychology, economics, philosophy, artificial intelligence and computers.

And as Rosseau put it in his Discourse on Inequality, the more the technology advances in developed nations, the more number of people are going to be hit further in other nations unless education is made free and compulsory  via a global curriculum. 

And regarding Kasturirangan's comment on borganisms (I believe creating cyborgs in itself would take another 3-4 decades since our best machines haven't crossed Turing's test on a consistent basis), I am sure in a space of 3 - 4 decades a lot of men would be fighting against machines for their livelihood and its a grave scenario.

My long term goals include

• creating a research framework
• running massive simulations
• help people take active part in government
• creating artificial knowledge engines
• earning some money

I have thought over a simulation on agriculture which we would hopefully discuss in the future.

My short-term goals for this year

• understanding this course
• learning calculus
• Get more proficient in statistics and probability

My tool-set comprises of (I haven't got proficient in any of these tools)

• Python (with its whole lot of scientific libraries)
• R
• Erlang (for distributed computing)
• Haskell (for functional programming)
• Scilab (for mathematics)

 Thursday, March 1, 2012 11:59:14 PM UTC+5:30, Rajesh Kasturirangan wrote:

On Thursday, March 1, 2012 11:59:14 PM UTC+5:30, Rajesh Kasturirangan wrote:

On Thursday, March 1, 2012 11:59:14 PM UTC+5:30, Rajesh Kasturirangan wrote:

On Thursday, March 1, 2012 11:59:14 PM UTC+5:30, Rajesh Kasturirangan wrote:

On Thursday, March 1, 2012 11:59:14 PM UTC+5:30, Rajesh Kasturirangan wrote:

On Thursday, March 1, 2012 11:59:14 PM UTC+5:30, Rajesh Kasturirangan wrote:

On Thursday, March 1, 2012 11:59:14 PM UTC+5:30, Rajesh Kasturirangan wrote:

[Uber Mensch]

Hi Naresh,

Regarding Turing's test, I believe it just started a whole new wave of things among the AI research community (We should give credit to Turing. Atleast, he broke some ciphers) and that's why its hugely popular.

And regarding building robots by copying human tasks, I don't even have a hint of knowledge on mechanics and electronics. 

And I don't think the Turing article should be taken as is. The human interrogator is just an example and I agree with you that we shouldn't we doing things copying how human works but in a knowledge representation system, its hugely worth to design a machine copying how the human brain works. Its more abstract, in fact its the most abstract.

[Uber Mensch]

Regarding Vinge's Singlularity, there is every chance that machines can become smarter than humans  (a few machines already are) but I don't think there could be a super-intelligent machine that could challenge mankind as a whole (not at least in the next 2 centuries). There are a lot of areas in which machines have to make a lot of evolution. But given a single option to select, I would go with Singlularity model since that makes thinking more futuristic and keeps me on my toes (I am an absolute newcomer in this field, I have just started learning things)

And for Turing test, I just quoted it since the exponential growth of machines haven't made it truly intelligent. 

[Uber Mensch]

I am a dropout by circumstances and not by choice. And I firmly
believe in the importance of formal education but I doubt its utility
within a framework of biased hierarchy and sub-standard research
infrastructure.
And your comments just seem to have a tinge of irony (in my opinion
but I may be wrong) :) Thanks for the praise though, Sir.

[MG Subramanian]

Hey, I genuinely liked the way you wrote about it..There was no intention to poke fun except the harmless variety..My apologies if that appeared insensitive or flippant..

-ganu

On Sat, Mar 10, 2012 at 9:43 AM, Uber Mensch <uberdeve...@gmail.com> wrote:

I am a dropout not by chance but by circumstances. I firmly believe in the importance of formal academic education but I seriously doubt its utility within a framework with biased hierarchy and sub-standard infrastructure for research 

[Uber Mensch]

Thank you and admire your courtesy (you apologized to a person of a much lesser age and I think its fantastic).  I just wanted to get clear and its just a friendly comment.  All in bonafide though.

And I am fed up with the knowledge system and the now customary rants on television by experts. And I also believe unless there is an absolute qualitative investment in social infrastructure, we could just end up creating islands of excellence. 

On Saturday, March 10, 2012 10:24:18 AM UTC+5:30, ganu wrote:

Hey, I genuinely liked the way you wrote about it..There was no intention to poke fun except the harmless variety..My apologies if that appeared insensitive or flippant..

-ganu

[MG Subramanian]

Not at all...one cleans up even the unwitting messes one creates!!

I agree wholly with you that the island approach to excellence can only maroon excellence. And having a few creates false islands of  excellence. Nature evolved species with a widespread investment that created tremendous variety.

-ganu

[Uber Mensch]

Hi Janani,

You have just put a list of wicked problems. I would try to answer them(in fact question them) to the best of my knowledge so far

1) Regarding the educational system creating clones and their proposed failure, it isn't going to fail  and is a much better alternative within this illusory just-world phenomenon we are in. 

2) By making a person adept at a variety of jobs, we are going to fuel the first cause more (creating more clones). And for the Finnish educational system, it can't be replicated, particularly countries like India, since there a lot of pre-cursors that led to the present Finnish system and most of them are unlikely to be replicated in a hugely populous nation

3)Regarding the teacher-student model, I believe its bound to fail in hugely populous nations. A system of student-student/institution-institution collaboration with teachers and experts on top with a open-guild structure (not resembling those medieval European guilds) may be a better.

4)Honestly, I can't understand this.

Would keep the discussion going if you insist on keeping it going since trying to answer your questions requires of lot of contextual information.

The key features that could make creative, sustainable education include

• asking more questions (radical questioning on existent belief systems), though a lot of them may not be answered
• teaching how to identify the problems rather than solutions
• liquid network models
• breaking the illusory biased cognitive link between education and grades, grades and employment, employment and salary
• robust social infrastructure

[janinthesky]

Hello everyone,

I am Janani Dhinakaran. I understand there is another Janani here so I can go by JD to avoid confusion. (I was also surprised by how much we have in common, apart from the name.)

Through my education so far I've been trying to make my way into the mind (Psychology) through the brain (Biology-Neuroscience). In my Masters I worked with fMRI and musicians' brains. I'm currently working on visual attention in different affect-based cognitive states.
Some of my interests outside my formal education include education, philosophy, medicinal plants. Since the mind is where it all happens (a frog in a well?), I see education as the way to bring about changes in the mind/patterns of thinking which can be translated into actions based on a more sensitised and passionate approach to life, which may result in gradual changes on a larger scale. I think there are already plenty of techniques worldwide which encourage the growth of a thinking and feeling individual. But region specific, re-contextualised grass-root level changes, more than big time policy changes will truly make a sustainable impact in the long run.

Thanks to Rajesh for arranging this add-on group/forum. It's nice to see people from various backgrounds; wisdom of crowds etc. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lt9UeknKwZw

JD

[Sudhir P]

wow! ANother neuro-person! I'm surprised at the number of neuro folks in the group! Does it now make ~10% of the group? Is it worth modeling why so many neuro people are in the modeling group :p

[MG Subramanian]

You can't have a regular Cog Sci chap like Rajesh getting people together for a course and wonder why there are so many neuro folk here, can you? The miracle, the surprising order that this chaos produced, is that some of the other PLU (people like us) enrolled and survive! If there is anything worth modelling it is THAT!

-ganu

[Sudhir P]

Well. I got here not knowing the cog sci aspect of Rajesh. And i thought(probably wrongly) that everyone here got here without the cog-sci-feather based flocking

[Sony R K]

it doesn't matter how many 'neuro folks' gather here. only the aim of their gathering matters

lol!!!!!!!!!

[Sharath chandra]

 2 points In continuation with the above reference to the Cog Sci and Neuro Folk presence on this list :

1) Here's how some neuro folk want to look at the education hood.

http://store.neurosky.com/products/mindwave-1

2) And also a small quote that I coined last night that you all may now use with CC Attrib :)) 

''Cognition is what we do for a living.''