Broken Symmetry

Asynchrony in the Frontal Cortex

Jonah Lehrer provides some interesting description of research on synchronized brain activity in -- of all things -- a review of Avatar:

The most notable of these "non-synchronous" regions is the prefrontal cortex, an area associated with logic, deliberative analysis, and self-awareness. (It carries a hefty computational burden.) Subsequent work by Malach and colleagues has found that, when we're engaged in intense "sensorimotor processing" - and nothing is more intense than staring at a massive screen with Dolby surround sound while wearing 3-D glasses - we actually inhibit these prefrontal areas.

What I want to know is how mirror neuron theory is considered by some to be discredited for lack of precise mechanism despite these kinds of studies? Who cares whether it's a single neuron or single group of neurons that permits these social effects?

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

From Dan Primack at peHUB:

The secondary market’s stickiest wicket continues to be the gap between buyside and sellside pricing expectations. Rather than trying to bridge the divide, it would appear that both sides are calcifying – believing that the other will cave.

For buyers, that means banking on a theory that increased capital call volume will push some LPs over the line from liquidity-parched to liquidity-desperate. Sellers, on the other hand, counter that an increase in capital calls is likely to be coupled with an increase in distributions, which could help them maintain an even keel.

The detente among LPs, buy-side GPs, and sell-side GPs recalls a classic spaghetti western:

One cannot help observing that the same groups that before the crisis were actively engaged in buying and selling have undergone a sort of phase transition to passive standoffs in which the biggest concern is with being the last man standing.

What will break up this "calicified" state, and get the volume of transactions flowing again? Government interventions seem not to be enough. Only restored trust and confidence will do the job. And these take time.

Netflix Culture

From MG Siegler at Techcruch: (why did he leave Venturebeat for what is turning into a rag?)

The real company values, as opposed to the nice-sounding values, are shown by who gets rewarded, promoted, or let go. Real company values are the behaviors and skills that we particularly value in fellow employees.

PowerPoint here.

The Netflix definition of values is the more coherent, and reminds me of Teece's capabilities models and Nelson and Winter's routines. So how is it that when we think of "company values" we think more of the aspirational statements that seem to have so little impact on how companies operate? Sometimes it seems that the more publicly committed an organization on a particular issue, the less trustworthy its commmitment. Like individuals, organizations that do things don't need to proclaim their ability to do said things.

Popping Corn with Light

Seeing this made me smile and remember this:

Film Reviews

These are the first film reviews I have provided on this blog, and I'm offering them up because of their interesting relevance to my earlier speculation about neuroplasticity, mirror neurons, and synchronized flow.

Lars and The Real Girl

I wanted to recommend this film because some people might assume that it's just a gag from its synopsis alone.  The protagonist Lars, in a nervous breakdown, buys an inflatable woman, and proceeds to carry her around his small town, introducing her to everyone.  If this were a Farrelly Brothers movie, I wouldn't have bothered.  I gave it a chance because I had nothing to expect from Craig Gillespie, who with this film establishes himself as one of the most interesting new directors to emerge in a long time.

Following a stern exhortation from the family doctor, the brother and sister-in-law go along with the delusion, and convince the whole town to join along in their conspiracy.  The sensitive and nuanced portrayal of the various characters and their relationships with one-another was rivetting.  The movie cements Emily Mortimer in my mind as one of the most sensitive and intelligent actresses of her generation.  Don't miss her performances in 2 Brothers & a Bride or Dear Frankie.

What connection does the movie have to the neuroscience of synchronized flow?  The film is a mirror image of of life.  In life, groups of people will often delude themselves, and only an outsider without an iron in the fire will be able to see clearly.  But the deluded group hardly ever listens to the outsider, and instead the outsider often gets sucked into the delusion.

The Legend of 1900

If you don't already know of Giuseppe Tornatore, then I say, "Get thee to a film'ry."  He is a lover of people and a lover of film to a degree unmatched by any director I have seen.  Like Kubrick, he is in love with the medium, and lavishes every frame with significant detail.  But unlike Kubrick, he has a profound compassion for the characters he portrays, which oozes off the screen.  See Cinema Paradiso if you haven't already.  It surpasses the Legend of 1900 in some ways.  They're very different stories though, and both are worth seeing.

The protagonist in The Legend of 1900 is a man ("1900") who is born and lives out his entire life on a ship.  As a boy, he discovers a gift and passion for the piano.  In this way, the movie poses the question, "How would a life lived entirely through music look?"  The movie succeeds because it is able to demonstrate that such a life might not, in fact, be as narrow as one might naively imagine.  If anything, the story stumbles at the end when the writer and director concede to the audience that such a life is limited in important ways.  It would have been a more interesting movie if they had simply taken the idea all the way through to its logical conclusion.