Ο έρωτας και η επιβίωση είναι συστατικά στοιχεία της ανθρώπινης φύσης. Και είναι πολύ δυνατά ώστε να εκφυλιστούν. Ακόμα και αν η κοινωνία τα διώκει ή τα υποτάσσει, αυτά θα βρουν τρόπο να εκδηλωθούν. Πιστεύω ακράδαντα πως ο άνθρωπος που είναι ερωτικά ελεύθερος είναι επίσης πολιτικά, κοινωνικά αλλά και στη δημιουργία του ελεύθερος. Γι’ αυτό βλέπουμε συχνά καλλιτέχνες να έχουν μια μποέμικη, μια ιδιαίτερη ερωτική ζωή, διαφορετική από εκείνη του φαντάρου, του εργάτη ή του εισπράκτορα. Η δύναμη λοιπόν του έρωτα σκιρτά μέσα μας και εκδηλώνεται με την πρώτη ευκαιρία. Η γυναίκα π.χ. που χαρακτηρίζουμε άπιστη, ουσιαστικά επαναστατεί ενάντια στη μιζέρια που πιθανόν βιώνει.
Περικλής Κοροβέσης
June 30, 2009
June 24, 2009
Bill Frisell's words of wisdom
Q: Do you have a philosophy that you try to impart among students or young musicians?
A: You have to really love what you're doing and just keep trying, staying persistent and keeping at it. Every time I have done something with any kind of ulterior motive other than just for the music, I've always gotten into trouble. I have always tried not to sacrifice any part of the music and kept my focus on what I'm getting out of it musically and I think that's where people get into trouble. They start looking for something other than the music, whether it's for money, girls, or trying to get famous. You start running after something you'll never figure out because you can never figure out what people want you to do. You have to do what you want to do and believe in that and that's all you can do really. I know there are pressures and it's not easy, but it's just a disaster if you start running around trying to figure out what somebody else thinks is right.
Q: This is a quote from Miles Davis: "You have to pick out the most important note that fertilizes the sound. It makes the sound grow. It's like putting lemon on fish or vegetables. It brings out the flavor. Your sound is like your sweat." Are you getting closer to the sound that you hear or does it keep changing?
A: Every time I try to play a note, I just can't quite seem to get it. I move closer but can never really get it and it's a constant struggle all of the time. But music has always felt like that. I used to think that there would be a time when it would just become good or that everything would feel wonderful all the time. But that's not in the nature and there's always this infinite way to go. But if there weren't, there wouldn't be any reason to play anymore. It would be boring. But it can also be frustrating, and it took me awhile to learn what that feeling was. It would seem that it could kind of flip people out to where they would quit playing and never really get there.
Bill Frisell interview (June 24, 2009)
June 12, 2009
Weed according to Carl Sagan
“I can remember the night that I suddenly realized what it was like to be crazy, or nights when my feelings and perceptions were of a religious nature. I had a very accurate sense that these feelings and perceptions, written down casually, would not stand the usual critical scrutiny that is my stock in trade as a scientist. If I find in the morning a message from myself the night before informing me that there is a world around us which we barely sense, or that we can become one with the universe, or even that certain politicians are desperately frightened men, I may tend to disbelieve; but when I’m high I know about this disbelief. And so I have a tape in which I exhort myself to take such remarks seriously. I say ‘Listen closely, you son of a bitch of the morning! This stuff is real!’ I try to show that my mind is working clearly; I recall the name of a high school acquaintance I have not thought of in thirty years; I describe the color, typography, and format of a book in another room and these memories do pass critical scrutiny in the morning. I am convinced that there are genuine and valid levels of perception available with cannabis (and probably with other drugs) which are, through the defects of our society and our educational system, unavailable to us without such drugs.”
And how right he was, as usual. Whole essay here.
And how right he was, as usual. Whole essay here.
June 3, 2009
Deliberate Practice does it.
Why Talent is Overrated by Geoff Colvin
The Role of Deliberate Practice in the acquisition of Expert Performance
"People believe that because expert performance is qualita-
tively different from normal performancethe expert performer
must be endowed with characteristics qualitatively different from
those of normal adults. This view has discouraged scien-
tists from systematically examiningexpert performers and ac-
counting for their performance in terms of the laws and princi-
ples of general psychology. Weagree that expert performanceis
qualitatively different from normal performance and even that
expert performers have characteristics and abilities that are
qualitatively different from or at least outside the range of those
of normal adults. However, we deny that these differences are
immutable, that is, due to innate talent. Only a fewexceptions,
most notably height, are genetically prescribed. Instead, we
argue that the differences between expert performers and nor-
mal adults reflect a life-long period of deliberate effort to im-
prove performance in a specific domain.
Most of our scientific knowledge about improvement and
change comes from laboratory studies of training and practice
that lasted hours, days, and occasionally weeks and months. In
addition, there is a growing body of data on the heritabilities of
various abilities and characteristics estimated for twins and
parents and their offspring sampled from the general popula-
tion (Plomin et al., 1990). Although behavioral geneticists care-
fully point out that their heritability estimates are valid onlyfor
the limited range of practice and skill in the normal environ-
ment of the adults studied, it isoften incorrectlyassumed bylay
people that these estimates can be directly extended to extreme
manipulations of environmental conditions, such as extended
deliberate practice. Most important, the effects of short-term
training cannot be readily extended to the effects of orders of
magnitude more practice.
A promising direction for research on the effects of extended
activities is to identify activities relevant to some goal and to
assess the amount of time individualsallocate to these activi-
ties. Recent research hasshown that the amount oftimeindivid-
uals spend reading as assessed by diaries is related to memory
for prose even when education and vocabulary are partialed out
(Rice, Meyer, & Miller, 1988). The estimated amount of read-
ing is also related to reading ability and, most interestingly,
increases in reading ability (R. C. Anderson, Wilson, & Field-
ing, 1988). Research on physical fitness has a long tradition of
measuring daily physical activity and exercise, and we have
cited the study in which Fagard et al. (1991) assessed the influ-
ence of both genetic factors and regular activity on aerobic and
anaerobic abilities. It would be ideal to plot the interaction of
genetic and environmental factors in longitudinal studies
across the entire life span (Rutter, 1989). Within this context,
we view the study of elite performers as particularly interesting
because from early ages their lives appear to maximize the
influence of environmental activities (deliberate practice) im-
proving a specific type of performance. In a rare study
Schneider, Bos, and Rieder (1993) included environmental fac-
tors along with physical characteristics and motivational char-
acteristics of individuals in a longitudinal study of elite tennis
players. Consistent with our framework they found that tennis
performance at ages 11 and 17 was primarily determined by
parental support and in particular motivation and tennis-speci-
fic skills, wherethe level of these skills in turnare mainlyattrib-
utable to assessed levelsof motivation and concentration.
We view elite performance as the product of a decade or more
of maximal efforts to improve performance in a domain
through an optimal distribution of deliberate practice. This
view provides us with uniqueinsights into the potential for and
limits to modifying the human body and mind. Manyanatomi-
cal characteristics, traditionally believed to be fixed, can adapt
and change in response to intense practice sustained for years.
Substantial change and learning can occur even during child-
hood, whensomechanges, such as in certain perceptual-motor
abilities, might be even easier to attain than duringadulthood.
Untrained adults can overcome limitson speed and processing
capacity byacquiring newcognitive skills that circumvent these
limits by qualitatively different processes. Further research on
the capacities and characteristics of expert performance will
give us a much deeper understanding of the full rangeof possi-
ble adaptations and methods forcircumventing limits (Ericsson
& Smith, 199la).
It does not follow from the rejection of innate limits on ac-
quired performance that everyone can easily attain high levels
of skill. Contemporary elite performers have overcome a num-
ber of constraints. They have obtained early access to instruc-
tors, maintained high levels of deliberate practice throughout
development, received continued parental and environmental
support, and avoided disease and injury. When one considers in
addition the prerequisite motivation necessary to engage in de-
liberate practice every day for years and decades, when most
children and adolescents of similar ages engage in play and
leisure, the real constraints on the acquisition of expert perfor-
mance become apparent. The commitment to deliberate prac-
tice distinguishesthe expert performer from the vast majority
of children and adults who seem to have remarkable difficulty
meeting the much lower demands on practice in schools, adult
education, and in physicalexercise programs.
We believe that a more careful analysis of the lives of future
elite performers will tell us how motivation is promoted and
sustained. It is also entirely plausible that such a detailed analy-
sis will reveal environmental conditions as well as heritable
individual differences that predispose individuals to engage in
deliberate practice during extended periods and facilitate moti-
vating them. Our empirical studies have already shown that
experts carefully scheduledeliberate practice and limit itsdura-
tion to avoid exhaustionand burnout. By viewing expert per-
formers not simply as domain-specific experts but as experts in
maintaining high levels of practice and improving perfor-
mance, we are likely to uncovervaluableinformation about the
optimal conditions for learning and education."
The Role of Deliberate Practice in the acquisition of Expert Performance
"People believe that because expert performance is qualita-
tively different from normal performancethe expert performer
must be endowed with characteristics qualitatively different from
those of normal adults. This view has discouraged scien-
tists from systematically examiningexpert performers and ac-
counting for their performance in terms of the laws and princi-
ples of general psychology. Weagree that expert performanceis
qualitatively different from normal performance and even that
expert performers have characteristics and abilities that are
qualitatively different from or at least outside the range of those
of normal adults. However, we deny that these differences are
immutable, that is, due to innate talent. Only a fewexceptions,
most notably height, are genetically prescribed. Instead, we
argue that the differences between expert performers and nor-
mal adults reflect a life-long period of deliberate effort to im-
prove performance in a specific domain.
Most of our scientific knowledge about improvement and
change comes from laboratory studies of training and practice
that lasted hours, days, and occasionally weeks and months. In
addition, there is a growing body of data on the heritabilities of
various abilities and characteristics estimated for twins and
parents and their offspring sampled from the general popula-
tion (Plomin et al., 1990). Although behavioral geneticists care-
fully point out that their heritability estimates are valid onlyfor
the limited range of practice and skill in the normal environ-
ment of the adults studied, it isoften incorrectlyassumed bylay
people that these estimates can be directly extended to extreme
manipulations of environmental conditions, such as extended
deliberate practice. Most important, the effects of short-term
training cannot be readily extended to the effects of orders of
magnitude more practice.
A promising direction for research on the effects of extended
activities is to identify activities relevant to some goal and to
assess the amount of time individualsallocate to these activi-
ties. Recent research hasshown that the amount oftimeindivid-
uals spend reading as assessed by diaries is related to memory
for prose even when education and vocabulary are partialed out
(Rice, Meyer, & Miller, 1988). The estimated amount of read-
ing is also related to reading ability and, most interestingly,
increases in reading ability (R. C. Anderson, Wilson, & Field-
ing, 1988). Research on physical fitness has a long tradition of
measuring daily physical activity and exercise, and we have
cited the study in which Fagard et al. (1991) assessed the influ-
ence of both genetic factors and regular activity on aerobic and
anaerobic abilities. It would be ideal to plot the interaction of
genetic and environmental factors in longitudinal studies
across the entire life span (Rutter, 1989). Within this context,
we view the study of elite performers as particularly interesting
because from early ages their lives appear to maximize the
influence of environmental activities (deliberate practice) im-
proving a specific type of performance. In a rare study
Schneider, Bos, and Rieder (1993) included environmental fac-
tors along with physical characteristics and motivational char-
acteristics of individuals in a longitudinal study of elite tennis
players. Consistent with our framework they found that tennis
performance at ages 11 and 17 was primarily determined by
parental support and in particular motivation and tennis-speci-
fic skills, wherethe level of these skills in turnare mainlyattrib-
utable to assessed levelsof motivation and concentration.
We view elite performance as the product of a decade or more
of maximal efforts to improve performance in a domain
through an optimal distribution of deliberate practice. This
view provides us with uniqueinsights into the potential for and
limits to modifying the human body and mind. Manyanatomi-
cal characteristics, traditionally believed to be fixed, can adapt
and change in response to intense practice sustained for years.
Substantial change and learning can occur even during child-
hood, whensomechanges, such as in certain perceptual-motor
abilities, might be even easier to attain than duringadulthood.
Untrained adults can overcome limitson speed and processing
capacity byacquiring newcognitive skills that circumvent these
limits by qualitatively different processes. Further research on
the capacities and characteristics of expert performance will
give us a much deeper understanding of the full rangeof possi-
ble adaptations and methods forcircumventing limits (Ericsson
& Smith, 199la).
It does not follow from the rejection of innate limits on ac-
quired performance that everyone can easily attain high levels
of skill. Contemporary elite performers have overcome a num-
ber of constraints. They have obtained early access to instruc-
tors, maintained high levels of deliberate practice throughout
development, received continued parental and environmental
support, and avoided disease and injury. When one considers in
addition the prerequisite motivation necessary to engage in de-
liberate practice every day for years and decades, when most
children and adolescents of similar ages engage in play and
leisure, the real constraints on the acquisition of expert perfor-
mance become apparent. The commitment to deliberate prac-
tice distinguishesthe expert performer from the vast majority
of children and adults who seem to have remarkable difficulty
meeting the much lower demands on practice in schools, adult
education, and in physicalexercise programs.
We believe that a more careful analysis of the lives of future
elite performers will tell us how motivation is promoted and
sustained. It is also entirely plausible that such a detailed analy-
sis will reveal environmental conditions as well as heritable
individual differences that predispose individuals to engage in
deliberate practice during extended periods and facilitate moti-
vating them. Our empirical studies have already shown that
experts carefully scheduledeliberate practice and limit itsdura-
tion to avoid exhaustionand burnout. By viewing expert per-
formers not simply as domain-specific experts but as experts in
maintaining high levels of practice and improving perfor-
mance, we are likely to uncovervaluableinformation about the
optimal conditions for learning and education."
March 25, 2009
The Paradox of Choice
There is no default anymore - is that good or bad? Professor Barry Schwartz elaborates :
March 14, 2009
James Nachtwey is a hero
[...]Now, in case you're wondering why I have a certain interest, or fascination lets call it, with torture and beheadings and all of those things I have mentioned, is because each of these items reminds me in life over and over again what beasts we human beings really are. When you get right down to it human beings are nothing more than ordinary jungle beasts. Savages. No different from the Cro Magnon people who lived twenty five thousand years ago. No different. Our DNA hasn't changed substantially in a hundred thousand years. We're still operating out of the lower brain. The reptilian brain.Fight of flight. Kill or be killed. We like to think we've evolved and advanced because we can build a computer, fly an airplane, travel underwater, we can write a sonnet, paint a painting, compose an opera. But you know something? We're barely out of the jungle on this planet. Barely out of the fucking jungle. What we are, is semi-civilized beasts, with baseball caps and automatic weapons.James Nachtwey has given his life to serve truth and justice by capturing the pain, horror and devastation caused by the madness of war, through his photographic lens while at the same time using his artistic skill and vision to make the images he produces striking and immediate.- George Carlin
The worst thing is to feel that as a photographer I am benefiting from someone else's tragedy. This idea haunts me. It's something I have to reckon with every day because I know that if I ever allowed genuine compassion to be overtaken by personal ambition, I will have sold my soul. The only way I can justify my role is to have respect for the other person's predicament. The extent to which I do that is the extent to which I become accepted by the other; and to that extent, I can accept myself. - James Nachtwey
The legacy of chemical warfare in the Vietnam war, photos by James Nachtwey
The Vietnam syndrome, essay by Christopher Hitchens
March 9, 2009
Perception is everything.
To claim the title 'individual' one must consistently and tirelessly aim to expand his perception of the world that surrounds him. Everything that one thinks and does is directly connected to one's perception. Of course perception can be occasionally affected by other factors, such as one's emotions at a given moment. But generally speaking, if one wishes to enjoy the fullest possible gamut of life's experiences one must seek to escape the mass perception that is, without our own will, instilled in our consciousness by the external sources that surround us; the schools, the media, the people. One must make a conscious effort and direct his will to acquire the knowledge and the experiences that will expand his perception and make him a richer and more individual human being as a result. One must not content himself to simply reject what is generally rejected, or to embrace what is generally embraced. One must question, and seek to develop and refine one's perception to enrich oneself, and be ever truer to one's individual needs and desires. A limited perception will express itself in a limited existence and one should only wish to widen his perception to include as much of life as one can. More so if one is of a creative nature, for creation is only perception expressed through an artistic discipline (but not necessarily what is deemed 'artistic' by the majority). A carpenter might benefit himself by becoming intimate with understanding the scientific principles that create the wood's texture and density for then, even though this knowledge might not be of any practical use, his appreciation and understanding of his material will be greatly expanded, and this might develop a new enthusiasm and creativity in his work. But everyone must seek their way to expand their perception, as no one knows oneself better than oneself. And no one can claim to have 'arrived' at an expanded perception and consciousness, as this is an ongoing and never ending journey through life. And for the so-called 'artist', one of creative disposition, this is a journey one must begin as soon as possible and continue for the rest of one's life. It only requires one to be open-minded, persistent and uninhibited by negative emotions.
February 25, 2009
August 4, 2008
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