All of these pictures are from wikipedia. The reason I like these in particular is because they make you think a little bit, especially when you know their backstory. I like pictures that are not only visually interesting, but also have a backstory behind them.
MRI of the brain:
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Reminds me that all of the thoughts that I have ever thought have taken place in this relatively small space in side my head.
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Makes you wonder how the brain is constructed such that we’re able to be conscious and aware. Does the structure of the brain give it it’s function? or is there something external that we’ll never know that makes us conscious?
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It also makes you think about what would happen if brains could be as large as needed without being constrained by the volume of the cranium. Our brains can’t grow any larger than our skull permits. Computers are not constrained by very much, other than the surface are of the earth and atmosphere height. How much more powerful would a computer’s mind be than ours if it was just 4x the size by volume as ours? Makes you think.
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Going off of the point above, it makes you think that if a creature had it’s brain that was like 2x the size of our brain, (and probably consumed like 4x the power), then it probably wouldn’t be evolutionarily viable, because the energy consumption required wouldn’t be worth it, especially in the early stages of life when all that’s available is essentially trees, rocks and dirt. Maybe humans are at that point where we’re able to consume just enough energy early on by our minds to make it out of the stone ages, but just smart enough to be able to make minds that are smarter than ours.
Skinner’s box:
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A skinner box is basically a box that has a bunch of levers and lights that the animal can see. In this case it’s a pigeon. skinner boxes are named after B.F. skinner who researched how animals can be trained to do some really impressive things just by rewarding them with food at the right time. Skinner also researched how different “schedules of reinforcement” (aka the timing of when food was delivered) caused the animal to behave in predictable ways. What skinner found was that different schedules of reinforcement would produce different responses and habits in the animal.
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What’s interesting about this is that our phones could be pretty easily though of as skinner boxes. We get various reinforcements in the form of push notifications, social media recommendations, likes, shares, comments, etc. Because skinner established that different schedules of reinforcement cause animals to behave in different—but predictable—ways, it’s no stretch of the imagination to assume that you’re behaving just as intended. Most of the time you’re on there, you’re clicking on the expected things. And when you’re not, that observation is noticed and noted down for future use. Much like how the person on the right is doing.
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It’s not too much of a stretch to imagine that somewhere in the background, your online usage is being monitored and experimented with. This is a lot like how the researchers are experimenting with the pigeon that has no idea it’s part of an experiment.
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Hopefully this isn’t the case, but it seems pretty likely at least a couple people at google or meta would get a kick out of analyzing the data, especially since the more time you spend on their platforms, the more money they make. This could be why a lot of companies are introducing short form video to compete with tik tok. Who knows.
Desolation:
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This is a relatively famous piece of artwork from Thomas Cole. It’s part of a larger, 5 piece artwork set called “The Course of Empire.” Essentially, the 5 artworks go through the 5 different stages of an empire.
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The name of this painting is “Desolation”. Desolation is my favorite painting out of the 5.
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I like this painting because it has a calming effect on me. It’s cool to see how nature is reclaiming the city after its destruction.
The earth:
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You’ve probably already seen this picture before. I like it because everyone who has ever lived has lived here.
Looking at the earth:
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I really like this picture. I’m not sure what the person in the picture is thinking about, but I think that this picture is easily interpreted as a person reflecting on their place in the world and the universe.
All is Vanity:
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This picture is called “all is vanity.” I think is cool because it has two pictures inside of it, and that creates a message. The first picture is a person looking in the mirror The second picture is a skull.
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This juxtaposition to me seems to imply that nothing lasts forever, and that youth and the beauty that comes with it is guaranteed to leave you. It also makes you think that maybe you shouldn’t care so much about how good you look because in the end you’ll just look like a skull like everyone else. Overall an interesting picture.
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I originally found this picture on another article (either death or beauty, i can’t remember) but it seems like it’s been replaced in favor of another picture.
From the article on death:
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This picture was taken in the US in 1910. It’s interesting because it makes you think about what things we are doing today that are pernicious. The reason they are not age restricted or prohibited today is for the same reason that they were not age restricted or prohibited back then—we didn’t have enough information about the long term effects to know if it was bad or not.