Mary Martin
@marymartin
awareness, imagination, futures thinking, and hope.
Mary Martin
marymartinphd.com
AI Is Making the World a Dumber Place
AI Is Making Us Dumber. Shocker.
We now know that the brain’s capacity to learn, to adapt, to change in response to experience is so fundamental that it strikes the wrong note to say that an activity (like meditation) ‘changes the brain’ as if such change is special or unusual. In fact, everything we do changes the brain on some level. Or rather, the brain is constantly changing,... See more
Transforming Minds
Intensive meditation, even after only one day, can also affect gene regulation in your brain through similar mechanisms. Attending a monthlong meditation retreat reduces the expression of genes that affect inflammation, and experienced meditators can reduce inflammatory genes after just one day of intensive mediation.
Karla Kaun • Alcohol and drugs rewire your brain by changing how your genes work – research is investigating how to counteract addiction’s effects
“Can machines be therapists?” is a question receiving increased attention given the relative ease of working with generative artificial intelligence. Although recent (and decades-old) research has found that humans struggle to tell the difference between responses from machines and humans, recent findings suggest that artificial intelligence can... See more
PLOS Mental Health
Interestingly, many users who emotionally mourned the ‘loss’ of GPT-4o expressed complete awareness of its lack of consciousness. And yet, in many cases, the subjective grief that they felt was no less real. This demonstrates that the power of the illusion is such that a given user might not actually believe that their AI companion is conscious,... See more
The Illusion of Consciousness in AI Companionship — PRISM
Embodiment, AI - IDFA Report-1
Exploring the intersection of embodiment, immersive media, and artificial intelligence in documentary storytelling, highlighting audience experiences, challenges, and the evolving strategies used by creators to convey complex realities.
Linkembodiment and
At IDFA DocLab in November 2023, MIT researchers explored how the
different forms of possible embodiment were being used by artists, and how
they had impact on audience experience and understanding. We wanted to
understand what strategies and tools artists are using, how these projects
are being received by audiences, and whether the knowledge communicated
or experience delivered is distinct from that shared by more traditional forms
of flat screen media.
By separating pain from the self and relinquishing evaluative judgment, mindfulness meditation is able to directly modify how we experience pain in a way that uses no drugs, costs nothing and can be practiced anywhere.
Friends without friction
Companion chatbots may weaken our ability to navigate conflict and difference—unless we make key design choices, says a new report
Companion chatbots may weaken our ability to navigate conflict and difference—unless we make key design choices, says a new report
Friends without friction
Decades later, scientists are starting to unravel how our wet, spongy, slippery organs talk to the brain and how the brain talks back. That two-way communication, known as interoception, encompasses a complex, bodywide system of nerves and hormones. Much recent exploration has focused on the vagus nerve: a massive, meandering network of more than... See more
Newly detailed nerve links between brain and other organs shape ...
interoception and