He explained how this cultural fascination with comparing the human brain to the highest form of technological advancement has been popular in human history. It is the popular phrase that “the brain is like a computer.”Ĭhiang explained that the phrase says little about the capabilities of the brain, but a lot about society’s close relation with technology and how instilled it is in our culture. His lecture was focused on one example of Folk Biology in particular and it is a plague found in Sci-Fi narratives. Not only is the statement false but the longer the mindset persists the harder it is to remedy. Folk Biology, as he explained it, is when society attributes incorrect colloquial ideas to actual science, for example the idea that people cannot get fit unless they eat meat. The lecture provided insight into the methodology that Chiang uses to create stories.Ĭhiang used the lecture to air his many grievances with the contemporary use of Folk Biology. His main focus was the Sci-Fi genre, but he explained how folk biology hinders story structure in general. Chiang is a critically acclaimed author whose novella “Story of Your Life” was the basis for the 2016 Oscar nominated film Arrival. His lecture, titled “Why the Brain is Not a Computer”, focused on the common misconceptions of Folk Biology in the media and how they hurt our ability to tell a narrative. On March 27, FIU’s School of Computer Information and Sciences and the Department of English co-hosted a public lecture with guest speaker Ted Chiang.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |