Posted by boBB on June 2, 2000, at 19:30:54
In reply to Re: Esoteric: Defined, posted by Adam on June 2, 2000, at 9:52:04
Try "The Invisible Brain" available at most hobby shops.
Kidding, sort of. It amazes me how much coherant information is available about the various structures and functions of the brain mind, yet a concise, accurate, accessible compilation is still not widely available. Seems there is still no replacement for a medical degree and several years of specialized research if someone really wants to get a handle on human physiology.
There is a project that sliced the bodies of two individuals into thin segments and is using the photgraphic data from those bodies to create a virtual anatomy. I think it is called the virtual anatomy project. Not much is available on-line so far, but I think that is the goal.
University of Colorado has some interesting lifelike MPEG animation of various muscles, bone structures and organs, but it is not like you can just click your way into any part of the body and explore any organ you choose right down to the microbiological level, assisted by accessible text linked so as to cascade from the most elementary summaries into the most recent esoteric research about that part of the body.
But then, the internet is really still in its infancy.
I understand some medical schools have done away with their cadaver labs in favor of virtual anatomy, but I'm not sure. There is quite a lot out on CD that I have not reviewed, including some virtual anatomy and physiology stuff. It really needs to be more accessible if it is true that a wider public understanding of human physiology would benifit the overall public health.
The CIA/NSA can call up 3-D maps for anywhere in the world, and probably has plans for buildings in many areas (though they claim they can't keep track of foreign embassies listed in public phone books when they select bombing targets). Municipalities have for more than a decade used some interesting software that interfaces geographic data with maps of various utilities and such. Fire departmens and police departments are trying to get building plans entered into their servers so they will have virtual floorplans available when they are called to an emergency.
Historical societies would do well to use that interactive mapping software to keep up with old pictures and data about local communities, and maybe to create virtual histories of some areas. The best we can get on the internet so far is the likes of Maps.com.
If the public was as interested in learning as they seem to be in Rambo, WWF and Jerry Springer, their might be a better market for interactive virtual biological models. But then if there were better interactive virtual models available at reasonable cost, (Web TV in every home, with encyclopedic virtual anatomy available for free, with easy access reference to medical data) people might be more interested in educational media.
boBB wants a job producing educational media.
> Actually, I meant the title to be somewhat tongue-in-cheek, and I think the label is often placed on intellectual or philosophical discussions, even though such discussions might or should have a wider audience and "participancy".
>
> In the case of brain modeling, I was wondering what, if any, real progress was being made in the area, and my hope for such models is that they would make study of the brain LESS esoteric. Often researchers, when they dream up experiments, or pose hypotheses, have to do a great deal of reading and sifting to make reasonable predictions about what the outcome of an experiment might be. Only by doing so can they hope to design rational experiments, or interpret their results, whether or not the results are what one would expect. It seems to me that one could spend their life studying one walnut-sized chunk of the brain, with all the information that is now available in the literature. If such information could be compiled into a reasonably accurate model, it might streamline the research and design process. It could be nothing more than a kind of interactive database.
>
> > Hey y'all. I just looked up the word "esoteric" in the dictionary, just to be sure of the meaning. It is defined as "designed for or understood by the specially initiated alone," or "limited to a small circle." Is that the kind of approach to mental health you would like to see taken? How about a model that we can ALL understand, at least on a basic level?
> >
> > Just wondering...
poster:boBB
thread:35445
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000526/msgs/35762.html