Living up to the tagline

If you are a student of philosophy, and I am not, you know that advances in the sciences typically accompany a change of paradigm. I have a new paradigm for neuroscience, developed in graduate school but never published.

Whenever I see a headline about an advance in our understanding of consciousness or brain function, I expect to see my paradigm busting through the old one, but it never happens. I guess I have to do it myself. To this end, I would like to use this blog as a testbed for ideas and writing that can later be assembled into a book outlining a better way to think about brains.

Though I have typed and scribbled thousands of words about this paradigm shift, those efforts have always been small pieces of the larger tapestry. I have never tried to stitch it together. Do I start with the new paradigm or first dispatch the old one? How much biochemistry do I need to include? How much evolution? Should I trace the explorations that took me to this idea or just explain what I found?

With your feedback, I can sharpen and organize my ideas and hopefully find an effective way to communicate complex thoughts. A place dedicated to finding the missing think seems like a fine forum for formulating a more fruitful neurophilosophy.

I guess the first question is how to use Typepad for this project. Should I create Posts or Pages? I'm thinking Page = Chapter might work. Microblog sounded promising until I read about it. I would like to be able to edit and expand chapters as we go, and regular blog posting is not the right format for working that way. Anyone have experience doing something similar?

Comments

[metulj]

Depends. Posts are more the typical blogging thing, but they roll off the page eventually where pages are more "static," but require more reminders of their existence.

[lobbygow]

I would say either or both.

Maybe a post that provides a half page summary of a key concept, with a link to a more detailed page. The post can be used for running dialog and debate at the conceptual level, whereas detailed critique of the presentation, supporting facts or writing could occur on the page.

I think this blog could benefit from a serialized "book." There are too many blogs discussing policies, politics and practices. I would rather address concepts or paradigms.

Do it!