For the past weeks, my ego has been doing an awesome job of
keeping itself well-defended from the insults that is the upcoming nursing
board examination. Hence, I was able to schedule a bum day before the boards, a
feat I wouldn't have done had my ego put up such a good defense. So for my bum
day, I went to the first day of the two-day 'World Science Festival 2013' in Mind Museum in Taguig via international simulcast - a first in the six years of the Festival.
Despite having, what, two or three hours max of sleep, I
grudgingly prepared to attend the early morning event. For a free breakfast.
Yes, Science is a good gal for using breakfast to bait young minds to Her side.
Armed only with my friend's directions to get my lazy but excited ass to The Mind Museum, I lift
everything to Him to guide me on this lofty quest. About an hour later and I'm
on the BGC bus headed to the area and boy was I back to that giddy schooler that just drools at the thought of his mother bringing home a dinosaur
information poster or when he was allowed to join astronomy camps back in high
school; the place was just amazing! Although participants were restricted to the area
where the event was held, I was able to have a glimpse of the exhibits and they
were, indeed, awesome and very much unique compared to the ho-hum museums.
Well, it is a science museum, to start with.
I was just in time for the breakfast! Yeay! Never took a
picture with it because my stupid phone is such a head-turner with its camera
sounds that, with so much irate, can't be tuned off without using my headset,
which I had left not in Manila but back in Laguna. Bummer. The breakfast was
just sumptuous with its mini-burger, toast and jam and omelette - all of which
I have to lessen my usual serving. Yes, sometimes I have to keep myself
socially-acceptable in such situations, especially when one of the organizers
of the event asked to be seated next to you or when Mr. Zobel de Ayala himself
is standing just a few feet away.
After that yummy meal - and a little too much of orange
juice - we went inside the Auditorium of Mind Museum where the live simulcast
of the program, all the way from New York, would be shown. Oh, technology, I
love thee. After the introductions of the guests of honors - the representatives of the Ambassador of the
US Embassy to the Philippines; and one of the ardent supporters and donors of
the Museum, Fernando Zobel de Ayala - the simulcast started.
Right on time, the Skype-cast started and it was a real
treat and an evidence of the leaps and bounds that technology has taken.
Imagine, 13 600 kilometers away, a meeting of the great minds in the field of
neuroscience and philosophy convened and we're watching it unfold! They even
had a shout out to us, being the first international participant to be given
such opportunity: 'Mabway!' Who cares? Still awesome.
Although the lone philosopher (Colin McGinn) has two men
(Christof Koch, neuroscientist and Nicholas Schiff, neurobiologist) and a woman
(Mélanie Boly, neurologist) of the sciences relating to the brain to contend with, he was still
able to maintain his stand since the underlying tension has been between the
dualistic nature of the brain and the mind/consciousness - or as completely separate entities - by the philosophers
throughout history who tried to theorize connections between the concepts
of 'the mind' and 'the brain' vis-a-vis the near-materialistic view of the
sciences regarding the apparent connection between consciousness and the brain. All
throughout the program, you can sense the constant tension, which was very
evident at the start, especially between Koch and McGinn. In the end, the two settled their scores and agreed that humankind is in the process of understanding
the mysterious field of consciousness science; like a Neanderthal understanding
calculus: we simply cannot but will eventually will. That there will come a
time that this ‘cognitive gap’ – or ‘ignorantisism’ as McGinn jokingly coined –
will be conquered and we will be able to understand these concepts. Preliminary
steps are currently being planned to support the latter school of thought: the EU-based project of simulating the human
brain and the US-based project of mapping the connections between billions of
neurons which they have calculated to be at a staggering number of trillions.
Probably more ambitious than the HGP. All for the glory of Science!
In between the remarks of Koch and McGinn, Schiff and Boly
shared cases that only usher the Science’s progress to understand the
connection between the consciousness and the brain such as the case of Mark
Jones who woke up from almost a decade-long coma after treatment with a
cocktail of medicines to treat Parkinson's disease, ADHD and depression and the
experiment of determining areas of brain stimulation when a stimulus is applied
during awake and sleep states. Really really awesome talk. It has been a great
honor to participate in such event and quite glad that some members from the
younger generation – including myself, no doubt about that – were present and actively
listening to the talk.
 |
| NO BRAIN! NO MIND! (Kock, 2013). WSF 2013 Poster and 'Wacky' shot by US Embassy's Facebook page and @kdpsuarez for the pictures at the lower portion. |
Better half of the day done. Latter half, continue at your
own risk.
So it was a swell morning for me so I took a leisure walk
around the area. Lalala. Fine morning. Fine day. Heck, I actually needed some chirping
birds to make my day complete. So I went to Fully Booked just to screw around
with my bookworm friends but, lo and behold, store opens at 11 in the morning.
So were the other stores in the area. Deyyyym. I have to kill almost an hour
which I did by walking from 9th to 7th avenue twice until
I decided to start working on some sample examinations. After a quick trip
around Fully Booked come 11, I went straight to Market! Market! to fetch a ride
home. FX guy told me he would drop me off somewhere near Ayala MRT Station.
Then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked.
He told me he’ll be rounding up his trip and won’t be able
to drop me off which I groggily accepted. I just woke up from my much-needed
slumber when he asked me, so I had no choice but to alight that vehicle. Following
whatever instincts I have, I followed a group of people but to my dismay, they
all went inside a building. “Definitely not going in there”, said my inner self
so I looked around for any familiar building or signs. There goes one that looks
like it has a humungous contact lens on its top and the sign ‘Entrance to
Skyway’ which made an instant connection in the brain since I always come to
see upon the building during my sojourn home. So I walked and, dear Lord, did I
walk quite long until I came upon a jeepney that has a ‘PRC’ placard. Salvation
was just an arm’s reach so I rode the jeep while wondering how come the driver
only asked for 8 pesos for a ride from Makati to Sampaloc. It did trouble me
but not enough to question the (false) tranquillity that I was feeling back
then. I even thought of attending the final briefing of our review center which
was only another jeepney ride away from the (supposed) destination where I
would be alighting. Passengers went down one by one until I was the last guy
inside the jeep. “Dyan na yung PRC sa may
kanto, lakarin mo na lang. (PRC is just around the corner. You can walk it
from here)” was what he said despite my confusing looks and repeated
questioning since no familiar building was at sight. ABA’Y MALAY KO BA NA MAY PRC
NA LUGAR PALA SA MAKATI! So I started walking around looking for another jeepney
to ride. “This time”, I told myself, “I’ll make sure I’ll be home-bound” with a
game-face-mode-on attitude. In a matter of minutes, I saw this jeepney which
has a placard for Buendia-LRT Taft, but just to make sure, I asked the driver
if it will indeed stop by the said areas and after being reassured, I rode the
jeep home and despite the searing heat and long traffic jams, the sound of incessant
honking and sight of undisciplined jeepney, bus, kuliglig, tricycle and motorcycle drivers zigzagging Gil Puyat
Avenue corner Taft Avenue came to me as orchestra music and a
delicately-painted painting. I have never been so much at home and relief came
to me like ice-cold water to a day-old thirst. I didn’t even realized until
later that I had been having pounding headaches secondary to hypoglycaemia because
of the adrenalin rush of being able to finally go home. And home, am I right
now. Finishing this entry. Home. J
P.S. So I visited the World Science Festival 2013 and they’re
also livestreaming (or playing, at least) talks during the Festival in New
York. Awesome, awesome indeed. Sans the breakfast, it’s the same but being at
home with all its comforts makes it better!
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