Orientation

Mushroom Bodies.

One. mushroom body of roach Two. Super Mario mushroom Three. Psychedelia

Two words that don't belong together. Hear these words and awkward visions of plump, white structures crowned with cherry umbrellas and sprinkled with accommodating white spots appear before your eyes. If you're between the ages of 10 and 30, you think of a "1up" in a well played game of Super Mario. Maybe you even think of long haired, hazy eyed kids in tye dye t-shirts...But contrary to popular misunderstanding, the term "mushroom bodies" does not refer to the sweet icons dotting 1960s kitchen tablecloths, nor charming video game characters, and is certainly not a term outlining some strange counter culture facet of psychedelia. Alas, "mushroom bodies" or corpora pedunculata, refers to a paired protuberance in the brains of arthropods (insects) responsible for learning and spatial memory.

And this is what I'm interested in: Learning. Space. Memory.

I hope to start this new year by birthing a blog dedicated to building an external neural network connecting the experiences I integrate into my little animal skull with the space of a planar Macbook screen. I want to establish a running tabulation of what I discover given the magnificent technology bestowed upon me and my generation. And I want to share this with you. Internal environment, meet internet.

I also hope to chart what I learn about one of the most central problems affecting my life and academic career; biomimicry. I hate that word, but that's a whole other entry. For now, as I incubate in the well lit kitchen of my parent's home enshrouded in the whimsical notes of Frank Sinatra's Christmas Album, I will set my troubled academic mind to rest and part with only a few words:

Happy Holidays.

Frenchmily