Tor norretranders is a science writer, consultant, lecturer and organizer based in copenhagen, denmark. Richard tor norretranders is denmarks leading science writer with a track record of best sellers. Norretranders is a danish science journalist, who attempts to tie together the results of several scientists into an. But our consciousness processes only perhaps forty bits a second at most. His books and lectures have primarily been focused on light popular science and its role in society, often with norretranders own advice about how society should integrate new findings in popular science. In partial explanation nrretranders adopts the metaphor of consciousness as the equivalent of the user interface of a computer system.
He introduced the notion of exformation explicitly discarded information in his book the user illusion. Cutting consciousness down to size penguin press science paperback august 1, 1999. He is an awardwinning author of more than ten books and hosts numerous television programmes on sciencerelated topics. In addition to the efficiency and survival instincts essential to successful evolution or natural selection, norretranders argues that animal and human alike must show their worth physically by doing something difficult in order to impress potential mates. Cutting consciousness down to size penguin press science new edition by norretranders, tor isbn. Cutting consciousness down to size, science journalist tor norretranders if not the intellect, consciousness, then. How helping others is the sexiest thing you can do by tor norretranders and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. Cutting consciousness down to size penguin press science and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. Cutting consciousness down to size penguin press science by by tor norretranders the book is brand new and will be dispatched from uk. This notion is explored by tor norretranders in his 1991. It follows that his book is a well written compilation of diverse scientific theories and findings, all presented in a chatty style and broken into short chapters. The user illusion cutting consciousness down to size. According to tor norretranders book the user illusion, we live in the grip of the intriguing predicament that our unconscious mind is in charge of deciding what to make us consciously aware of.
Philosopher daniel dennett has also embraced the view that human consciousness is a userillusion. The user illusion intrigued me with its title first and but the further i went to its rabid hole, the more it addressed of my questions. Tor norretranders is the leading science writer in denmark where the user illusion was a bestseller. The user illusion as my colleagues and i called it at the xerox palo alto research center, is the simplified myth everyone builds to explain and make guesses about the systems actions and what should be done next.
Cutting consciousness down to size 1 the wrong place 1 thinking. The more precise direction of wallaces reading is indicated by two books found in his personal library preserved today at the harry ransom centre at ut in austin. Tor norretranders is denmarks leading science writer with a track record of best sellers. The user sees only the screen icons that trigger commands inside the machine, largely unaware of the. In short, conscious and linear discourse is only a fraction of what our mind perceives.
Tor norretranders is a danish author of nonfiction and popular science. It was published by penguin books and has a total of 480 pages in the book. There is selfdeception on the part of consciousness the user illusion of the title. This notion is explored by tor norretranders in his 1991 danish book m. The user illusion, then, is the picture the user has of the machine.
The user sees only the screen icons that trigger commands inside the machine. The user illusion he does eventually get around the fascinating idea in the title which i think is the most uptodate metaphor for the nature of consciousness. He comes at it from an information processing point of view, treating the human brain as a computer, while pulling in results from all over the world. The user illusion, by tor norretranders norretranders is a danish science journalist, who attempts to tie together the results of several scientists into an explanation of how consciousness works. Getting the design right and the right design 1 the art of interactive design 1 the collected writings of robert smithson 1 the creative habit 1 the design of everyday things 1 the image 1 the street of crocodiles 2 the user illusion. His books and lectures have primarily been focused on science and its role. Cutting consciousness down to size and the generous man.
Some philosophers of mind have argued that consciousness is a form of user illusion. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. Cutting consciousness down to size tor norretranders the user illusion of this groundbreaking books title comes from the computer industry and refers to the simplistic mental image most of us have of our pcs. Cutting consciousness down to size tor norretranders ebook. Cutting consciousness down to size, author tor norretranders isbn 9780670875795 file size 26mb year 1998 pages 480 language english file format pdf category medicine book description. The title of this book is the user illusion and it was written by tor norretranders. In the generous man, tor norretranders develops an overlooked strand of darwinian thought. Cutting consciousness down down to size penguin press science by tor the user illusion. A leading danish science writer argues that our conscious mental processes are only the surface aspect of the mind. However, none of them make any distinction between different kinds of illusions or different degrees of unreality in an attempt to sound edgy and prophetic, which renders the term illusion deeply misleading.
The subconscious mind is an incredible resource, and yet we cant manage to directly control it with. Cutting consciousness down to size, the danish science writer tor norretranders uses the story to launch an allout assault on the worshipful place so often awarded to. I am intrigued with information capacity and the ability, or inability to hold large amounts of information. He defines exformation as the mental work we do in. We are here because we have appetite tor norretranders. Not all illusions are equal a response to the user. Cutting consciousness down to size, the danish science writer tor norretranders uses the story to launch an allout assault on the worshipful place so often awarded to human awareness. On light in life and the life in light with artist olafur. Modern writers are quite fond of cutting conscious down to size, which is the subtitle of tor norretranders wonderful book the user illusion.
Nrretranders begins with a history of information theory, leading up to a. The main concept that tor norretranders introduces in the book is the idea of exformation. Cutting consciousness down to size penguin press science by norretranders, tor abebooks. Cutting consciousness down to size penguin press science tor norretranders isbn. Tor norretranders is a danish writer, speaker, thinker, and selfidentified science storyteller who writes with a sophistication rarely seen in popular science writing new york times. His latest books in danish are about obseitynutrition, and about einstein.
He introduced the notion of exformation in his book the user illusion. Cutting consciousness down to size penguin press science at. How helping others is the sexiest thing you can do. Consciousness presents us with an altered, subjective. He introduced the idea of exformation in this book. The user illusion is the illusion created for the user by a humancomputer interface. His bestknown books are on consciousness the user illusion.
52 146 157 534 1431 1242 216 1171 338 1221 194 1005 955 963 538 395 221 313 135 1646 887 1486 434 922 238 1566 1147 490 860 1084 514 774 737 718 1371 1362 558 361 126 861 1406 117 580 1050 611 31 558 317 58 163