Some of the notes in this workspace contain sections that are merely the musings of the author. They may not be entirely factual and you should check the content with a reliable source (Wikipedia) before repeating them to a discerning audi- ence. For example: (muse: · A muse is a compound of "musons"; the elementary particles of consciousness; the atoms of our mental world. More complex patterns, such as our views on politics, religion, country music, and so forth, are constructed from clust- ers of these units. · An example of a muson might be the fleeting intention to buy more trash-can liners. In isolation, the muson is typically temporary and inconsequential; anything smaller does not register on EEG. · The human mind is characterized by its ability to build large and enduring structures from such particles, while other animals get by with much simpler combinations. For a dog, memory-of-rabbit is about as fancy as it gets. · Some meditation regimes may be seen as the attempt to dwell for extended periods within a single muson. The unrivalled champion of this pursuit turns out to be the common oyster (Ostrea edulis), which spends its entire mental life within the sole muson of which it is capable. · Although there is no direct human equivalent of the oyster's muson, an approximation might be something midway between an appreciation of sea water and a vague yearning for locomotion. But see: seme (semantics), meme (memetics) and morpheme (linguistics). ) Back to: contents Back to: Workspaces