#imagination

#imagination

The value of imagination - the real, human stuff AI could never hope to touch - has been put to the test with Gore Verbinski's Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die. It's ideologically flawed, structurally jumbled, and a little too enamoured of its dystopian predecessors (shades of Terminator and Edge of Tomorrow here). But it's also sort of wonderfully personal, cranky and spiked - like an affronted hedgehog trying repeatedly to ram your shin.

Yes and no, says cognitive scientist Tomer Ullman, the Morris Kahn Associate Professor of Psychology, who with Halely Balaban recently published a paper titled "The Capacity Limits of Moving Objects in the Imagination." If you're like most people, you probably thought about some of these things, but not others. People build mental imagery hierarchically, starting with the ideas of "person," "room," "ball," and "table," then placing them in relation to one another in space, and only later filling in details like color.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately, especially after reading Rudá Iandê's new book " Laughing in the Face of Chaos: A Politically Incorrect Shamanic Guide for Modern Life ". His insights about how "our emotions are not barriers, but profound gateways to the soul-portals to the vast, uncharted landscapes of our inner being" got me reflecting on imagination and how it shapes our inner worlds.

We recently participated in a weekend symposium focused on the intersections of imagination, neuroscience, art, and psychedelics at the UC San Diego Imaginarium. Viewing our couples' therapy work from this perspective was exciting and inspiring, and it reaffirmed something we have always known: The couples that stay vibrant, resilient, and deeply connected are the ones that remain curious about each other and creative and imaginative about their relationship. They don't just love one another. They are present and mindful, and they imagine and play together.

She could have told me the truth, that the paint was graffiti. Instead, she told me the rocks were a species of monster called bloodsuckers, and that at night they came alive to eat children who were foolish enough to stray outside after dark. I believed her with all my heart. Why wouldn't I? She was my nan!

In that sense, it's not so different from a lab experiment, where researchers set the stage and observe what unfolds. The aim of these often fantastical scenarios is just as serious: to test, stretch, or even shatter our intuitions about how the world works.

Bill Watterson captured the private derangement of the average 6-year-old boy, creating an imaginative world filled with monsters, adventures, and absurdities that resonate deeply with readers.

"Endora from Bewitched was real and could see me through the TV, so I had to clap and act super grateful for Bewitched or she would curse me." - IntrudingAlligator

Sometimes we can call these moments sticks in the ground. The bets we make on people, places, and what could be made possible.

Dante's Vita Nuova illustrates how love is shaped by both memory and imagination, emphasizing the complexities of affection and the qualities we seek in others.