I just finished reading your comments on Jonah Lehrer's "The Predictions of Dopamine," about the computer that learns from its mistakes. Many of you expressed surprise that computer programmers would want to model their machines after our meager human brains, and others were relieved to hear that the machine apocalypse in Terminator Salvation wasn't as close as we thought. The human brain is indeed nature's most powerful tool. However, one of you had some insight about one way that computers do win out on us meat-sacks: "Unlike computers," this person writes, "humans sometimes don't learn from mistakes and they repeat them." Good point! So let's all try to strive to be TD-gammon this year, and zero in on our mistakes.
If you liked reading Lehrer, he maintains a neuroscience blog here: The Frontal Cortex. Also, the book that we read a selection from, How We Decide, is highly-readable for any level and is chock full of more insight into how your mind works when you're not looking. Non-required for the course, but I highly recommend it for the curious.
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