Material for thought

I was in Lisbon few months ago to attend the European Conference on Complex Systems. A demo of the study on verticality was displayed at the event, which gave me the opportunity to present my philosophical observations to a scientific crowd. It was extremely valuable to attend the various talks and to learn about the latest studies being made in the field of complex systems theory:

I had the opportunity while I was in Berlin to attend a talk at the Deutsche Guggenheim about the recent researches made in neuroscience to understand how much control a given film has upon viewers’ brain activity. The talk was given by Professor Uri Hasson (Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University) and film director Amos Gitai (Israel). It was organized by the Association of Neuroesthetics in collaboration with the Berlin School of Mind and Brain and the Institut für Raumexperimente (Studio Olafur Eliasson).

I visited Tokyo DisneySea few weeks ago. It is one the best Disney theme park in the world, mainly because of the level of details and invested money. Disney in general is omnipresent in Japan. They successfully responded to the compulsive attractiveness that Japanese people have for cuteness. They even did a better job than local brands and are very consistent in their marketing across the country. While I was queuing to enter the park, I noticed that the Japanese people were already wearing quantities of Disney merchandising. This is probably why the park is of such a high level of execution, Japanese people seem to spend more than any others in Disney products, and shopping is truly part of the magical experience here.

The Hermitage is a massive residential property under construction in Kowloon (Hong Kong). I was living just next to its location, so I could see the progress of its development and I was very intrigued by the inside. Few weeks ago, I was walking in the adjacent Olympian shopping mall and I discovered that The Hermitage opened its showroom to the public. It went beyond all my expectations and was by far the craziest thing I have seen during my stay in Hong Kong, The showroom is completely out of reality, immersing visitors into a manufactured ‘dream’-like experience.