By Mary Ewing
Special to The Herald
My imagination isn’t stifled by allegiance to aparticular dogma. When alone, I let my imagination run wild.
On reading “Mind Meld,” an article published in the May 2016 issue of Smithsonian magazine, I greatly enjoyed entertainment through imagination. The Vulcan “mind meld” was a literary device created by screen writer Gene Roddenberry in 1966 to promote the plot and minimize the dialogue of a “Star Trek” episode entitled “Dagger of the Mind.” The device is the psychic fusion of two or more minds permitting unrestricted communication, deep understanding, and an intimate exchange of thoughts. “Hey Captain Kirk, Spock’s into your mind!”
This article introduced me to the work of Rajesh Rao, director of the University of Washington’s National Science Foundation’s Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering (CSNE). A professor of Computer Science and Engineering, he’s also a faculty member of UW’s Neuroscience Graduate Program. Brain-to-computer and brain-to-brain interfacing, artificial intelligence and computational neuroscience are the areas his and his student’s research delves into as they learn how the brain fetches, processes, and stores information.
Their research sparked this 2015 experiment: A transmits miniscule fluctuations in voltage to B’s brain. In another building, B wears an electroencephalogram cap for capturing these fluctuations, which turn on one strobe light for “yes” and another for “no” — thus proving that it is possible to communicate by moving thought in and out across space. This century’s growing interest in neuroscience technology opens boundaries of the mind. Fields such as medicine, criminology and science stand to really benefit.
What will this mean for the future of the game of Bridge, which considers good communication essential?
My imagination concludes bridge is doomed. Everyone just can’t know everyone else’s cards. The CSNE must carefully protect the privacy of our minds. Teaching interested parties to play so we can enjoy bridge while it’s still possible is imperative. This bridge column will begin offering basic instruction starting now.
Dealing and bidding: A game begins by dealing a 52 card deck to two partnership pairs (four players). Each player receives a 13 card hand. Vying for the right to play said hand, they each bid their suits starting with the dealer and proceeding clockwise until a seven notrump bid or three successive passes are encountered. A bidder who doesn’t want to bid at his turn says “pass.” The suits rank in order from clubs up to diamonds, hearts, spades and, lastly, notrump. In notrump each trick goes to the player of the highest card of the suit lead. Book is six tricks. A bid of “Nsuit” says bidder hopes to take book plus “N” tricks.
For information about Everett area bridge call George, 425-422-7936, or Mamta, 425-7891106.
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