Participatory sense-making, the idea inspiring this discussion, was coined by Hanne De Jaegher & Ezequiel Di Paolo. Both these philosophers are featured in upcoming episodes of Love & Philosophy.
hosts Rebecca Todd, Shay Welch, and Penijean Gracefire to explore intricate themes of participatory sense-making, especially the concept of the 'third entity' that arises in (as) interaction. Working as scientists, entrepreneurs and philosophers, each scholar has a unique view that complements the others. Together they discuss the impact of trauma and love on interpersonal relationships.The discussion looks at how the body can be represented as acting as a data-gathering device, how sensory inputs shape our understanding of the world, and the importance of mutual sense-making in a highly complex and often overwhelming environment. Each speaker shares their unique perspectives and experiences, from brain mapping to dance and philosophy, ultimately highlighting the significance of staying connected both with others and oneself. This conversation is intellectually stimulating and emotionally enriching, drawing on neuroscience, philosophy, and mental health to offer fresh insights into navigating the complexities of human interaction.
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00:00 Introduction to the Body as a Data Gathering Device
00:57 The Futility of Communication and Social Media
02:35 Welcome to Love and Philosophy
02:52 Participatory Sense Making and Social Cognition
04:46 Meeting in the Third: Rebecca Todd, Shea Welch, and Penijean Grace Fire
05:46 Rebecca Todd: Cognitive Neuroscience and Life Experience
08:13 Penijean Grace Fire: Neurotechnology and Human Function
12:21 Shay Welch: Philosophy, Public Art, and Participatory Sensemaking
15:50 Exploring the Concept of the Body
23:09 The Role of EEG in Understanding the Brain
52:36 The Impact of Trauma on Sensemaking
53:25 Introduction to Anchors and Interactions
54:14 Effortful Sense Making Shaped by Love
55:16 Individual Differences in Sensory Systems
56:24 Neuromodulation and Sense Making
59:24 Visualization and Communication Challenges
01:03:07 Complexity Fatigue and Bandwidth
01:14:11 Neuromodulation Device Experiment
01:20:35 Participatory Sense Making with the More-than-Human World
01:29:34 Challenges of Virtual Interaction
01:36:48 The Futility and the Hope of Communication
What is Participatory Sense-making and Why Should We Care?
Rebecca Todd
Associate Professor
Reaching towards an ecology of mind
Research Area
Rebecca Todd is an Associate Professor in UBC’s Department of Psychology and a member of the Centre for Brain Health working in the area of Cognitive Neuroscience. She is currently a CIHR New Investigator (2016) and a Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Scholar (2017). Before beginning her PhD in Developmental Science and Neuroscience at University of Toronto, Dr. Todd was a contemporary dance choreographer and journalist. As both a choreographer and a cognitive neuroscientist, she has been interested in how emotion influences attention, learning and memory.
Shay Welch
Assistant Professor
Faculty, Institutional Review Board, Philosophy and Religious Studies
Shay Welch is an associate professor of philosophy at Spelman College. She is currently the Scholar-in-Residence for the city of Atlanta's public art project; the project is titled "Public Performance Art as Resistance to Epistemic Injustice."
Recently, she was the 2020-2021 Carnegie Corporation and Rockefeller Foundation Distinguished Research/Creative Scholar. She was chair of the Association for Feminist Ethics and Social Theory and board member for the Emotions Matter national non-profit organization. Her current book is "Choreography as Embodied Critical Inquiry: Embodied Cognition and Creative Movement" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022). Her recent book is "The Phenomenology of a Performative Knowledge System: Dancing with Native American Epistemology" (Palgrave-Macmillan 2019). Her previous books are "Existential Eroticism: A Feminist Ethics Approach to Women’s Oppression Perpetuating Choices (Lexington Books 2015) and A Theory of Freedom: Feminism and the Social Contract" (Palgrave-Macmillan 2012).
Penijean Gracefire
Click here to view Curriculum Vitae
Penijean is a neural frequency analyst and published author who rides motorcycles, drinks tea, and designs therapeutic applications for emerging neurotechnology.
As a licensed mental health clinician, she constructs closed loop EEG-based feedback paradigms which alter neural dynamics in real time, helping people to recover from injury and trauma or improve cognitive flexibility and adaptive cascades.
Penijean’s ground-breaking work has led to industry-wide changes in neuromodulation and is the basis for current standards in international certification. Her passions include spectral analysis, donuts, and taking things apart to see how they work.
She regularly collaborates on the wild and weird, exploring how much we can really know about the subjective human experience by measuring and observing biometric data.
In one of her recent projects she investigated brain patterns associated with heartbreak and designed a feedback paradigm to help increase resiliency in romantic relationships.
Thank you for being here.
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