Curves in Culture: How Social Processes Follow Physical Laws (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781951425029)

A sequel to "Ideasthesia", where the author proposes a radical idea that all abstract thinking in the brain is done in physical terms, this book goes further to explore a curious observation that social processes seem to follow physical laws.

Extreme mental imagery of the author offers a radical look into the nooks and crannies of social reality.

"Curves in Culture" proposes examples of social behavior that follow patterns observable in physical space. Curves, pyramids, mutually attracting and repelling magnets are some commonly known physical phenomena that seem to serve as models for certain types of social behavior.

Whatever the physical analogs might be, it is clear that some patterns in social processes are eerily reminiscent of what we observe in our physical reality. But why?

Some questions that the book explores are:

Why does the food in the middle of nowhere is either really good or really bad?

How do we change your life for the better with a simple realization?

Why do people so often disagree about very simple things?

What explains how to match clothes to be fashionable?

Why is social mobility so difficult psychologically?

Why do children not respond to punishment?

Why doesn't money make us happy?

This brain-twisting voyage is nothing short of eye-opening, inviting science to take a new direction in its exploration of social reality.

Ideasthesia is a rare neurological phenomenon that augments human thinking, by allowing the brain to map its cognitive processes in the five human senses, where abstract ideas are experienced as physical objects, acting according to physical laws. This little studied human ability can potentially help science tackle the most perplexing and urgent of questions, including organization of the human brain itself.

Vera Dragilyova is a Synesthete and an Ideasthete. She studied Cognitive Science at UC Berkeley and Information Design at Bentley University. She is a lifelong researcher, filmmaker, singer, polyglot, and a world traveler.