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Thursday, april 16, 2015
pulse
Improving at improv
N.I.L.8 discusses origins, influence, future endeavors chase Myers | @chasemyers_DE Being a punk rock heavyweight for more than 20 years and one of Springfield’s most reputable bands, N.I.L.8 has been energizing crowds all around the Midwest. The band consists of brothers Jeff Williams on vocals/guitar and Bruce Williams on bass, along with Damon Soper on guitar and Wes Selinger on drums. They have song topics ranging from rising sea levels and corporations, to plastic surgery disasters. The Daily Egyptian had the opportunity to talk with Jeff Williams about different aspects of the band before they perform at Hangar 9 on Saturday night. How did you guys get started with the Q: band? and I used to skate constantly A: andMyjustbrother look at the bands they would talk
c arringTon s pires | @CSpires77 Brooke Oehme, a graduate student at SIU, instructs students from Mount Vernon High School in an improv workshop during Drama Daze on Wednesday at McLeod Theater. Drama Daze is a two-day event dedicated to providing high school drama students with performances and workshops. “I love improv because it gets young actors away from thinking of things as right or wrong, and thinking more of what works,” Oehme said. “Improv is trying to tell themselves to say ‘yes’ more.”
Carbondale author looks at artificial consciousness Jacob pierce | @JacobPierce1_DE The question of what consciousness is has plagued philosophers since Plato’s time. A presentation for the New Humanist Forum hopes to find another answer. The New Humanist Forum is hosting the presentation “Consciousness ReExplained” by Jonathan Springer, a software engineer from Carbondale, on April 19. The lecture examines Daniel Dennett’s “Consciousness Explained,” a book published in 1991, while also presenting Springer’s ideas. The novel proposes the theory of consciousness coming from interaction between physical and cognitive processes in the brain, and then compares it to several different viewpoints on the topic, Springer said. He said he plans to use Dennett’s book and his own experience as a software engineer to discuss consciousness, especially Artificial Intelligence. Springer’s point of view falls more toward the functional viewpoint, he said. Consciousness is a human’s physical manifestation of brain and body; the way one comprehends the cerebrum actually working. Springer said at one point there was a lot of support for the metaphysical viewpoint.
“It just seems incredible that something as subtle as consciousness could just be a bunch of neurons interacting,” he said. “Over time, more people seem to have argued for the functional point of view.” People still question what consciousness is with an artificial being, Springer said. Some of the lessons learned from the artificial intelligence side could someday be applied to the philosophy side. “It is sort of incredible to imagine that we could create a machine that would be for all intents and purposes intelligent,” Springer said. Robert DeFilippis, a novelist and retired organizational development consultant from Carterville, said there is a whole spectrum of thinking when it comes to consciousness. Scientists constantly question consciousness, as they only have theories and no direct answer. There is the functional way of looking at it, and then the metaphysical way, DeFilippis said. This is thinking of consciousness much like one looks at matter and energy, it makes up the universe. It is the molecules, it is people, it is everything, he said. Consciousness, or experiencing
things subjectively, separates humans from most animals, he said. DeFilippis, one of the founding members of the forum, said the group focuses on the value of human beings, and the worth and dignity of every person. “I would focus it on the Buddhist principle that this life is what we worry about, the next life can take care of itself if there is one,” he said. MJ Smerken, a retired social services worker from Murphysboro, said she became involved with the forum when she went to a service at the Carbondale Unitarian Fellowship. After Smerken — who is on the planning committee — attended her first meeting, she was asked to create a presentation. She said the forum, which was founded in spring of 2000, discusses various humanism and sustainability topics. “We have had one on religious fervor, one on human evolution, one on the philosophy of love,” she said. “We try to get a wide variety of topics and interests.” The presentation starts at noon on Sunday at the Unitarian Fellowship. The New Humanist Forum meets at 12:15 p.m. on the third Sunday of each month at the same location.
about in old Thrasher, Skateboarder and Action Now magazines and discovered bands like Minor Threat, The Adolescents and Bad Brains. We just wanted to play raw and accessible music, so we would go see bands like Black Flag, or The Descendants and “Fishbone” and you could get as close to the bands as you wanted. I mean, this was the early ‘80s, so everyone we went to school with wanted to go to Ozzy concerts, which is fine, but you were so far away from Ozzy or Van Halen if you went to that type of show. The connection with bands you were within meters of was just more inspiring, as well as the energy. How has punk rock changed since you
Q: guys first started playing?
I don’t know if the true spirit of punk rock has changed. I mean, you can still go to small clubs and watch bands with that energy, but you know, watching Good Charlotte in a 8,000-seat concert hall is a little different than watching Screaming Females in a smaller setting. True awareness of the original feel or intent, same as in original blues, rap or bluegrass are still there, even if the intent is lost due to larger industry music morphing some bands just to make bands appeal to “larger markets” or a “broader demographic” than the original intent the music was striving for.
A:
What
are
Q: influences?
some
of
your
musical
Queen, Gang of Four, SS Decontrol, Minor Threat, The Dead Boys, Ultravox, Necros, Bad Brains, The Pixies, The Specials, The Adolescents and The Descendants.
A:
Being from Springfield, what are some you’ve taken from your
Q: inspirations hometown?
Probably playing a show when we first started, called, “Rock Against Reagan,” with the band, Millions of Dead Cops in front of the old state capitol. I was pretty young and it seemed to change my perspective on different areas and with different knowledge sources. It is pretty eyeopening for me as far as different approaches I could take on my entire life and lifestyle. It was much more eye-opening than music as a singularity.
A:
What are the plans for the future?
Q: To play shows for 30 more years between art shows! If we ever finish this song A: my “Twyla, Why Did You Take Your Oops
Baby? You Know That Child’s Mine,” we will be happy.