Music Appreciation

There are few afflictions that affect as many people and are as severe as left-handedness. However I recently heard of another that is almost as bad, and affirms my genetic superiority. Indeed I am not tune deaf (TD). A recent Science Friday program talks to Dr. Allen Braun who investigates tune deafness. Tune deaf essentially means that you can't really distinguish when notes are played off key. Take the Distorted Tunes Test to see if you are tune deaf (beware Quicktime!). If you failed that test I find it hard to believe that you could ever really appreciate music, but a couple of callers into the science friday program say that despite TD they do enjoy music. Fortunately this affects only 2% of the general population so it is not as prevalent a problem as left-handedness. Unfortunately it is highly heritable.
More interestingly, from ScienceNOW (link added):
As expected, these subjects did not have the typical MMN response to poorly played tunes, the team reports today in PLoS One. But to their surprise, the researchers did detect the P300 response to the incorrect notes. Braun believes these results show that the brain can detect the differences even though tune-deaf people aren't aware.
Thus these subjects possibly have a deficiency in transfer between conscience and unconscience knowledge of incorrect tones. The authors of the paper propose:
In light of this, TD may provide a novel opportunity to study conscious perception. Unlike lesion-based disorders such as blindsight it should be possible to study the process in a brain that is structurally intact, and in a patient population that is far larger. In addition, TD is a highly heritable condition, and investigations currently underway may identify the genetic variants that underlie this condition. The tune deaf population may thus constitute a group in which the problem of consciousness might be approached at the cellular and molecular level using the tools of genetic research.

"Viruses" Rule the World: Dan Dennett on Memes, Consciousness and Religion

This mind-bending lecture from Tufts University philosopher/cognitive scientist Dan Dennett is a must-listen if you haven't already. Kicking it off with the genetic analogy of parasite-driven ant suicide, Dennett picks up where Dawkins left off with The Selfish Gene, expanding on the meme ("idea-gene") concept to demonstrate how Darwinian principles can help us to understand the spread and impact of culture and ideas. In particular, he uses this approach to ask why many people are willing to sacrifice their own life for certain ideas. This leads to a discussion of the religion virus, and it's interesting that he takes quite a different position on the issue than the extremist one currently favored by Dawkins himself. Also manages to get in some important points on the illusion of human consciousness. It's 20 minutes well worth it, I promise you. See his other TED talks for more detailed treatments of religion and consciousness.

PS - You don't have to take my word for it - look at that classic beard and decide for yourself whether the man isn't a wizard-scholar of the highest order...