Session 5 started in a very pronounced way with neuroscientist and artist Beau Lotto‘s colorful talk which featured interactive optical illusions and software that can turn drawings into music. Here’s what people on Twitter took away from his talk:

There is no inherent meaning in information, it’s what we do w/ info that matters (Beau Lotto) — ruthannharnisch

Beau Lotto: “the brain evolved a way to see because it proved useful in the past” — kevglobal

Lotto: We see by finding patterns and associating these patterns with behavioral relationships in the world. — brainpicker

Beau Lotto’s talk will be super-popular as an opener at TEDx events, I predict, for showing ppl how perceptions are shaped, amusingly. — ruthannharnisch

Beau Lotto: “No one is an outside observer of nature.” — frogdesign