PAC Features Two Documentaries Starring the Brain

COURT HOUSE – “The brain is the most complicated organ in the universe,” says neuroscientist Richard Davidson in the film “Free the Mind.” “We’ve only taken the first very, very small baby steps. We are just beginning this journey.”
Those steps will be explored in two acclaimed films to be shown in Middle Township’s Performing Arts Center’s “Monday Night at the Movies” series during December. The first, “Computer Chess,” a feature film on Dec. 2, pits the human brain against the computer brain in a game of chess. The second, a documentary, “Free the Mind” on Dec. 16, examines how human beings respond to meditation and whether medicine can be replaced by other methods to ease pain and stress and increase happiness.
Davidson is the head of The Center for Investigating Healthy Minds in Madison, Wisconsin, and has been practicing meditation for 30 years.
“We actually have no idea of how conscious experience arises from that blob of matter that weighs three pounds,” Davidson says. “It’s still very much a mystery.”
The brain, meanwhile, figures prominently in Andrew Bujalski’s prize winning film “Computer Chess.” Set over the course of a weekend tournament for chess software programmers some thirty years ago, “Computer Chess” helps viewers get to know the eccentric geniuses who had the vision to teach a metal box to defeat man at his own game, laying the groundwork for artificial intelligence as it is known now and will be known in the future.
Both showings are at 7 p.m. and admission is $8. The series was initiated by the ProMedia Advertising Agency of Middle Township. Call 463-1924 for tickets.
The Performing Arts Center is situated at 212 Bayberry Drive, Cape May Court House, one mile east of exit 10 of the Garden State Parkway. There is free parking on the premises.