On Brain

In this Tuesday's New York Times article about Dr. Michael Gazzaniga, it mentioned something very interesting. First, the two hemispheres of the brain are connected by the bundle of fibers called "corpus callosum." If they're cut, then the person's left side will be completely disconnected from the right side.

Second, the left hemisphere provides interpretation for a person's experience (so without corpus callosum, can you reason with your left side the right hemisphere?).

Third, in talking about fertilizing human eggs solely for stem cell research, Dr. Gazzaniga compares it to brain death examples, in which surgeons can remove organs for transplants. He argues that the mark of humanity should be the appearance of brain structure (14 days postfertilization). He said, "A single fertilized egg can split into twins - turning one supposedly unique human being into two... twins can then sometimes fuse back together into a single embryo, known as a chimera. So we had one person, and then we had two people, and then we have one person again. So what's that all about?"

Near the end, the article mentioned the human brain's intricate circuitry for understanding other people's thoughts and feelings as "moral". Never mind the moral, but think that when you interpret another person's experience (seeing or hearing a story about, say, stubbing toes in doors), the same region of your brain gets activiated (for stubbing your own toes).

What can we use this for? Let's say you have some great role models. You find out about them, hear stories of their path to great achievements. In doing so, your brain does a similar mental exercise of their experience. The more detailed, vivid, and repeated you learn about them, the better you approach your role models in your actions. So here is a tool to make greater achievement. But remember, learn from the good.

Other interesting readings: How Culture Pushed Us to the Top of the Food Chain: genes give us the capacity for learning and culture, and accumulated culture/knowledge is our species' tools.