The current episode of the Brain Science Podcast, hosted by Dr. Ginger Campbell, is a discussion with neuroscientist David Eagleman on his new book, Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain.Eagleman argues the standard neuroscientific position that much, if not most, of who we are and what we do is outside of our conscious control, essentially little more than a by-product of brain function. At best, in my opinion, this is only a partial truth - at worst, it is a false reductionism.
Even so, this is an interesting discussion in terms of the implications of such a position.
David Eagleman on The Secret Lives of the Brain (BSP 75)
In his new book Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain neuroscientist David Eagleman describes consciousness as "the smallest player in the operations of the brain" (page 5) because most of what the brain does is outside conscious awareness (and control). In a recent interview (BSP 75) Dr. Eagleman reviews some of the evidence for this startling position as well as the implications both for the average person and for social policy.
Episode Transcript (Download PDF)
References:
- Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain by David Eagleman
- Eagleman, D. "The Brain on Trial," the Atlantic Monthly; July/Aug 2011 ONLINE
- See Transcript for additional references
Related Episodes of BSP:
- BSP 13: Our first discussion of unconscious decisions
- BSP 15: Interview with Read Montague, PhD, author of Why Choose This Book?: How We Make Decisions
- BSP 19: Review of Gut Feelings: The Intelligence of the Unconscious by Gerd Gigerenzer
- BSP 42: Review of On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You're Not by Robert Burton
- BSP 43: Interview with Robert Burton, MD
Announcements:
- Listen to last week's short episode for recent announcements
- Transcript of announcements
Subscribe to the Brain Science Podcast:
Send me feedback at gincampbell at mac dot com or leave voice mail at 205-202-0663.
Listen to Episode 75
Tags:
No comments:
Post a Comment