The Divided Brain
In the video, Iain McGilchrist, a psychologist, talked about the human's divided brain. An interesting perspective on how humans have now evolved to a much smaller brain than our ancestors despite of all the technology and information that are easily accessed to us. So we thought we are getting smarter but actually we are stupider if his argument is true.
He talks about the left and right hemisphere, where the left is more focus and attention to detail, whereas the right is vigilant in their own surroundings. That is true for animals, where the animation show the bird's tiny brain is flipped open, and there one sees the Left and Right brain. The bird has one eye on his food, more essential and focus, while the Right brain sees his surroundings which is the dog that might be a potential danger. Humans, however, are able to stand back and uses empathy to manipulate others to get what they want. To make a bond with others who have the same interests and values. McGilchrist called it the Machianellian and the Erasman side. The Machiancillan side is trying to manipuate the world and use it for our own benefit. But the Erasmian side is able to deal with the embodied world with the concrete world we live in. We are able to read emotions on people's faces so as to react accordingly. He concluded by saying we live in a paradox world, where we pursue happiness but we get resentment and "explosion of mental illness", we get freedom but we are actually in trapped freedom as we are monitored by more and more CCTV. That reminds me of George Orwell the book 1984. We have more information and yet we know less and less.
I love the next illustration how the illustrator execute McGilchrist words. The artist drew Andy Warhol in a ticket booth, and Campbell soups on the wall. He then have words written Banksy, Andy Warhol and question mark, I love that stage that he drew, so beautifully designed in a way, and actually I have a design in my mind using multiple mirrors to reflect oneself. (see figure 2) As McGilchrist said he was concerned that since the world seems to have the left brain taking over the right at this point of time, he worries that we cut off ourselves and is always back to what we know repeatingly. In other words, since our left brain is so convincing, he argues that it seems we are more into virtual than real, value more on the technical side. I thought about it more so since I am doing a Masters in Digital Theatre, I also have a tendency to be more technical. I am, however, older and have been through the analogue years, so I believe I am still safe from getting too technical. I understand that because I joked about myself being geeky, because I am very drawn to every gaget that comes in sight, however, I also have the other side which is very primitive and enjoyed the kinkiness or kitschness of things.
I also enjoyed the illustration where he drew the below illustration to illustrate adversity against fulfillment. The bubble thought was very funny indeed. In Chinese philosophy, there is always a paradox in everything the philosophers or common folks say. As a young girl, when I first read the comic book on Taoism, and I spoke to my mother about it. She show contempt on those philosophic thinkings, because all Chinese sayings goes both ways. They will say an equivalent saying, "You snooze, you lose." The actual literal translation is "If you lose out being the first, it is worst than losing your family honours." But then the opposite goes, " If you go first, you are the first to die." So in Chinese philosophy and also Chinese medicine, everything is Yin and Yang. Since Chinese has a longer history, they understand that in order to achieve harmony, we need to balance out everything. If there is no evil, there will be no good either. So evil needs to co-exist.
Last of all, I like how McGilchrist ended by saying Einstein said, "The intuitve mind is a sacred gift and the natural mind is a faithful servant." (see figure 3) McGilhchrist further convince us by saying we have created a society that honours the servant but forgotten the gift.
Funny as I realise that McGilhchrist is also using his left brain to convince that his theory is true. I personally enjoy a good challenge on my mind. We all are using our left brain to manipulate others to get what we want, so I see it as a competition and a game. Whoever has the most followers, and created a memeplex as in the book memesis, the bigger the group of followers, that person who is the manipulater wins and probably runs the country. I believe that's how religion starts, and the fight with each religion is no more different than gangsters fighting for their turf, and whoever gets an upper hand will dominate that group's thoughts in that timeline. But then again, as the Chinese buddhist philosophy goes, nothing is permanent. After a period of time, it'll end and another cycle will begin again.
