Is There a Genetic Component to IQ?

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There's a great deal more belief these days in a interactive, synergistic, again, emergent order to the brain. It turns out there's a lot going on at the same time. Because it's a massive number and their interactions. And so the question is, could you ever isolate all these individual entities enough to get you a coherent picture of how the brain works?

Neurologist and author Robert Burton talks about his book, On Being Certain, with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Burton explores our need for certainty and the challenge of being skeptical about what our brain tells us must be true. Where does what Burton calls "the feeling of knowing" come from? Why can memory lead us astray? Burton claims that our reaction to events emerges from competition among different parts of the brain operating below our level of awareness. The conversation includes a discussion of the experience of transcendence and the different ways humans come to that experience.