Our Brain Is Not for Thinking, Our Brain Is for Budgeting Resources

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Our brain is not for thinking per se, our brain is for budgeting essentially. The characteristics that we value about ourselves as a species are the things that sometimes guide our inquiry into how brains evolved or how they work. We have a story that really was bequeathed to us from ancient Greece, which is really a morality tale actually. It's just that it doesn't actually comport with what we know about brain emotion.

If you managed to stay awake during Bio 101, then you probably think you have a basic understanding of how your brain works. Not so, says neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett. In this cerebral yet highly entertaining conversation with Next Big Idea Club curator Daniel Pink, Lisa says our brains are made for budgeting, not thinking. She debunks the myth of the lizard brain. And she makes the far-out claim that everything you see and hear, including this podcast, is a hallucination.