Making Sense with Sam Harris - Subscriber Content #234 - The Divided Mind
5 snips
Feb 5, 2021 
In this engaging discussion, Iain McGilchrist, a neuropsychologist and author, dives into the fascinating split between the brain's right and left hemispheres. He explores how consciousness varies between the two, the impact of brain damage on self-awareness, and the left hemisphere's dominance in modern culture. McGilchrist also delves into the mind-body relationship, the potential of surviving death, and insights gained from his research. The conversation highlights the need for balance in understanding our complex cognitive landscape.
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Right Hemisphere As Master
- The right hemisphere functions as the wise, broad-aware 'master' while the left is an action-oriented 'emissary' that simplifies and enacts plans.
- Overreliance on the left leads to fragmented, decontextualized, and ultimately self-deceptive ways of understanding reality.
Hands In Conflict After Split-Brain Surgery
- Split-brain patients sometimes display intermanual conflict, e.g., one hand reaching for a dress while the other puts it back.
- These behaviors reveal independent control and competing goals between hemispheres after commissurotomy.
Left Hemisphere Interpreter And Confabulation
- The left hemisphere routinely confabulates explanations when it lacks information, acting as an 'interpreter' that invents coherent narratives.
- This interpreter can convincingly believe its own fabricated explanations despite being inaccurate.
