Why are you the way that you are? Why do you hurry, or focus on the technical details, or let your mind drive up anxiety and worry? Do you know? Or, do you, like most people, simply take for granted that your internal state is inevitable and largely unchangeable? That you're just a happenstance combination of genetics, upbringing, scarring social moments, and the civilizational frame you've been brought up in? Neuroscientist, philosopher, psychiatrist, and author Iain McGilchrist (The Matter with Things, The Master and His Emissary) proposes that the essence of your *you*-ness isn't an external phenomenon, and isn't even encoded in your genetics. It's a byproduct of the way your brain is organized, where the left hemisphere - that cataloguing and exacting nag - has effectively taken over not just your cognition, and our cognition, but that of the entire species. Left hemisphere dominance is the reason that capitalism is so corrosive, why our jobs suck and our lives lack meaning, why the singing of birds and the sighing of the wind have lost their luster. It is the key to understanding ourselves, our society, our civilization... and maybe, even, our future.

PS A small note: we had some gnarly issues with lag in this recording, and so the conversation is a little stilted in parts. However, we thought it still warranted sharing, and hope you'll forgive us for the issues and will let us know what you thought of the ideas anyhow.

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  #psychology #polarization #neuroscience

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Join our mailing list https://bit.ly/3v3kz2S     PODCAST INFO: Anastasia completed her PhD studying bioelectricity at Columbia University. When not talking to brilliant people or making movies, she spends her time painting, reading, and guiding backcountry excursions. Michael Shilo also did his PhD at Columbia studying the elastic properties of molecular water. When he's not in the film studio, he's exploring sound in music. They are both freelance professors at various universities.

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HFfH: Standing Up for Truth in the UK with Dan Astin-Gregory