Ian Goddard <Ian@Goddard.net> wrote:
> It's all very fascinating from a philosophical
Michael Gazzanaga has tackled this issue in his research
with split brain patients (those whose brain hemispheres
have been disconnected). Without getting into his experiments
in detail, I'll just say that he basically observed the same
phenomenon. The left (verbal) brain for asked to account for an
action taken by the right brain. It had no way of truly knowing
why the right side did what it did because it couldn't
> point of view, with respect to the concepts of
> self, free will, what and who is "the actor."
>
> If remote brain control is someone controlling
> another thing, what controls the brain locally?
> I'd say the brain is a set of systems that have
> learned to control each other. Slip a new system
> in, and each subsystem assumes this new system is
> one of the team, and thus "I wanted to turn my head."
Gazzanaga surmised that the brain is not just made of two compartments,
left and right, it's made of large numbers of subsystems all with their own
responsibilities. Many or perhaps all of the subsystems just do what they
do, but there is a particular subsystem somewhere on the left side that is
responsible for watching the actions taken by the other subsystems. That
particular subsystem has the task of translating it all into a cohesive
storyline
that explains everything in context. So do we have free will? I think that
Gazzanaga would say that's pretty much an illusion.
As for stimulating cortical neurons during open brain surgery to identify
areas associated with epileptic seizures, this technique is very old and was
originated by Wilder Penfield. He was also fascinated by the bizarre array
of sensations and memories that he could elicit from his patients. People
could smell and taste things. One person heard a song start to play when
a certain spot was stimulated. When the stimulation stopped so did the
song, then when the stimulation was reapplied the song would start over at
the beginning. Weird, huh? Another person had the distinct impression that
he had left his body suggesting that out-of-body experiences and the portion
of near-death experiences where they float above their bodies are natural
phenomena. Penfield wrestled with the nature of the mind and actually
decided
Ciao for now,
SB
"Quest into the unknown!" - Mr. Natural
at the end of his life that there was indeed a spiritual side to it. I
never did
understand his reasoning, though.