Panel discussion: Hemisphere lateralisation hypothesis & our approach to basic research-McGilchrist

Event Description: This event took place on 05.05.2023
Location: Basel, Switzerland
Professors Cristina Ganziera and Philipp Sterzer joined Dr. Iain McGilchrist in a Q&A and panel discussion regarding the implications of hemisphere lateralization for how we conduct basic research.
Event Details and Links
Chair: Dr. Geoffrey Fucile
Professor Cristina Ganziera
dbe.unibas.ch/en/research/ima...
Professor Philipp Sterzer
dkf.unibas.ch/de/forschungsgr...
To purchase The Matter with Things
Hardback internationally Amazon.com and BookDepository.com
Hardback UK only ChannelMcGilchrist.com , Amazon.co.uk and other booksellers nationwide
Kindle on www.amazon.co.uk and www.amazon.com

[@merfymac]

Dr McGilchrist is so very right: it’s not AI evolving towards human like conscious intelligence, it’s humans devolving into computer like conscious automata.

[@puccaso]

people forget thats the other side of the Turin test. Its not that Machines become so intelligent, its that humans become stupid. Is it Cake - is a perfect modern example of the Turin test :D

[@skynet4496]

People have been automata since civilization started. They followed authority whether religion or power. Look at how previous generations still live in nostalgia and blame the current generation for the woes the past ignorance brought on today.

[@matthewstokes1608]

@@skynet4496utter rubbish. The defense of this ignorant cult is automatic for so many of the brainwashed young of today. For those of us who remember life before this imbecilic new era you are literally dark-minded and twisted.

[@johndoyle3694]

❤

[@gratefulkm]

@@skynet4496 Slavers captured slaves, built walls to stop the slaves escaping, Made the Slaves farm otherwise they starved Went and captured more slaves until they captured us all The Roman slavers killed all the adults and kept the children, then schooled them to believe whatever the slavers wanted them to believe like words like civilization

[@eni4ever]

Thank you for posting these, doctor Iain! Much appreciated

[@bodgerliz5138]

Having had a Human-Ecological training, I found the training in holism has been extremely useful to understand all aspects of the world. It is a way of re-training our thinking practices. I really appreciate Dr McGilchrist's passion to highlight the necessity and imperative of studying everything from a holistic mode. It is a necessity for our planetary survival. Science needs to veer towards qualitative research. That would be a start.

[@advocate1563]

Dare I suggest further back -ethnography. We should just shut up.and watch.and listen to learn.

[@truepatriot6388]

Regarding the question about Sleep and asymmetric cortical activity (L v R), there are major differences in the pattern of cortical activity during the different stages of sleep, with the high frequency, low-amplitude desynchronized EEG of REM-dreaming indistinguishable from awake and alert activity, and with deeper sleep showing progressive slowing and synchronization of activity. The latter may be due to the rhythmic, pulsatile firing of Dorsal Raphe nerve bundles and disgorgement of inhibitory Serotonin into wide cortical regions - resulting in synchronized regions of cortical inhibition followed by more regionally synchronized activity. Brains given serotonin agonists or boosters show the same slowing and synchronizing pattern. The same slowing and synchronizing is seen during Mindfulness & Mediation practices, and both are associated with a widening field of attention/awareness ("oneness" and acceptance). In terms of his description of the "awareness asymmetry" between the two hemispheres, McGilchrist's theory affirms this contrast between the narrowed awareness from the dopamine-driven L-brain and the R-brain's serotonin-mediated expansion of mindful Awareness. Another line of support is the universal experience of REM-dreaming characterized by narrow L-brain themes of grasping, power-seeking, conflict and control. So, dreaming sleep may be L-brain driven, while deep sleep may be a R-brain product.

[@AnHebrewChild]

Interesting idea, particularly in light of the fact that dreams tend to be so richly metaphorical and integrative.

[@truepatriot6388]

I agree with Phillip's unease with Iain's use of the concept "attention", regardless of how many other brilliant minds also use "attention" in the same way, and suggest the term "Awareness" is better for describing the contrasting patterns offered by the two sides of our asymmetric hemispheres. This is particularly true when considering the panpsychism Iain also endorses. While it seems to me that only animals with brains properly share the descriptors "attention", "perception" and "consciousness", "Awareness" may be a broad-enough descriptor for all matter (living and non-living) and even for the metaphysical realms. Whenever Iain shares his brilliant "capital-A" right-brain-led Awareness about ourselves and our sacred, miraculous, living World, he is not directly sharing his attention, his perception or his consciousness - and he doesn't need to. I have begun, whenever I listen and read Iain's brilliant observations, to simply replace "attention" with "Awareness" and all is well.

[@puccaso]

I wish we had more discussion on how the (left) brain makes true what it sees in the world. thousands of years ago it saw FIRE and new it to be real, but now it seems words, like "fire wont burn you." and still also believe that to be real, even if its false. Etc.. great talk though

[@B_Ruphe]

Did microsft sponsor the decor?

[@gsfucile2998]

Apologies for this - there was work happening in the background to present his slides, unfortunately it wasn't possible. The discussion was so absorbing we frankly didn't notice the silly background. I can see how it's distracting in this format. Perhaps we can do some post-processing...

[@jaysphilosophy1951]

It's interesting about what we deem as progress now and what we used to define as progress then. The elites definition now is much less defined and much less enlightening than the old definition of progress, where many believed the past ACTUALLY may have been better, than the present before civilization or cities. The current thinking of progress is almost the opposite, where the past was horrible, and at present we are better and the future will be better no matter. It's a very different definition and perhaps a wrong one currently at that.

[@warmwelkom]

❤

[@warmwelkom]

🐬and swallows too🤭

[@DreamingOfABetterDay]

13:28 I think we can understand the brain by understanding ourselves. Then you understand you as a whole. You don't have to experiment you have to experience. You don't have to map, you just know. I guess I'm simplifying it. I guess trying to Map "the" brain , is kind of like astrology, looking to something to try and understand who you are instead of just learning to know who you are. And everyone's brain probably operates uniquely. That's what I get from Ian also.

[@gratefulkm]

Iain speaks and behaves with balance, The other two are clearly unbalanced and are over associated with the left PFC Which Iain describes so beautifully Everything Iain says should be on everyones lips

[@DreamingOfABetterDay]

18:46 I'll see it when I believe it.

[@Neilgs]

If they do reproduce the right hemisphere it will be a resplendently beatific gross caricature!

[@sunnyhollow8141]

reality is paradoxical embrace it save yourself 30+ years of study

[@theobservereffectexplained1102]

The top 1% of the world achievements are based on years of experience and dedication to the left brain culture and rewards with matters that matters to that culture. Years of education and investment may find it difficult to say okay I am spending my time reading and writing poetry. How will pay for rent. You did mention balance and embracing both that happens with humility, only when you know both exist and can interplay as necessary. Thank you for your work I see the humanity. P.s the sand dunes from African desert feeds the rain forest in South America and give oxygen for life on earth. The interconnected nature of things. (Documentary NASA) 🎉

[@gratefulkm]

There are no achievements , the left brain just imagines there are "your letting your imagination run away with itself" as the Druids say You are a slave captured by slavers , that the only reason you are not nomadic wandering around amongst such abundant life that when the birds take off by lakes the sky turns dark The Slavers cut down all the life the make it less likely the slaves run away

[@DreamingOfABetterDay]

I think it is an interesting question for people to ask themselves what being human is and then answer the question in writing so they can reflect on it. It's hard being human at this time.

[@gratefulkm]

if your reading and writing then your only using the Left PFC , your still going around twist You have to stop OVER associating with the left noise language PFC and use your right silent PFC and stop naming everything you look at

[@DreamingOfABetterDay]

I don't write except for when I have to but I was thinking I should write simple, stupid questions we all take for granted we know so we can see how difficult it is for our left brain to answer them. When I read something it is either something that bores me and I move on rather quickly or it is something that makes me feel and my left and right brain start to dialog. This is just one way my brain connects feeling and thought. Another is through memory, another is through talking with another person, another is through watching the news , another is through reading comments on videos I watch. Another is through interaction with my dog or listening to the wind russel through the trees and seeing the mystery of how it is selective in which way it will blow and how it can decide to wrestle up a pile of leaves into a mini tornado and leave other leaves close buy untouched. I'm sure there are many ways in which we stimulate our left and right brain to connect. But I think it is more than just a left and right hemisphere dialog. It needs to evolve ones heart, soul, body and will. You've got to get all parts evolved and give loving exceptance to the role they play and how they need to move to find that exceptance.

[@gratefulkm]

@@DreamingOfABetterDay I was with you all the way, until that Heart , Soul and Body nonsense , or should I say that façade, I'm curious can actually name the other parts, just like when we were talking about the PFC noise and silence The Heart pumps blood but what tells the heart how fast or slow to go ? lets start there on your list

[@DreamingOfABetterDay]

I guess what I'm saying is I think you are over simplifying it. Sometimes silence is just you trying to denie yourself. Peace comes with a price and these days it's at the expense of ones self. True peace will only come when ones self is whole. Oneself

[@DreamingOfABetterDay]

@gratefulkm lol. Tell me how the wind can be selective in which trees it moves, what branches it touches, which direction it blows? I am a nurse and have a basic understanding of the human body, it doesn't mean I understand why it is or why one heart beats differently than another. And I don't need to be able to explain it to understand that that's just the way it is. I'm not trying to prove how smart I am or how right I am. I just know what I know feels right to my heart, body, soul and will. And I'm ok with that. But I can see it ruffles your feathers a bit.

[@DreamingOfABetterDay]

26:26 how can you expect a computer to understand love when humans don't completely live or understand love. Not yet anyway

[@jaysphilosophy1951]

"There is no such thing as A.I. It is data from those, monetized for the people who didn't contribute." Jaron Lanier.

[@merfymac]

Modelling the brain? What if the brain is an emergent quantum computer? They’re not modelling that.

[@matthewstokes1608]

What about showing respect for the beautiful living CREATOR of our minds? These delusional atheists and their false cul-de-sac of death need to be vilified for what they are doing and ridiculed.