The Man Who Lived with No Brain

[@terrastarr6850]

I work with people with dementia and can see so many of his struggles in them as they progress through the disease. Everyone's brain dies in a different way, but there's similarities, and sometimes the most heartbreaking times are when the person KNOWS they've already lost their abilities and try endlessly to get them back, but there's no getting them back. They will stutter the beginning of a word over and over again and you can see their despair at not being able to convey what they know they should be able to. Sometimes they can Say words but they make sense in only the most strange tangents. I've gotten pretty good at what I call 'translating' what they're trying to convey and it almost always has to do with emotions. Emotions seem to be the very last thing to go. And even then... You have to wonder, that while they're no longer able to show even the slightest bit of emotion, how much they're actually suffering on the inside becoming locked in their own body. But the drive to overcome? The absolutely human desire to be more than your body, it's the saddest and most inspiring thing. I try to find comfort in the fact that I've done my best to help them feel okay for losing their language and them losing the ability to understand the world- That people are there to love them and be with them no matter what. I can only hope the fella in the video was able to experience that at some point in his life. Where language fails, emotions remain

[@matthewb9981]

The work you do is one of the most noble and incredible things I can think of

[@steveshannon1842]

This is a random meeting that I clicked on All I can say is. ( well said ) you know what your talking about and thanks for sharing

[@ericlarsen1721]

We live in a world where liars and cheats become millionaires while angels live in poverty. God bless you.

[@stephenlangsl67]

You should do scientific research on the advancement of Nootropics. If You keep that up for a few years, You could actually find something that works.🙂

[@austinharding9734]

I'm curious , in your experience how often did you come across what I found is termed Terminal lucidity or paradoxical lucidity? I found theres nearly no research on the matter mainly due to ethical reasons, but i find it extraordinarily fascinating cuz the mear fact this occurs even if rarely means these people memories and abilities are not, and were ever not, destroyed per say, theve just been misplaced, i avoid the word lost cuz that suggests never being found again and so is no diffrent than destroyed, misplaced just means they can't find the memories but they're still there, and can potentially be found again

[@kandylover139]

This is so fascinating. But he lived until 1993 and nobody ever took this man for a CT scan?! Imagine the data!

[@Alexlfm]

It’s not so much that no one thought to but rather that the USSR simply didn’t have the machines. Even in 1990 the total number of machines they had could be counted on two hands and they were of poor detail compared to the west. The USSR was seriously behind in terms of computing and CT was cutting edge computing when it was developed. We take these things for granted now but Pixar got their start in 1986 selling $150K machines for viewing cat scans (in a fairly modern fashion), which was incredible for the time.

[@panqueque445]

The fact that he was completely aware of his condition makes it so much more horrifying.

[@davidhollenshead4892]

Nope, as a lot of people who suffered a TBI can't admit that there are things they can no longer do. That is much worse...

[@SlocumJoe7740]

@@davidhollenshead4892 This guy was aware he couldn't do ANYTHING. Like at all, nothing, nada, ziltch. Except write the same story ver and over again and know that is the only thing he could do. I don't think you understand the existentially horrifying that is. At least with not understanding you can't do something you have hope and ignorance to sooth you, this dude couldn't even close his eyes without being horrified.

[@maymounax]

Remember that you forget is worser then forgetting that you forget?i think that it's better that he was aware of his condition because he tried and succeeded in writing though he still couldn't read what he wrote..

[@KenLieck]

A dear friend of mine called me up making no sense. He would bring up a subject (let's say a cat) and then ask "What does cat mean?" I got the idea he was driving and coming to visit me so I had to immediately run out of a get together with people I hadn't seen in years to rush home and attempt to contact his life partner. A week later he was diagnosed with frontal lobe deterioration at age 45. Not too long after I got my last phone call from him, in which he took several minutes to get out each sentence. I had good reason for not being able to visit him in person, but from what I understand I don't think he would have been able to recognize me in any real way anyhow. He recently passed away, ten years after that first call. It all seemed more terrible than anyone should ever have to experience...

[@joanforest2434]

How horrible! He was too young to suffer that. Sorry that happened to your friend. It’s hard to make sense of such cruel things.

[@KenLieck]

​@@joanforest2434 Thanks. Sadly, 45-50 is the age when it typically strikes. At least he had a partner who was totally dedicated to him and was there with him until the end. And his mom, too. And though he strangely told me a couple of times that I was his only close friend, he actually had many friends as a beloved member of the Austin music scene and beyond.

[@thomson872]

Did your friend have frontotemporal dementia? That's the same disease Bruce Willis has.

[@Traderjoe]

My father developed aphasia during a stroke. It was absolutely terrible. Cherish whoever you can communicate with. Cherish your ability to clearly communicate and express yourself. Life must have been so frustrating for him.

[@cbygelightbulb]

I remember when I was a teenager I had a moment where I went to sit in a chair, but I could not remember how. I could remember what a chair was and what sitting was, but I forgot how to transition from standing to sitting. That was one of the more terrifying moments in my life, and it was over after around 15 minutes of me relearning how to sit by throwing my body at a chair till I figured it out. I cannot imagine how difficult it would be to deal with this for everything around me at all times.

[@pyramidal_ancestors]

In middle school I had this odd thing I cant explain. I completely forgot my class schedule and where my locker was. It was like I was a stranger in my own school overnight. I just abandoned my locker and went to random classrooms I remembered.

[@kgpz100]

I had something very, very similar happen to me when I was in second grade. I woke up not remembering my own name, but I knew from memory that I needed to get dressed, put on my backpack, and walk to school -- so I did. It wasn't until gym class that I saw that I hadn't just gotten dressed, I simply put all of my day clothes over my PJs. I think that was the second or third period in the day, and suddenly things snapped into place, although I couldn't remember the spelling of my name for a little bit beyond that moment of clarity back to reality.

[@Freya_Blue]

That's very interesting. Sitting seems like something almost instinct since babies sit before they can walk.

[@millemajja2]

Think it can be a episode of Dissociation. Happens to most people some time in theire life. Usually caused by stress, medications, drugs/alcohol, not get enough sleep over a long period of time aso. Happend to me once, my mother told me that we had spoke on phone for about 30min one day and i don't remember any of it. Guess it was a combination of lack of sleep and sleeping pills in my case.

[@pyramidal_ancestors]

@@millemajja2 Did your conversation happen with your mother after you took sleeping pills, but before you went to sleep? Basically when I had sleeping pills, I retained no memories of long conversations I had between taking them and waking up the next morning.

[@soaringeagle]

When I was in Oregon, I met a guy in a nursing home who had a brain injury from somebody stomping on his head at a football game. He thought I was his brother. He would always forget that he just ate and was always saying how hungry he was and he would literally eat himself to death. If one eye focused on you, he was gentle as a kitten. If the other eye focused on you, beware he would latch out, grab your arm and be really violent and aggressive. It was like he had two personalities based on which I was looking at you . If I remember correctly, they weren’t both pointing the same directions. His mother begged me to keep coming to visit him because I was one of the only people he responded to.

[@alka1ine]

I saw a video and some studies recently about this. They would tell patients who's left and right brain were disconnected in some way to pick up the banana or something basic like that, and the patient would start saying something and the other hand would just grab it. Think they did the same with visual colors versus spoken colors and it was crazy how one eye can see something but not share it with the brain logically, it would just spit out gibberish, yet reversing it the hand would do what was asked with the person not understanding why.

[@soaringeagle]

@ yeah I saw something similar like if when I was covered and they were shown keys the other hand could pick them up but the same hand on the same side of the eye couldn’t figure out what the keys were. I think that was actually somebody who purposefully had their brain split into two to stop major seizures.

[@krashd]

What's fascinating is that studying split brain patients showed that it's not just our left and right hemispheres that can display independent consciousness but also the various lobes, I think someone explained it as a dozen assistants working together to process all of the body's various inputs before handing the results to you to do with as you wish. It opened up a debate on free will as it meant several sub-conscious components of the brain are the ones pushing us towards decisions and we just like to think that it is really us making the decisions. They discovered this when they noticed a split brain patient could describe things that neither the left brain or right brain would have knowledge of, showing that the language centre of the left hemisphere (where our speech comes from) could think independently of both frontal lobes (where the creative consciousness and logic consciousness reside).

[@soaringeagle]

@ wow that’s fascinating

[@alka1ine]

@@krashd Yeah, it's wild. I feel like they were overthinking the "free will" assumptions though, unless they noticed the same thing in patients with both hemispheres still communicating. If, for example, one side sees something and the other hears an explanation as it approaches, both would come together and "compute" what makes the most sense. They just do their jobs. When disconnected, they're still both just doing their jobs, but it's now like 2 workers on different floors of the building instead of just the next cubicle over.

[@luttman23]

I developed aphasia about a decade ago, I have episodes of 5 minutes to a few hours where I just can't understand speech or writing or speak or write, but otherwise I am fine. It can be embarrassing though, you can't tell people what's happening, but you can see concern or confusion on their faces. I've had a couple of brain scans but no one has found anything. I had an episode today that lasted about half an hour, so I went an did some laundry.

[@andoletube]

Have you ever had a TIA?

[@luttman23]

@@andoletube not that I know of, if I have the doctors haven't found it. I developed epilepsy about 10 years before the aphasia so I might have had one during a seizure... I had to ask my wife what a TIL was so. My brain isn't right though, I get lost easily and find it hard to remember things.

[@eukaryote-prime]

@@luttman23that’s wild. Can I ask you, in general, do you have an inner monologue where your “hear” your own voice and an internal visual experience where you “see” stuff in your brain. Do you sometimes remember your dreams.

[@luttman23]

@@eukaryote-prime I generally don't have an inner monologue, although I can force it. My visual experience is fine I'm not sure what you mean, I think it might stop working as well sometimes during an episode. I used to remember dreams but since I started taking epilepsy meds that's a rare occurrence.

[@Taima]

@@luttman23 This is both fascinating and depressing. I know the inner monologue thing is generally its own thing that people with otherwise fully functional brains have, but it still blows my mind. So as far as the inner voice or lack thereof go, does that interfere with your ability to make structured thoughts about things? Like say you know you have 3 hours to do a handful of things before an appointment or something, how would you handle planning to yourself that you're gonna get up, do a, then c, then b, then d before e? And how does this work in the case of introspection? For example, say you're depressed about something. Maybe someone died or moved away, or some other upsetting thing that's been making you feel down and you decide to just take a few minutes to think about it in the shower or something - is that something you still do somehow, or perhaps there are certain situations like that where you have to force a monologue to make it work? And when it comes to the aphasia thing, does it affect anything else in terms of just being able to interact with the world or do things? I'm guessing everything is "fine" as long as it doesn't involve communication/words. Last little question writing the last sentence made me think of - can you still gesture to communicate? Like your wife knows you're having an episode and that's fine but you still want to communicate something like hunger, would you know to do something like, point to yourself and rub your belly or what have you, or is even that kind of communication somehow lost to you?

[@FerozenFrodi]

"I'll Fight On." Very sad to hear the horrifying life he dealt with after his injury, but wow was that man's ability of self preservation incredible.

[@TommyCrosby]

It's crazy that the myth of "we only use 10% of our brain" still lingers on when we have case studies of brain injuries like that. The whole reality of what we experience and do is caused by the sum of all our brain.

[@shawnrose3207]

I heard somewhere that the 10% myth was made by the media who were just paraphrasing some little thing somebody wrote in a study. Was totally out of context and wrong but everyone just started regurgitating it to each other haha😅

[@bliantfive]

​@@shawnrose3207 Not even that. It's a statement out of a science fiction novel by the scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.

[@mkv2718]

@@shawnrose3207it reminds me of the other totally bunk idea that often gets repeated: the “5 stages of grief” : total nonsense

[@jdrmanmusiqking]

This statement makes no sense. If anything, this shows that humans actually use LESS than 1% of their brains

[@rogerarrysheldon8394]

Biggup bro. KZbin.com/@theporthuronstatement

[@loveislove4879]

My cousin is a construction worker. One day at work he fell and a piece of rebar impaled his brain through and through. Amazingly he survived!

[@swissdave9489]

boo hoo

[@dvdemon187]

I suffered from my very first migrane attack when I was sixteen and in school. I had heavily impaired vision and speech and had no clue what was going on. After the doctor gave me a shot, I quickly recovered. Having gone through something like this makes it a little easier to actually understand what people are going through, suffering a stroke or other brain damage losing certain abilities. It's kinda fascinating even though it's absolutely terrifying.

[@monochr0m]

Hi fellow migraine sufferer! I get full on aphasia where I can't produce proper sentences, grammar loses all sense and I can't remember basic things. It's scary how close this video sounded to that.

[@adambent6712]

Thank you for sharing

[@RisingRevengeance]

Man that's rough, I never knew migraines alone could get you anywhere close to what this guy experienced. I had migraines very often through out my teens but it mostly manifested as a vile burning headache. Thankfully it was never worse than that for me. It did ofc mean that I couldn't really study with the pain but I never felt like I wasn't all there. A friend of mine who still suffers has his vision go out completely, weird stuff.

[@DeepFriedAlchemy-on4qo]

A shot of what?

[@kellyhoward6941]

I had a migraine aura where I could visualize the word for something, but the word that came out of my mouth was not the word my brain was trying to say. I could hear the wrong word coming out. I was at work so couldn't freak out, but boy, did I want to.

[@thanksfernuthin]

Interesting and moving story. Not a fan of your choice of title however. Quite misleading. He may have referenced having no brain but shattered brain would be more accurate as the researcher called it. A female coworker years ago had a son with one whole hemisphere removed and the existing one was missing parts. He was developmentally challenged but lived a pretty normal life. I was expecting someone who continued on with even less and was looking forward to learning about it.

[@andkar72]

Jay Marvin on WLS talk radio would call people a derogatory: "brain stem" when he disagreed with them! I agree with the author here.

[@PlasmaRayInSpace]

Dubga bunga dunga bunga dunga bunga dunga bunga dunga bunga dunga bunga dunga bunga dunga bunga dunga bunga dunga bunga dunga bunga dunga bunga

[@marco.eckstein]

Maybe this is interesting for you: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fYG6qZaKhK-ZiJI

[@cieludbjrg4706]

Read the book. "The man with a shattered world", by Luria. We get to know this man who lost the world. A very very very touching story. Him using a day to just form a word on paper to begin with. His patience and tenacity. A highly recommendable read. Thanks for bringing this important work to light again!

[@MikeS-um1nm]

Even "without a brain" this guy still wrote better than a lot of High School students do today.

[@reloup38]

You're reading the translated version of his writings, that probably was modified from the Russian version, which might have been modified too before publication...

[@MikeS-um1nm]

@@reloup38 Ahhh, it was a JOKE!

[@Yipper64]

22:48 that's the kind of eldritch horror that keeps me up at night. Losing your mind but still being there, knowing its not you, not your potential at least, but unable to really know much of anything. Terrifying...

[@XNSinaCTYFNCTURNLBRDS]

right? This whole thingh feels like a Lovecraft story

[@johnlynch-kv8mz]

23:46’ in other words, Lev was made to believe as a child does, when he knew prior , he taught as a professor. I bet along the way, he had glimpses of his past. but was made to start over again and again. He could never really give up, it seems to me , having just heard of him. Thank you for sharing . I am grateful.

[@harrietcanary2470]

Yes, I greatly admire his dogged persistence! Bravo! 👍

[@johnlynch-kv8mz]

@@harrietcanary2470 yes. He. Demonstrates that there is utility in suffering

[@AH-cy4md]

My MIL had a stroke and ended up paralyzed on the right side and had aphasia. Attempts to communicate, and speech therapy, were rejected by her, she wouldn’t even try to communicate. It wasn’t clear if she understood what was said to her. She lived like that for 3 years.

[@niveketihw1897]

This reminds me of my grandmother on my stepmother's side, who had a catastrophic stroke. She never successfully spoke another word. She looked anguished for the rest of her life. She would stutter the beginning sound of one word for minutes or even hours continually. This went on for over a decade. My grandfather kept her alive because of religious beliefs. I always thought life was utter endless agony for her.

[@adambent6712]

The like you hate

[@andkar72]

My aphasia is quite minor. But it does erupt at times! I can feel the distress of not having the correct words. In fact, I had to look up the word anguish to see a synonym so I wouldn't repeat it!

[@461weavile]

"Kept her alive because of religious beliefs" doesn't make sense to me. I could see "refused to euthanize her because of religious beliefs." Maybe I'm misunderstanding or maybe there are some religions that require people to artificially extend the life of others.

[@nathangamble125]

@@461weavile There are some religious people (mostly conservative Catholics, as far as I can tell) who refused to allow the life support of their dying or already-dead relatives to be turned off, and/or insisted on repeatedly resuscitating someone who had no chance of returning to consciousness. Nive might be referring to something similar, though possibly not.

[@461weavile]

@@nathangamble125 I'm sure there are people who refused that and claimed it was because of their religion. (There is always a person who has done any given thing.) It's not a function of any Christian teaching that somebody must artificially extend a person's life. If a Christian -- catholic or otherwise -- claimed that his religion was compelling him to maintain a life-support machine, he was incorrect and was adhering to a selfish idea instead of a religious one, whether knowingly or unknowingly. I know I'm not an expert on every religion in the world, but I'm familiar with a fair number and none of the ones I know require a person to artificially extend the life of any person. If Nive is simply misspeaking, fine, but it's either misstated or his grandfather has some obscure religion and Nive is sharing a painful story that tragically nobody can relate to. That's why "kept her alive because of religious beliefs" doesn't make sense to me; any statistically relevant religion wouldn't have required he "kept her alive," so if she needed to be kept alive, it wasn't due to a religious belief, or if she didn't need to be kept alive but was living even a low-quality life with no required intervention, "kept her alive" is an improper verbiage.

[@lsgreger2645]

Doctors have also performed several hemispherectomy where they will remove half the brain or at least isolate the problematic hemisphere's by removing nerve endings. This is in extreme cases like tumors or severe untreatable Epilepsy. Most survive and even younger cases have a remarkable recovery and it reduces or even cures the seizures.

[@alanmckinnon6791]

A friend of mine has brain tumours and about 2 years ago doctors removed his right prefrontal cortex area, losing about 20% of his total brain. He still gets through life OK but has some issues, like struggles to understand nuanced communications. But, he's a computer programmer and still does his job very well. He does forget whether he has taken his meds or not!

[@richardvass1462]

I met a girl at a Christian concert and Susan wheelchair she told me she lost her brain because a horse trampled her head but she seemed pretty normal and she and the nurse and I walked a couple hundred yards in back even though doctors said she couldn't walk

[@richardvass1462]

I meant to say half her brain was lost can doctors said that she wouldn't survive but she saw Jesus and survive and did many things doctors said she wouldn't be able to do

[@bloodymary8540]

I know a child that got this specific surgery performed on his brain...he could walk talk and everything...after that surgeries when he woke up he had to learn walking talking and so on again...he still has lots of problems to this day...

[@J2897Tutorials]

Aphasia... I had no idea that what I experienced at the age of 6, after a 2ft long engineering screwdriver penetrated my skull, had a name. I was paralyzed down the right side of my body for about a year. I could perceive the world clearly. I understood everything everyone was saying, although I could not speak for many months. When I did try to speak I was about as coherent as Chewbacca, which caused people to talk to me as though I was a little baby, which constantly pissed me off.

[@jarlsparkley]

He demonstrated an awareness that what happened to him is terrible. However, the idea that he was unable to find happiness in his injury and rehabilitation is not supported by anything you have shown us. In fact, I’d argue that his determination is evidence that he did find a way to live a fulfilling life despite it all.

[@AthosJosue]

I think that's wishful thinking, his writings said very clearly that he was never happy. It's incredibly sad, but is the truth, unless you believe he lied to himself.

[@jarlsparkley]

@ you seem to think that struggling your whole life and being open about it means you can’t find happiness and fulfillment. But speaking from personal experience, it’s just not the case.

[@hed1fsu]

Typical Christian thinking.. haha. Won't even take dude at his word. Oh noooo.. god wouldn't do that!! Stfu haha. Dude said his life was unhappy.. so it was. Maybe you having half a brain is the problem.

[@Splucked]

I think that perhaps you've never been around someone with a brain injury and/or aphasia for any appreciable amount of time. I mean someone you knew prior to the injury. I have. I can attest to the fact that it was pure misery for the victim. I'd argue that Lev's determination is evidence of the fact that he was unable to accept his situation. He was fighting for survival. His speech improved but everything else remained out of whack. His brain was never again able to make sense of the world around him. There's no fulfillment in that.

[@jarlsparkley]

@@Splucked or maybe I am the person with horrible health issues and I really resent the idea that people think that me being happy and thinking my life is worth living despite it, is somehow me being in denial when it’s not the case at all

[@CONNELL19511216]

A R Luria's groundbreaking book 'The Working Brain' was our bible when I was studying neuropsychology. Luria was the founder of the discipline

[@TigerAceSullivan]

"what was the point?" to share his experience as a human, just like all humans like to do, with the desire to communicate what their existence is to others? to tell his story? maybe hoping that his life goes on to inspire others and progress research? to prove that he can? im not sure, but i feel like if i were in such a situation, id also be trying just as hard to communicate in some meaningful way with others

[@maiaallman4635]

I had a major stroke towards the end of 2019, just before COVID. Seeing as I'm quite nerdy, and my brain is the best bit about me, that was fairly devastating. I decided that I will live my life such that I can one day refer to the stroke as "the best thing that ever happened to me".

[@jaystreet46]

I’ve suffered 2 strokes and I get intermittent aphasia. It is unbelievably frustrating to know exactly what I want to say but am unable to spit it out.

[@adjacent891]

I had this argument with my botanical teacher. I said do you need a brain to think?

[@thewisecarrot]

I had a stroke 5 years ago. My damage is on the right-side. When watching this I this I was able to feel similar situations is the subject here in the story. About the size of a golf ball had died but the brain with its ability to use the pathways and of course with the help of doctors I was able to have my life back!

[@mr.sessle8444]

I had a brain injury during c19 and lost my memory and its spooky to hear someone else has gone through it. I wasnt as bad for as long but it still hurts to use reality at times

[@michaelgotanco4917]

Now folks, as you have watched the video effortlessly and read these comments without much of an afterthought that I hope you'd never take for granted how tirelessly our brain works 24/7 to help us navigate through the extreme complexities of life that we take for granted in our every waking day like we never had a care in the world. We do. And we have every good reason to be thankful for everyday for living a pretty seemingly uneventful boring life of loving and helping others and having fun as we spent our daily routines not fearing what the future has in store for all of us. Live it as if it your last day on earth folks.

[@theGoogol]

Only try to realize the truth… there is no spoon.

[@Mix1mum]

My spoon ...is too big

[@Derpy1969]

Waiter! There’s no spoon in my soup!

[@RisingRevengeance]

There is only soup. We're all soup.

[@777idkineedausername]

Do spoons exist?

[@KenLieck]

What is a "soup-spoon" then?

[@Kodiak97x]

The thumbnail and title image has really good meme potential in arguments

[@I_am_a_cat_]

Meh

[@Dark-m5j]

73years? With this condition. This shows poverty is terrible

[@shaggy5percent]

Man I'm never going to finish this video, I stopped at the 2:00 minute mark and thought about the effects of college students going to war for an hour.

[@masterjose8483]

what do you mean?

[@macdietz]

Yeah, what? all wars have been fought by the young and able bodied. Seems obvious.

[@fireaza]

@@masterjose8483 It could be he means it's sorta wasteful/stupid for someone to spend years of their life attending collage in order to learn a specialized skill, only to die in a war doing something any uneducated schlub could do.

[@shaggy5percent]

@@macdietz really? I always thought we sent the old geriatrics, nah dude talking about today lol

[@ZechariahHeck]

Broken brain maybe?

[@yukyumee]

Fun fact (maybe not so fun but at least might be interesting: i was born with dysphasia (mild levels), which is basically aphasia and both are considered the same just dysphasia is a less severe form of aphasia. It's not as well known but dysphasia causes can be other than traumas or injuries of the brain since i was born with it. Its just not well known. I've noticed that people in my family on my mom's side, some will genuinely struggle more with language, my mom herself seems to have a mild form of dysphasia as well but was never diagnosed. It doesn't affect other forms of intelligence though. I have come to the conclusion that dysphasia can be caused by genetics in rare cases. I'm not sure for aphasia though since aphasia is a more severe case of dysphasia. I have been followed by specialists and therapists for my language troubles when i was a kid, and it doesn't show a lot today but i still search my words regularly, still mix words in both speeches and writing, still write sentences sometimes that arent structurally correct, and it took a lot of time and effort before i could master language enough that it wouldn't show so bad when i speak (because trying to remember words and how they interact with each other literally takes a heightened time and effort for me). English isnt my first language and learning english took me years to learn even though being regularly exposed to it and practicing everyday. The consequences of aphasia/dysphasia can be very cruel, as one of the thing i suffered from the most was being isolated from your peers. Trying to communicate but never being able to follow conversations as quickly as others, never being able to tag into conversations without making it awkward. It lead to me having a lot of social anxiety trying to connect with others but knowing you'll have trouble to fit in because you have trouble understanding simple conversations. Im glad to say though that my effort finally bears its fruits even if it isn't quite perfect and i still have much to learn about languages, at least it isnt as bad as it used to be.

[@adambent6712]

Wonderfully terrifying video. Thank you.

[@Blizky]

Sounds like trying to read or use the phone in a dream

[@J2897Tutorials]

19:27 - This is very relatable. We were told to write everything the teacher had wrote on the blackboard into our own blank lined books with a pen. My handwriting was probably the fanciest in the whole class, although when I was questioned on the topic I had just wrote about, I barely had any inkling of anything in the text.

[@PiusBamigboye]

I love that this channel and the many articles in the video is from "popular science"

[@johnlynch-kv8mz]

15:05. Right now, that’s where I’m sort of at. Not exactly , but enough. It is frustrating when one knows one knew better.

[@Mix1mum]

Damn, good find Kevin. What a crazy, fascisnating, sad story i doubt i eouldve ever heard about. Give this man a raise! I think people are better understood if we look at ourselves as vessels with multiple people in the bridge running things. I mean, explain the subconscious, or the seperated brain right side/left side craziness. Maybe thats what Jung was referring to ultimately with his shadow work, idk. Maybe thats why learning an instrument can be so liberating to most people, it allows an avenue for the subconscious to manifest. Who knows, yknow?

[@Wolf_Phantomstein]

The book which was written by Alexandr Luria about this exact case is called The lost and then returned world. The story of the wound (Потерянный и возвращенный мир. История одного ранения). I don't know if it exists in English, but this video is probably based on it.

[@DerKlemm-Crafter]

I cannot explain how fascinated I am. Edit: I'm sincerly surprised that he was 73 when he died. That's incredible

[@astrofreakshow]

You should definately read the book about Lev's case. A couple days ago I found it on Internet and it is the most fascinating piece of work about the human brain I have ever encountered in my life. I don't remember if this was said in the video but the title is "The Man with a Shattered World: The History of a Brain Wound". I'm deeply fascinated yet at the same time horrified of a concept itself, not mentioning the fact of real struggles of this poor young man. At the same time, I can tell you, his dyscypline, persistence and hyperfixation is almost inhuman. A great motivation it is, especially that I'm working on my Bachelor's thesis and can take a mere glimpse of the similar struggleness beacuse of me not being able to distinguish if I think right, lacking my words very often, feeling just like an idiot. Lev is relatable as hell at this point but I would never comprehend even the simple glimpse of what he felt with expieriencing that memory blanks during even the most common, everyday activity. Begining just with the idea that I try my best to put in words my thoughts in a foreign language just right now, contradictory to him can't even think clear in his very own first language about basic stuff. It's tragic, heartbreaking even, to say the least...

[@d3v-z3r0]

Most likely lot of people are living without a brain, when I look around.

[@GettingSchwiftyy]

😂😂😂😂 This was more truthful than the entire video

[@johnlynch-kv8mz]

20:22. That he could observe, comprehend and write succinctly( about this phenomenon), that we have an understanding is astonishing.

[@Thejesusegg]

Loving the videos. Keep them coming.

[@ForPopli]

This looks like a National Enquirer headline.

[@SotraEngine4]

I'm an aspie (autistic for those who wants it politically correct) and sometimes under great emotional stress or a shutdown, I lose my ability to speak in my native language. But I am quite capable of speaking English or to write

[@marshaemily2465]

I hope he understands now wherever he is how much purpose his life did have and his contribution to medical science. Thankyou Lev for your contribution tot humanity.

[@rassulbolatkanuly3844]

Man, it's no surprise for us, we know thousands of people with this condition in our government 🇰🇿

[@RisingRevengeance]

As sad as his life was it was also very fascinating. I wonder how some of his abilities came back. Did his brain allocate another part of it to relearning basics? Or was it achieved by connecting a few fragments he still had left here and there? I know I'm asking questions without clear answers but it is interesting to think about.

[@jakejakedowntwo6613]

Since the brain was completely formed at adulthood, reallocation of function is impossible. It can only reconnect the fragments. If he was a child the brain can reallocate functions as sectors aren’t fully actualized. This has to do with neuroplasticity which weakens as you age.

[@yts70r135]

You won my subscription, and you totally deserve a lot more. This was impressive, remarkable, touching, quite overwhelming

[@iNinBreak]

vsauce?

[@nxtvim2521]

precisely. Kevin forgot his password

[@ZomB1986]

Hey Vsauce2, Kevin here.

[@Laffy-ix5xy]

Yes, I thought the same thing. His tone of voice is very similar to Michael's.

[@nxtvim2521]

@@Laffy-ix5xy its literally kevin from vsauce2 lol

[@JustsomeSteve]

I'm truly speechless. That is real horror!

[@johnlynch-kv8mz]

19:16. A miracle even Siddhartha would have appreciated.

[@MrWave58]

Maybe our brains CREATE the reality around us? He could not see the right side of the body because his brain was not able to "create" it for him...

[@TheWitnessedd]

What do you mean by that?

[@461weavile]

The brain doesn't create reality, but it definitely creates our conception and perception of reality. That might be what you're thinking, since I see you weren't sure "create" was the right word.

[@MrWave58]

@@461weavile Hi, I ment it as I said it. There's a Zen koan: Is there a moon if nobody watches it?

[@MrWave58]

@@TheWitnessedd WE create (this) reality. We = consciousness. See double slit experiment. Awareness "destroys" the probability wave and the photon gets mass.

[@Chaosfury50]

14:00 I didn't understand the damn paragraph either.

[@elektrokinesis4150]

it''s an intentionally difficult passage that relies on inferred information, it was created by a doctor working with a patient who was previously operating at a very high intellectual level, people who don't read all the time might miss things in it, I had to re-read it to get all the information out of it.

[@lbdjthethird1240]

"I'll Fight On" is some seriously inspiring stuff. Dude never stopped trying and that is beyond commendable.

[@emilyfunk8134]

"I'll fight on" got me in tears😢

[@sarasa-sarason]

Congrats on the sponsor, Kevin! 🎉

[@Lisorael]

When I consumed THC with alcohol, I experienced something no one else in the group did. My perspective shattered into bits, and I was unable to understand my own thoughts. I couldn't keep hold of time, and if I began to speak, I would forget, moment by moment, which words I'd already spoken. However, I could let my original intentions take over, and I would speak entire sentences, and even communicate my apologies to the others for my total collapse (everyone else was just baffled, and I was lying on the ground, over a trash can), which I'm told sounded entirely coherent and rational, despite how I felt. I had to remind myself over and over that I wasn't just listening to background noises, or a sitcom on TV. I kept dissociating to such immense degrees that I thought the dissolving images of the plastic bin liner in the trash were all that ever existed... If I had to live through a day of that, let alone 25 years, it would absolutely not be of my own volition.

[@diyeana]

What a frustrating and scary way to live. One of my biggest fears is having a stroke and living a half life. I'd rather it just take me out. 😢

[@MushookieMan]

Nearly all strokes are preventable. Use the Cronometer app and change your diet, hit green on every micronutrient category and don't go over

[@ashishlukka]

one of the most amazing stories from you

[@szwolinski4587]

Years ago one of my physiology professors recounted the story of his mother's stroke. The only noticeable effect was that she could not recall nouns. A few months later, she suddenly recovered access to them. Every thing that makes us - US - is a product of our brains. Where then is the soul?

[@WestlakeConsulting]

Nowhere. It's a made up concept.

[@helengrives1546]

Living without a thyroid, I have seen many small issues of different diseases. One of the biggest changes in brain function is dreams. They alter because of the state of the body. When I couldn’t run, I couldn’t run in my dreams. Totally bizar, because it was not that I couldn’t remember. It was like a reflection. My walking, running came back when my body was over 13 yeats into recovery. I jumped for joy because it meant that my body was reporting positive change. Since all what I had learned was gone, I secretly read my children’s homework to get things back. Totally bizar. I got a bit dislexia. Knowing something is wrong, but cannot tell what it is. The most valuable lesson I learned was that consciousness is through the whole body. Every cell communicates the whole and what I learned was from my cell memory that started talking back, taking decisions before I understood it was beneficial. It was as if I lost free will, because my body simply took over, made the decisions. These stories are a treasure trove. Insight in way more complex things. If you lose half of your vision. You forget that half. It also tells something about sensory input.

[@DustinRodriguez1_0]

Wow... he was pretty lucky his injury happened when it did. You know how blithering idiots will trot out "the brain isn't done developing until age 25" when they want to denigrate young people? The neuroscientific fact that they are misusing to support their prejudices is that around age 25, neuroplasticity in the brain tends to fall dramatically. So if Lev had gotten injured just a short time later than he did, his ability to adapt to his injured state would likely have been greatly reduced. I'm always fascinated by reading case studies about unique brain injuries or problems, they are very often extremely informative. Oliver Sacks' (RIP) books are all wonderful. Learning ways in which the brain can go wrong and what consequences that has on the subjective conscious experience of the injured person can give great insight into how the brain operates to produce that experience for us. I am particularly interested in the fact that when he was pushing himself to write, he would experience headaches the following day... I wish he wrote about his diet, and what he was eating. The brain is one of the most energy-hungry organs in the human body, and he was very likely pushing his extremely hard which would have sucked up a lot of glucose (the primary energy source for the brain, although it can shift to ketones if glucose is in short supply, but that might've been what led to his headaches, constant switching is metabolically pretty messy). It stuns me that even with the existence of works like Lev's book, most people still believe in the notion of dualism - that there is a separation of some fundamental kind between the mind and body. How much clearer could it be that our consciousness is a direct product of the operation of our body?

[@WilhelmDrake]

Some things, once broken, cannot be fixed.

[@francesbernard2445]

Some governing systems become broken under a leader who is full of pride. How much more could only one person manage somehow to someday enjoy wellness. Like for example in cases when someone after a motorcycle accident was given the prognosis of that being terminal then begins to shock all of the caregivers around while in hospital when beginning to recover instead. Cases like that in hospitals around the world happen way more than only once. I am not referring to myself concerning that one case I know of.

[@CoopKeith1]

Sure Chemistry 1:34 , totally not astronomy at all.

[@tairblenn7535]

LMAO, how'd they mix that up with chemistry?

[@Muziqizlyf]

It definitely doesn't say astronomy at the very top of the page

[@Lou_Sr]

Kevin, Dude! I've missed seeing your videos! Great to see you here!

[@MJ-iq9ph]

Was he one of the Vsauce brothers?

[@Bugbugado988]

This is beautiful and sad at the same time

[@raybrensike42]

I'm 51 seconds in here an this story reminds me of a man who was trimming tree branches, and one fell on his head and he sustained substantial injury. Since then, he could not read. When my friend and I would visit his house, if he was not home, we would have to draw pictures on a pad left there, and then later he would show up at my friend's house. I guess he knew who stopped by, but we found out that our pictures were only somewhat effective as a means of communication. He remained unable to read until his death many years later. Other than that, he seemed normal.

[@anovosedlik]

That's cruel punishment--you're both partly brain dead, and yet the other part KNOWS and has to watch you be brain dead. It's amazing he managed to train his brain to use other parts in order to compensate...but only to a certain degree. Bless him; he's a hero twice over.

[@AzoreanProud]

There's a deeply beauty and relatability to his story. The struggle, the confusion and fighting spirit against something we aren't even sure what it is.

[@imtihanislam9598]

My brain is just fucked like there is no other way to describe what I am feeling right now

[@cannibalbananas]

A truly amazing, but sad story.

[@yuriserigne5524]

this strange visual impairment sounds exactly like migraine with aura: parts of the field of view just disappear or are very fuzzy, which happens in the brain and not in the eyes

[@benmcreynolds8581]

I love this channel so dang much!

[@Derpy1969]

Do a video on the Flying Car Coming next year for Every year it was on the cover of Popular Science.

[@BloodDripss]

another incredible video kevin. love to see these videos for popular science!

[@lastnamefirstname8655]

very intriguing and yet very gruesome and very tough to handle for me, physically.

[@Crit-Multiplier]

i would love to know the name of the music you used.. stunning tracks that really underlined the topic. great choices

[@TheQuenchiestCake]

It makes my heart ache thinking about his struggles. That poor man. I wonder how his mind may have processed music.

[@lisapinfold506]

After having a left side stroke, it damaged my right visual field. Had a period of time where I couldn't process visual info on that side. Very frustrating. Improved over time, thankfully

[@CaptainToadUK]

I had a serious head injury as a kid and developed mild aphasia from it. Now and then I will "lose" a word three which has led me to develop a really wide vocabulary. I've learned over the years to not try and describe the word that I'm missing - that an get very embarrassing very quickly - and either change tack or find an alternative word. It can be very frustrating at times

[@TigerAceSullivan]

it is fascinating to learn about what can cause aphasia, especially the sort where you Understand, somewhat, but cannot form the words; and relate that to my own experience with aphantasia, or with selective mutism.

[@johnlynch-kv8mz]

24:29. Poignant words to end with!!

[@stavros222]

Because a part of his brain was damaged doesn't mean he had no brain. I have heard about someone that everything inside his brain was liquid for some reason

[@TheRealNewWhirledOrder]

9:18 What's even more important than none of us ever having seen any evidence of a whirling, twirling, hurling, hurtling, wibbling, wobbling, zipping, zooming, rushing, rolling, twisting, turning, spinning and spiraling space ball, spherical "globe" earth is that none of us has ever seen any evidence that "space" is what we've been told it is.

[@denorangebanan]

oh god, a flerfer

[@TheRealNewWhirledOrder]

@denorangebanan "a flerfer" I'm not a "flat earther", although it, certainly, seems that way to me. All I'm saying is, again, what's even more important than none of us ever having seen any evidence of a whirling, twirling, hurling, hurtling, wibbling, wobbling, zipping, zooming, rushing, rolling, twisting, turning, spinning and spiraling space ball, spherical "planet" earth is that none of us has ever seen any evidence that "space" is what we've been told it is. Including you.

[@TheRealNewWhirledOrder]

@denorangebanan Try to find a demonstration of a pressurized environment alongside a vacuum with no physical barrier between the two. You cannot. Try to find a demonstration of uncontained air pressure. Again, you cannot.

[@TheRealNewWhirledOrder]

@denorangebanan We are told that the deepest anyone has ever drilled into the surface of the earth is roughly eleven kilometres (6.35 miles) down yet we are also told that the core of the earth is twenty nine hundred kilometres down. Earthquakes are measured with a seismograph up to a depth of only seven hundred kilometres. Ground penetrating radar can only reach a maximum depth of one hundred feet (or thirty meters) in dry, low conductivity, materials and that is in the best of conditions. It's usually much less. Try to find some evidence that verifies that the core of the earth is made of and doing what we're told it is made of and doing. Also, how can anyone know what supposed planets and stars that are supposedly millions and billions of supposed light years away are composed of right down to their supposed cores?

[@TheRealNewWhirledOrder]

@denorangebanan Regarding the sun, try to find a working demonstration of a heat and light source heating and lighting a surface while the distance between that heat and light source and surface is left cold and dark. Try to find some evidence that light, and heat, can travel as far as they say they can (millions and millions and millions and millions of miles) and then, again, while leaving its path both cold and dark.

[@nolikeygsomnipresence270]

Hang on... When it comes from memories from youth remaining but newer memories not existing, could this mean that information can be copied in the brain so that different areas can access it as fast as possibly, or that information can be moved to a different, more efficient location? So some memories could be removed from one section of the brain, but are still present in others (maybe in a more basic version, even)?

[@JohnRyan-f2n]

Its hard to believe that flame throwers are allowed in warfare.

[@GoronCityOfficialBoneyard]

Ah sweet you made a video about one of the OG Goron Elders

[@mimavox-swe]

This must be the most clickbaity title ever :(

[@JourneysADRIFT]

Another banger of a video. Great job 👍

[@quochuyhoang9764]

sounds like my rank teamate

[@TuxraGamer]

I always wondered if the brain could commit "render mistakes" when interpreting visual input but always brushed it off as something that only happened to people with schizophrenia, guess I didn't want to accept that this could actually happen to anyone after a brain injury, and I think I'd rather be dead.

[@jonathank4278]

When I was 1 Year 11 Months ,and 27 Days old is when he was never more.

[@chuckintexas]

What amazes _me_ is the strength and persistence of the human spirit !

[@epicgamernik76]

"Using horse for man" I can't believe they predicted that

[@johndawn6951]

I'm shocked this KZbinr made a video about me.

[@Damirit]

Your videos are amazing! Often hearbreaking but always a wonder to see and hear.