Divided brains

Recently, I stumbled at The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World by Iain McGilchrist. The author revisits our view on the specialization of the left and right hemispheres. We used to talk about the “left brain people” as rational and the “right brain people” as creative ones.

McGilchrist somewhat confirms such a view but paints a broader and more complex picture of the hemispheres’ specialization and cooperation. To summarize the 616 pages of the book would be too ambitious, so my words about it by no means is its fair representation. So, read the book, if the topic is of interest to you. The following a few points from the book that were interesting to me.

The right hemisphere (that manages the left side of our body), among other things, tends to integrate and include, while the left hemisphere looks for a simple solution, better the one already proven to be successful before. The thought is born in the right hemisphere, but it is expressed by the left hemisphere because the center of speech is located there. When we strain our mind looking for a solution, the left hemisphere works harder and hijacks our consciousness. That’s why—to find a new solution—we need to relax and, thus, let more freedom to the right hemisphere. And that’s why often (you probably observed it too) the solution comes after one takes a break from trying to find it.

One of the central ideas of the series Crater was based on the following well-known experiment. A magnet applied above the right ear made the person unable to make a moral judgment. The researches assumed the existence of a moral center somewhere in the area. After reading McGilchrist’s book, I understand now that the magnet just disturbs the right hemisphere activity, so the rational—immoral—behavior prevails.

Domination of the left hemisphere removes controversy and complexity, hesitation and doubt. We feel relieved and happy. The right—integrating—hemisphere does not facilitate as much excitement as the left one. The joy of life emanated by the right hemisphere is calmer, deeper, but also tends to be sad, as any accepting point of view does. The right hemisphere tells us to accept life as it is, not as we would like it to be.

And here is the thesis McGilchrist proposes. He came to the conclusion that over time the right hemisphere becomes less developed in humans as species, which brings a decrease in attention, empathy, and ability to recognize faces. More children have to be taught how to do it (as if they are autistic). Domination of left hemisphere promotes simplistic grabbing ruthless attitude. This cold businesslike view of life we observe in the US and all over the world recently is the demonstration of this tendency. Will it lead to the ultimate destruction of the social fabric of human society?

And another interesting thought. Why two hemispheres? With one united brain, we would probably have fewer doubts and contradictions, would be more decisive and focused on the result (bottom line) using any means available. Why two different actors then?

I found the answer in Marvin Minsky’s book The Society of Mind. We need it to be able to perform a fine-tuning of our thoughts and actions. For example, to diminish the shakiness of a hand (to write something, for example) we place it firmly on something, pushing it against the table, for example, thus offsetting the upward movement. In the same manner, we have two actors with different opinions in our heads. One is loving and embracing, another is grabbing and running away with the spoil.   

It is up to us to decide which actor prevails. And each of us makes such a decision a thousand times a day.