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In Second Nature, Nobel Prize-winning neuroscientist Gerald Edelman argues that the brain and mind are unified, but he has little patience with the claim that the brain is a computer. Fortunately for the general reader, his explanations of brain function are accessible, reinforced by concrete examples and metaphors.Edelman suggests that thanks to the recent development of instruments capable of measuring brain structure within millimeters and brain activity within milliseconds, perceptions, thoughts, memories, willed acts, and other mind matters traditionally considered private and impenetrable to scientific scrutiny now can be correlated with brain activity.The author describes three unifying insights that correlate mind matters with brain activity. First, even distant neurons will establish meaningful connections (circuits) if their patterns are synchronized. Second, experience can either strengthen or weaken synapses (neuronal connections). Finally, there is reentry, the continued signaling from one brain region to another and back again along massively parallel nerve fibers.Edelman concedes that neurological explanations for consciousness and other aspects of mind are not currently available, but he is confident that they will be soon. Meanwhile, he is comfortably hazarding a guess: "All of our mental life.., is based on the structure and dynamics of our brain," Despite this optimism about the explanatory powers of neuroscience, Edelman acknowledges the pitfalls in attempting to explain all aspects of the mind in neurological terms. Indeed, culture--not biology--is the primary determinant of the brain"s evolution, and has been since the emergence of language, he notes.However, I was surprised to learn that he considers Sigmund Freud "the key expositor of the effects of unconscious processes on behavior". Such a comment ignores how slightly Freud"s conception of the unconscious, with its emphasis on sexuality and aggression, resembles the cognitive unconscious studied by neuroscientists.Still, Second Nature is well worth reading. It serves as a bridge between the traditionally separate camps of "hard" science and the humanities. Readers without at least some familiarity with brain science will likely find the going difficult at certain points. Nonetheless, Edelman has achieved his goal of producing a provocative exploration of"how we come to know the world and ourselves". According to Edelman, to provide a thorough explanation of the human mind, neuroscience will be______
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Culture is transmitted largely by language and by the necessity for people in close contact to co-operate. The more extensive the communications network, the greater the exchange of ideas and beliefs and the more alike people become--in toleration of diversity if nothing else. Members of a culture or a nation are generally in closer contact with one another than with members of other cultures or nations. They become more like each other and more unlike others. In this way, there develops "national character", which is the statistical tendency for a group of people to share values and follow similar behavior patterns.Frequently, the members of one culture will interpret the "national characteristics" of another group in terms of their own values. For example, the inhabitants of a South Pacific island may be considered "lazy" by citizens of some industrialized nations. On the other hand, it may be that the islanders place a great value on social relationships but little value on "productivity", and crops grow with little attention. The negative connotation of the label "lazy" is thus unjustified from the point of view of the island culture.Stereotypes, such as "lazy", "inscrutable", and "dishonest" give people the security of labels with which to react to others in a superficial way, but they are damaging to real understanding among members of different cultures. People react more to labels than to reality. A black American Peace Corps volunteer, for instance, is considered and called a white man by black Africans. The "we--they" distinction applies to whatever characteristic the "wes" have and the "theys" do not have-- and the characteristics attributed to the "theys" are usually ones with a negative value.The distinction becomes most obvious in times of conflict. For this reason, it is often suggested the only thing that might join all men together on this planet would be an invasion from outer space. "We", the earthlings, would then fight "them", the outsiders.Given the great diversities- real and imagined- among people of the world, is there any foundation for hope that someday all men might join together to form a single and legitimate world government The outcome will probably depend on the political evolution of mankind. What is true about the black American Peace Corps volunteer
Culture is transmitted largely by language and by the necessity for people in close contact to co-operate. The more extensive the communications network, the greater the exchange of ideas and beliefs and the more alike people become--in toleration of diversity if nothing else. Members of a culture or a nation are generally in closer contact with one another than with members of other cultures or nations. They become more like each other and more unlike others. In this way, there develops "national character", which is the statistical tendency for a group of people to share values and follow similar behavior patterns.Frequently, the members of one culture will interpret the "national characteristics" of another group in terms of their own values. For example, the inhabitants of a South Pacific island may be considered "lazy" by citizens of some industrialized nations. On the other hand, it may be that the islanders place a great value on social relationships but little value on "productivity", and crops grow with little attention. The negative connotation of the label "lazy" is thus unjustified from the point of view of the island culture.Stereotypes, such as "lazy", "inscrutable", and "dishonest" give people the security of labels with which to react to others in a superficial way, but they are damaging to real understanding among members of different cultures. People react more to labels than to reality. A black American Peace Corps volunteer, for instance, is considered and called a white man by black Africans. The "we--they" distinction applies to whatever characteristic the "wes" have and the "theys" do not have-- and the characteristics attributed to the "theys" are usually ones with a negative value.The distinction becomes most obvious in times of conflict. For this reason, it is often suggested the only thing that might join all men together on this planet would be an invasion from outer space. "We", the earthlings, would then fight "them", the outsiders.Given the great diversities- real and imagined- among people of the world, is there any foundation for hope that someday all men might join together to form a single and legitimate world government The outcome will probably depend on the political evolution of mankind. To some industrialized nations, the mentioned South Pacific islanders are______
The European Union revealed on January 23rd how it plans to save the world. A mammoth climate-change plan spells out in detail how much pain each of its 27 members will have to beat if the EU is to meet ambitious targets set by national leaders last March.The aim is to cut greenhouse-gas emissions by 2020 by at least a fifth, and more than double to 20% the amount of energy produced from renewable sources such as wind or wave power. If fuel from plants proves green enough, 10% of the fuel used in transport must come from biofuels by the same date. The new plan turns these goals into national targets. This will surely start much grumbling and months of horse-trading, as the European Commission"s recommendations are turned into binding law by national governments and the European Parliament.Countries with greenery in their veins are being asked to take more of the burden than newer members. Sweden, for example, is being invited to meet 49% of its energy from renewables. At the other end, Malta gets a renewables target of just 10%. It is a similar story when it comes to cutting greenhouse gases; by 2020, Denmark must cut emissions by 20% from 2005 levels; Bulgaria and Romania, the newest members, may let their emissions rise by 20%.EU leadership on climate change will not come cheap. The direct costs alone may be C 60 billion ($87 billion), or about 0.5% of total EU GDP, by 2020, said the commission"s president, Jose Manuel Barroso. But this is still presented as a bargain compared with the cost of inaction, which Mr. Barroso put at ten times as high. "Oh, leading the world in the fight against climate change need not cost jobs. Even in the most heavily polluting branches of heavy industry. We want to keep out industry in Europe," insisted Mr. Barroso.The trick to achieve the seemingly impossible targets is the EU"s emissions-trading scheme (ETS). This obliges big polluters such as power companies or manufacturing giants to trade permits that allow them to emit CO2 and other climate-change nasties, within a steadily tightening overall cap. If countries such as the US do not sign binding international agreements by 2001, then the heaviest greenhouse-gas emitters inside the EU may be given these allowances free, the commission suggests. Or, it threatens, firms to buy ETS permits. With those national goals set, the governments will expect from companies and industries lots of______
Culture is transmitted largely by language and by the necessity for people in close contact to co-operate. The more extensive the communications network, the greater the exchange of ideas and beliefs and the more alike people become--in toleration of diversity if nothing else. Members of a culture or a nation are generally in closer contact with one another than with members of other cultures or nations. They become more like each other and more unlike others. In this way, there develops "national character", which is the statistical tendency for a group of people to share values and follow similar behavior patterns.Frequently, the members of one culture will interpret the "national characteristics" of another group in terms of their own values. For example, the inhabitants of a South Pacific island may be considered "lazy" by citizens of some industrialized nations. On the other hand, it may be that the islanders place a great value on social relationships but little value on "productivity", and crops grow with little attention. The negative connotation of the label "lazy" is thus unjustified from the point of view of the island culture.Stereotypes, such as "lazy", "inscrutable", and "dishonest" give people the security of labels with which to react to others in a superficial way, but they are damaging to real understanding among members of different cultures. People react more to labels than to reality. A black American Peace Corps volunteer, for instance, is considered and called a white man by black Africans. The "we--they" distinction applies to whatever characteristic the "wes" have and the "theys" do not have-- and the characteristics attributed to the "theys" are usually ones with a negative value.The distinction becomes most obvious in times of conflict. For this reason, it is often suggested the only thing that might join all men together on this planet would be an invasion from outer space. "We", the earthlings, would then fight "them", the outsiders.Given the great diversities- real and imagined- among people of the world, is there any foundation for hope that someday all men might join together to form a single and legitimate world government The outcome will probably depend on the political evolution of mankind. "National character" is built among people who______
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