Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
WCT: 7-11 June 2010 (1681-1685)
J:
--- Quote from: HiFranc on 14 Jun 2010, 01:16 ---
--- Quote from: raoullefere on 14 Jun 2010, 00:04 ---[...]
And on a crazier note, apparently there's some guy who claims that by applying magnets to a person's brain's right hemisphere, he can cause said person's brain to 'sense' the divine—or maybe tilt, I'm not sure which.
--- End quote ---
That was discussed in a recent episode of "All in the mind" from ABC Radio National.
--- End quote ---
if you know what you are doing you can make people sense just about any damn thing by stimulating the right part of their brains. and how exactly does one quantify that anyway? how do you know that what you are sensing is the divine, unless you have some sort of an established baseline for comparison? is the divine squishy? is it warm? does it smell like burnt toast, or taste like purple?
HiFranc:
--- Quote from: J on 14 Jun 2010, 02:56 ---
--- Quote from: HiFranc on 14 Jun 2010, 01:16 ---
--- Quote from: raoullefere on 14 Jun 2010, 00:04 ---[...]
And on a crazier note, apparently there's some guy who claims that by applying magnets to a person's brain's right hemisphere, he can cause said person's brain to 'sense' the divine—or maybe tilt, I'm not sure which.
--- End quote ---
That was discussed in a recent episode of "All in the mind" from ABC Radio National.
--- End quote ---
if you know what you are doing you can make people sense just about any damn thing by stimulating the right part of their brains. and how exactly does one quantify that anyway? how do you know that what you are sensing is the divine, unless you have some sort of an established baseline for comparison? is the divine squishy? is it warm? does it smell like burnt toast, or taste like purple?
--- End quote ---
From what I remember of the podcast (you can use that link to listen or read the transcript), the theory goes like this:
The two hemispheres of our brain are semi-independent but we are one person. We have cross connections to make sure that two sides are in sync. By stimulating one side in the right place, it goes out of sync wth the other hemisphere. As there are two sets of things going on in one brain (in a part that should shoudl be synchronised) the brain gets confused and interprets it as evidence for another entity being there. In order to make sense of the confusion, the brain falls back on the personal belief system of the person whose brain is so disrupted.
Of course, when it comes to psychology/neuroscience we don't know if we're right or not, we can only make intelligent guesses.
{edit} The reason why it's reported that it causes people to sense the divine is because that's what lots of people have reported. However, it's interesting to note the experiences of genuine atheists, such as the host of All in the Mind, when they try the experiment.
raoullefere:
--- Quote from: Binary on 14 Jun 2010, 02:41 ---*Snip*
Don't panic, raoullefere.
--- End quote ---
First sensible thing anyone's said to me all week.
The Duke:
Was it really all week? Remember, time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.
jwhouk:
--- Quote from: raoullefere on 14 Jun 2010, 15:58 ---
--- Quote from: Binary on 14 Jun 2010, 02:41 ---*Snip*
Don't panic, raoullefere.
--- End quote ---
First sensible thing anyone's said to me all week.
--- End quote ---
(Hands you a copy of the HGTTG) Here, Ford had an extra copy lying about.
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