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Browsing All posts tagged under »brain«

My Brain in a Jar (Part 2)

December 30, 2012

There are clear benefits to leaving your brain to science. For one thing, there’s no more sitting at traffic lights, having to go to the bathroom in the middle of a movie, or arguing with someone three continents away about the four-dollar mistake on your last bank statement. For another, you never get the hiccups. […]

My Brain in a Jar (Part 1)

December 22, 2012

Recently, fellow blogger Karen asked if I would consider leaving my brain to science. I was flattered by the question, until I realized that such a donation would have adverse effects on my health, and suddenly the idea didn’t seem quite so appealing. Also, science doesn’t spend much time on things it already comprehends, preferring […]

Making Up My Mind

August 28, 2012

Am I my brain? Am I somewhere inside my brain? If there are two halves, which side am I on? Am I alone in there, or part of a group? And who’s asking these annoying questions, anyway? The human mind is a wondrous thing. Even the most pessimistic of us proceed each day with an […]

A Waste of Consciousness (Part 1)

March 17, 2012

I have no real understanding of the human nervous system, this mass of interconnected cells that I use every second of every day. For example, it baffles me that I can start talking about something, especially in response to a question, without hesitation and with no idea of what’s going to come out of my […]

An Endless Wonder

August 14, 2011

As a child, I was puzzled by life. Not to say that I was constantly puzzled. The feeling was tempered now and then by milder states of bafflement, bewilderment, and, on days of relative lucidity, simple confusion. Still, I’d imagine a time off in the distant future of adulthood, when the dust would settle, the […]