Anyone with half a brain can see that! Iain McGilchrist at TEDxGhent

Iain McGilchrist is a psychiatrist and writer, committed to the idea that the mind and brain can be understood only by seeing them in the broadest possible context, that of the whole of our physical and spiritual existence, and of the wider human culture in which they arise -- the culture which helps to mould, and in turn is moulded by, our minds and brains. His talk 'The Divided Brain' was a Best of the Web pick by TED!

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)

[michaelsage]

One of the greatest thinkers of our time.

[westmedtim]

Why isn't this the # 1 Ted is way better than the bilge they'e currently got slated in the top ten....

[Sookhi_]

How this hasn’t got millions of views baffles me ❤

[bobdillaber]

This gentlemen will go down in history as one of the best ever philosopher/scientists.

[amaxamon]

Wow I've been saying this for years! I think most people are aware of these things but they lack the platform to talk about it. Only just discovered McGilchrest but I hope he makes it to the mainstream.

[DiegoAndrade-igqs]

Anyone from Jordan Peterson´s Discovering Personality?

[deigratia]

Absolutely outstanding!  LET'S RESIST UNIFORMITY and BE SCEPTICAL, you're not a machine.  Thanks for this!

[shaynek]

I'm surprised this talk wasn't banned by TED! Iain McGilchrist is brilliant! 

[maxsterling]

I used to hear this phrase “ anyone with half a brain can see that “ in the late 80s … and the integration of the two hemispheric styles of function is precisely where my thoughts would contextualize if the “anyone” had only possessed a complete whole brain. I thought this was forgiveness or passiveness on my part… but the state of the world would eventually take notice of my left brain style and I would under implement the right brain reliance. I needed that part of me just to integrate my parts into the whole and my whole as a part of the world. Bless you sir - then his closing statement blows me away just blown a way

[nozarm]

Thank you Dr Mcgilchirst, what an amazing presentation on a vert vital topic, especially given the times we are living through. As a particle physicist, I struggled with the reductionist approach of science, reducing the world to a handful of particles and forces, which at the end of the day, make up a very small fraction of the universe, the rest which are labelled 'dark matter/energy'. What you speak about, this dance between being a part of and apart from, is something that Rumi, the Mystic poet of the 13th century also wrote about. As a therapist, my work, as I see it is to bring fluidity and flow between the two types of attention (narrow and focused) and (wide and open). Thank you again 🙏🏼

[factsmatter]

This is one of the best books I've read in a long time. Could hardly put it down. 

Much of what Mcgilchrist writes about I have been thinking, obviously, not as knowledgeably and technically as gilchrist - for at least the last 5 years. There is obviously a dichotomy within ourselves, what Buber conceived as the difference between relating in the manner of "I-thou' and "I-It". Mcgilchrist shreds the idea that what we give language to - how we describe the world - is the world itself, as opposed to emphasizing one aspect while pushing into the background other aspects. 

Language and the skills of the left hemisphere are deceptively powerful in the sense that, if you aren't aware of what language is doing - the "constructive" purpose of it, which allows us to fix and manipulate external things - it'll eventually become your sole way of understanding things. 

I'm reminded of how retarded this way of thinking can make you by the story of the eminent behaviorist John Watson. The right brain knows how to raise children - whether it be thought of as our mammalian need to nurture and care for our young, or a strong psychological feeling one has to be good and nurturing with your child - however it is cognized or understood by the parent, the intuitive response is "attachment". The right brain establishes emotional connection, closeness and security in relationships. However, Watson was living during the heyday of left-brain  behaviorism. To him, and to many scientists today, emotions are "yucky" "contemptible" "subhuman" "embarrassing" - basic feelings that no doubt underlie their cognitive judgements. So, John Watson wrote a book on how to parent; in it, he recommends that parents not hug their children, not show any emotional connection, in essence, because in his view, children "appeared to love" their parents, not because it was an ingrained emotional need of every mammal, but because children recognized (a left brain assumption) that parents give them things i.e. food, shelter etc. To make a long story short, his daughter attempted suicide on multiple occasions and his son succeeded in killing himself. 

As Daniel Goleman argues, emotional intelligence is more important than a "cognitive intelligence" i.e a left brained mechanistic view, since the former is simply wiser than the latter. Scientists who subscribe to a left brain mechanistic worldview simply dont have the emotional maturity - awareness - to realize that they are following the path forewarned by Aldous Huxleys brave new world. 

[JabbarRafique]

‘Beauty and complexity over utility’. The riddle of life.

[justinlaporte]

This video is Great!!! Speaks volumes in 2021. 👍 👌

[wnllkmusic]

i sometimes experience these states of "the world is so simple, i understand it all" which then go to "i know nothing except the experience of being here, along my past one's, memories", which is very well explained by left and right hemisphere attention tendencies, and how sometimes one is dominant and the other times the other. I have found myself increasingly "trying" to use, what now I know to be, the right hemisphere as I found the left dull, while the right - limitless in its dynamic range.

A brilliant talk by a brilliant mind.

[AnalyseThat]

A timely warning against simple, left brain thinking and the arrogance of certain knowledge.

[EvilPanda]

This book is his “To Pimp a Butterfly.” Ten years later...I’ve been reading it since it came out! It should be here at home again today...

[mapstoinsight]

Brilliant analysis of this quagmire of the ages!

[philmathieu]

Surely now the most important and difficult question must be this: how on earth can we know when to let the right or left hemispheres loose? My guess is that we can't know, and therefore, that generally we will only find out what we should have done in retrospect.

[epistemologicaldespair]

6 minutes in and I can see where he is headed here. Ive always said this using the metaphor of a painting or a piece of music. I can't zoom in to a specific point in a painting and discern what the painting is, its comprised of its parts. This seems blatantly obvious, however I believe the goals and ambitions of science are not to merely dwell on the "specific point" in the painting that is our universe, but the hope and wish that one day we WILL be able to to either zoom out, or take those bits and construct the picture in its entirety. To see and understand the connections or the interconnections. Such as when the Scottish James Maxwell saw the connections between electricity, mangnatism and light. My first realization that reductionism is not an answer left me saddened and hopeless for the scientific enterprise, but I have changed, because even if we never in my lifetime or generations after do have the cohesive view of he complexity and interrelation of the world around us, the time spent will not be fruitless and frivolous.

[Rael]

Much of what Iain McGilchrist has to say is recognized and known by our right hemispheres. Unfortunately most of the loud voices in our culture shout from the left hemisphere so that their 'logic' wont be questioned. Unfortunately (and fortunately) the right hemisphere is tentative by its very nature so that it is able to explore without being stuck in a cul de sac. We need to give ourselves more down time so that we can integrate our right hemisphere wanderings.