I was intrigued when I read on kottke about a TED talk by neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor. The talk looked promising when Dr Taylor used a real human brain as prop to explain left and right hemisphere functions. But soon the talk devolved into phrases like "my spirit felt like a genie liberated from the bottle", "great white whale swimming in the silent ocean...", "nirvana, if I can attain it, everybody can".
Yeah, not what I had in mind when I heard one of the leading neuroanatomists from Harvard was going to explain brain function to me. She got a standing ovation from the crowd and is widely considered as one of the best talks at TED. I applaud her courage and strength in coming back from a stroke but I am not sure her talk was meaningful or useful. I expected to hear more science and facts instead I got perceptions and almost a new age religion pitch.
Monday, March 17, 2008
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1 comment:
I applaud her for using a real brain as a prop.
But yes, that is a bit of a disappointing turn for her to have taken :(
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