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Changing minds: Many people view the brain as special and separate from the rest of the body. Alan Jasanoff argues that this "cerebral mystique" is the wrong way to think about the brain.
Changing minds: Many people view the brain as special and separate from the rest of the body. Alan Jasanoff argues that this "cerebral mystique" is the wrong way to think about the brain.
At a small eatery in Seville, Spain, Alan Jasanoff had his first experience with brains - wrapped in eggs and served with potatoes. At the time, he was more interested in finding a good, affordable meal than contemplating the sheer awesomeness of the organ he was eating. Years later, Jasanoff began studying the brain as part of his training as a neuroscientist, and he went on, like so many others, to revere it. It is said, after all, to be the root of our soul and consciousness. But today, Jasanoff has yet another view: He has come to see our awe of the organ as a seriously flawed way of thinking, and even a danger to society.
In The Biological Mind, Jasanoff, now a neuroscientist at MIT, refers to the romanticized view of the brain - its separateness and superiority to the body and its depiction as almost supernatural - as the "cerebral mystique." Such an attitude has been fueled, in part, by images that depict the brain without any connection to the body or by analogies that compare the brain to a computer. Admittedly, the brain does have tremendous computing power. But Jasanoff's goal is to show that the brain doesn't work as a distinct, mystical entity, but as a ball of flesh awash with fluids and innately in tune with the rest of the body and the environment. "Self" doesn't just come from the brain, he explains, but also from the interactions of chemicals from our bodies with everything else around us.
Comment: We may not be just our brains, but like a car, it's worth learning how it operates to get the best use out of it.