In this new RSA Animate, renowned psychiatrist and writer Iain McGilchrist explains how our ‘divided brain’ has profoundly altered human behaviour, culture and society.
Taken from a lecture given by Iain McGilchrist as part of the RSA’s free public events programme. To view the full lecture, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbUHxC4wiWk.
The RSA is a 258 year-old charity devoted to creating social progress and spreading world-changing ideas.
Follow the RSA on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RSAEvents
Like the RSA on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rsaeventsofficial/
Listen to RSA podcasts: https://soundcloud.com/the_rsa
See RSA Events behind the scenes: https://instagram.com/rsa_events/
——
Produced and edited by Abi Stephenson, RSA. Animation by Cognitive Media.
The RSA
Source
And there it is!
Closed caption and 0.5 speed can help.
I want my Iain McGilchrist RSA ANIMATE: The Divided Brain coloring book (please)
If a reference could be made to Dr. Seuss's "The Lorax" the lorax can succeed in lifting himself up by his own hand pulling upwards on his pants. However, the left hemisphere can never succeed in freeing itself from the abstractions it has evolutionarily been tasked with being (as emissary) set upon.
The Dr. here is beckoning the suggestion (not to him but to you) that besides your understanding-by-model and understanding by system-of-abstractions; is LITERALLY AND FIGURATIVELY…the entire rest of YOU as an embodied, living breathing being who thrives in a lived world and NOT a hall of mirrors (of the mind).
I needed to read his book 2.5 times before I still remember the moment when my brain finally yielded, which is why I must agree with Ni Ko. And also why I tried to give some more detail too. đ be well!
I can only think…"duh"?
Reminds me of Alan Watts' talks on zen all those years ago
HEY….TALKER, TAKER, MANUPULATOR I must disagree with one statement. If you assume the right side of the brain is the overly social nature of humans how on earth can you say that its been the left side that has dominated human history for the last 2500 years? Even today many people don't even have visual spatial intelligence. For gods sake they been drawing stick figures and 2D pictures for the last millennia and you say LEFT BRAIN? People who graduate from university today have great memories and an handle on language. They not left brained. The only little bit of innovation that seeped into this world is from a few individuals who some how were able to grasp a tiny bit of the real world and come up with a formula to express it, or a painting, or a tool to help us. They didn't bring us to the cliff edge. The issue has always been with the overly social primates that live on this earth.
https://www.quora.com/Did-Einstein-ever-say-âThe-intuitive-mind-is-a-sacred-gift-and-the-rational-mind-is-a-faithful-servant-We-have-created-a-society-that-honors-the-servant-and-has-forgotten-the-gift-â-and-if-so-what-did-he-mean
Language too fancy to make a clear point :/
For example 3:47 "So standing back in time and space from the immediacy of experience", you mean reviewing past experiences and memories? You could have made it much more understandable, especially if you are an expert in how the brain works and is trying to reason a better way to think = =
This is fascinating and easy to listen to and watch but I wonder how much is pseudoscience and how much can be backed up with experiments and data. With all the bold claims there ,must be lots of opposition. Speaking from my paranoid left hemisphere
the left is able to use the words of literature, and language as a means to , dispose the unwanted negeative or unwanted feelings and emotions in oneself as , garbage , projected to , right side , hemisphere humans, as a intent to control , manipulate, judge , class , all as right side , can not access , words of any comprehensive, context to defend against the feeling or emotion that the left mind logically , ego , has no idea the explaination of the jargon produced to class as completely lost is right in use of feeling , the art of left , to place , shame , guilt , unhappy , negetive thoughts as words in to a right side , emotional Rollercoaster of emotions not being able to express in their terms of words , that with left egotistical, is god by word over emotional heart , never to be unsterstood , and always being blamed and projected more negetative, by unwanted , in left . the way of throwing onto the uncomprehensive , illiterate, problem , mental and emotional as justify in text , with not capicity to , heart has to wake the mind , while the mind ego , left , discards all unwanted feelings as never making literary sense , point , use to explain emotional manipulation, amyguala highjacking , . that is how the heart of humanity, is love of being , alive as gift , and the destruction is being commited in sacrafice , genocides , atrocities on the earth , humans and life as a lower , and undesired, of spieces , for feeling and emotion are conscience, which left does not care it conscienceness is , none , face negetative in discard to the problem of being , pretend logic and childlike , school yard bully , tactic of unning the whole into choas and destruction , not fixing any problem , only able to hide their dirt under others or in , and all for the betterment of humanity's hope of survival, for the greater good of a twisted dark , heartless left , emotionless , nonremorseful , tyrant like base society of narrissism, maligent , pathological, laughing at the psychoanalytic, as words are always theirs , heart is what is real at the matter , the way of ignorance , tyranny, and diabolic elimation of true nature , love in heart of fift , life .
Saturn severs and seizes
His Corona all enthorned
Eye's piercing all heaven and earth
He devoureth his offsping
Fruits of their labor
Alas the Titan Age
Hath returned
Atlas holds
the thieve codes
tickle him
I DARE you.
in all hidden inside of the "Shoolhouse Rock" too!
These videos are a treasure.
Is the drawing of a face that appear's at "1:54" a representation of a figure in history, possibly a philosopher?
the right brain is where the "self" is located
He basically told us nothing new: we don't like open plan offices, there's too little decent communication, too many emails, working from home has its caveats, we'd prefer flexible working…
He mentions positive working culture, but didn't give any pointers of what is or how to achieve it, or did I miss the message?
The time and energy animating this talk would've been better spent on something more innovative, interesting and useful.
I prefer Alexander Technique
Bloody brilliant.
The food poison you eat drink or smoke. Effects you the most
The limits of rationality: 9:04 Sure, to some extent. But McGilchrist doesnât talk about the limits of intuition from there (because heâs making another point). And this seems to belie that experience is integral to intuition. Thereâs some fast and loose play with conflating intuition with what we HAVE learned non-consciously, but just donât perceive. There is a ton of evidence now for non-conscious knowledge that can be trained and manipulated, just like knowledge in our conscious awareness. Itâs very difficult to parse out what we are âgrabbingâ at whole cloth from the unknown and what we are assembling from experience and positing as a best guess.
Brilliant !!
5:45 "It's not reality, but it works better"
Jewel-encrusted genius right there.
Audio + images = too much information. I had to watch the video twice
A lot here to ponder. I like the bits that layout how the brain works and get us beyond the old ways of thinking left brain-right brain. I don't know that I buy into all the historical and societal implications and conclusions. I worry about what might be just really way too big of leaps from how the brain works to a commentary on western civilization. Which just makes me want to read the book and understand more!
"birds and animals"? Anyone have a Venn diagram handy?
My copy of "The Master and his Emissary" by McGilchrist arrived a few days ago, seeing this is a timely reminder to start reading it.
AS usual GREAT STUFF !
those speech bubbles crack me up all the time
WHY DID THE CHICKEN CROSS THE HEMISPHERE
One side of the brain can recall memories from the past. So for instance you could be having a conversation with your coworker looking them directly in the eye and recalling your trip to Banff last week. We can call this side of the brain truth.
Then there is the other side of the brain that how is our ability to imagine. So for instance you could be having a conversation with your coworker telling them about your trip to Banff last week when really you just stayed at home watching television. We can call this side of the brain the liar.
5 years ago, I had severe psychotic break. I lost consciousness (from a mental, and memory perspectives for a prolonged period of time, when recovering, months later I remember being quite of fixated on the idea of "spinning right", which helped me zoom out and and think about things at a macro level. "Spinning left" would be something which I think I may have done to zoom in and think about God only knows what.
Alarming parallels to the right and left hemisphere thinking, something I thought about alot during that period, without prior knowledge. Perhaps such a unconscious existance i lived though at that time was due a ineffectively functioning corpus callosum.
Or perhaps all these ideas are simply the one remaining idea I have left of the remnants of a mental illness…
That was cool
Is Mingyur Rinpoche's take on 'awareness' – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukTaodQfYRQ&t – analogous to McGilchrist's view on the right-hemisphere? I understand there is some scientific evidence in support of this view.
Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Both of my brains are blown.
So interesting….
Utterly superb, if a little fast. I will watch it many times if necessary.