What we know about the brain and Red 215

A cup of coffee with a friend this morning reminded me how, when we meet talk often turns to the subject of philosophy and the challenges around the human condition.

Electric coffee stimulates the brain

I have listened to a very interesting BBC Reith lecture (2003) it was the final one of a series given by Vilayanur S Ramachandran and was entitled Neuroscience - the New Philosophy (you can probably listen yourself depending on the territory you're in)

Professor Ramachandran who trained initially as a doctor is illuminating on the outputs from (fairly) recent neurological investigations - such research is now at the level where the physical abnormalities in the brain can be linked to various conditions - to me this seems a pretty amazing breakthrough telling us so much about the illnesses that many people suffer.

Having learnt something about psychoanalysis  and the work of Freud and his followers I have been moving to a position around our personality being largely formed by early relationships and this then subsequently modified by our environment and society - this has been knocked for six - also listened to the Professors thoughts around Art - seeing if there is some universality for the creative activities that man excels at. (The Artful Brain - the third lecture).

How these ideas reflect on the essence of the use of  'talking therapies', CBT to improve mental health is as yet unclear to me but perhaps the ways that the brain can heal itself and use alternative portions (as we've found in Stroke recoveries) tells some of the story?


[By the Way - What a shame it is that the present government wants to strip back the BBC as a resource to us all].

Red 215

This looks like an archetypical Lighthouse a sort of lamp stuck on a stick of rock

A maritime stick of candy coloured lighthouse