... on Skeptically Speaking:
This week, we’re diving back into neuroscience, to learn how common conceptions of the brain stand up to real research. Desiree Schell speaks to neurologist and author Robert Burton, about his book A Skeptic’s Guide to the Mind: What Neuroscience Can and Cannot Tell Us About Ourselves. She’s joined by neuroradiologist Jeff Anderson, to get the scientific perspective on the differences between the brain’s right and left hemispheres. And she’ll speak to cognitive scientist Gary Marcus, about the promise and peril of the push back against pop neuroscience.
- Log in to post comments
More like this
I hear things are pretty busy in the Upper Upper Midwest of Alberta, Canada, and I suppose because of that, Skeptically Speaking has two off-air productions, one with the podcast just out, the other, this week's show, coming out next week. Both are really interesting to me, and I'm sure to you as…
Tonight, on Skeptically Speaking, Desiree Schell will interview Bruce Schneier, author of Liars and Outliers: Enabling the Trust that Society Needs to Thrive. From the Amazon page, the author notes: "This book represents my attempt to develop a full-fledged theory of coercion and how it enables…
Skeptically Speaking #198 is now available for your listening pleasure. The main part of the show has Desiree Schell interviewing James Gould, co-author of Nature’s Compass: The Mystery of Animal Navigation.
Great book on animal migration
The 15 minute side bar has Desiree interviewing me about…
Rat Island: Predators in Paradise and the World's Greatest Wildlife Rescue is a new book by William Stolzenburg. I've not seen it, but Desiree Schell interviewed the author on Skeptically Speaking:
This week, we’re looking at invasive predators, changing ecosystems, and the ethical questions…
Fortunately the audio link works easily even for those of us who have our privacy & security settings turned up to 11.
This is what we need more of: much more. And much less of the kind of shrill superiority & name-calling that one sees in many places.
People will listen to these programs to learn something about the subject matter. If they learn enough about the subject matter, their BS-detectors will improve. Slow steady progress.
Re. the specifics: Yes it's also important when scientists talk about what isn't known, and where the puzzles are, as much as talking about what is known and what puzzles have been solved. And it adds much when there's "credit where credit is due" for other fields e.g. in this case, psychology, sociology, philosophy.
We do need multiple sets of language to refer to phenomena at different levels: brain, mind, society, empirical facts, experiential facts, logical reasoning, value judgements, moral codes. That doesn't mean that these are mutually exclusive, only that they're useful in different ways and for different purposes, and syntheses between them are as well, just as long as one doesn't over-extend conclusions.
Skeptically Speaking just made it onto my list of "periodicals" for regular reading/listening. Hopefully they maintain the kind of tone throughout, that they have in the present piece.
I would hope more research would be done in neuro chemistry and how it effects behaviour and emotion Much can be learned from Positron emission tomography and fMRI using various radionuclide tracers...sadly many of the recent horrific massacres were committed by mentally I'll people....society needs to find real cures for such maladies and put major private and govt funding into brain and behaviour research and stop sending rockets to mars already...lol