Mind blowing video on how our brain works.

[silverhandorder]

YouTube - The Bomb in the Brain Part 4: The Death of Reason - The Effects of Child Abuse (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S16EHfKRLfc)

Stefan Molenuex posted a new video today that wraps up a series of videos he has been doing. You don't really need to watch the first three parts this one stands on it's own. I my self did not particularly like the educational stuff because there is a lot to learn, hours of it.

Anyways here he argues about how reasoning is crippled in political discourse because people with an ideology have their biases and willingly throw out information. The whole video goes on about how that occurs.

For us who's job it is to persuade other people to our way of thinking and to win political battles this is invaluable information.

My own conclussion from this video I will withhold for now since I think it is being influenced by squabling we had between non-purists and purists on this forum. But I will say this could heal the rift that has been developing.

[mediahasyou]

He talks of rationalization in there where people act then find reasons to support their behavior. People searching for reasons are more curious.

I have found only the curious are the ones who become converts. The knowledge to be learned is out there. Fostering curiosity will foster new libertarians.

At 20:45 democrat and republican and indepedent brains were shown. More brain activity (found in republicans and democrats) shows that republicans and democrats are thinking more. You may think this is good. However, more thinking means there is less stimulation from the outside world. In laymen terms, independents are more likely to actually listen to you.

He throws out there that politics causes brain damage, which he did not present evidence for. Increased political mental activity increases our ability to politically reason. So one could argue that mental ability improves. However, humans do not need political reasoning skills in a free society. In addition, learning politics comes at a large opportunity cost.

He also says decreased prefrontal cortex reasoning is bad. However, too much frontal cortex reasoning can cause you to go crazy, think too much in a way that prohibits other living activities and insomnia.

He definitely takes a controversial Freudian view on child abuse affecting later life. I disagree. Not many people in their life stay the same from after childhood to death.


One word summary of the video: rationalization http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rationalization_(psychology)

[silverhandorder]

Oh as I said I did not see the other parts. This is food for thought, maybe in other parts he backs it up more clearly.

I certainly do not agree with the notion that people can not change and I don't think this is what he was driving at in his presentation.

[youngbuck]

I'm about 10 minutes into this vid, really interesting stuff. Thanks for posting.

[jbrace]

Watched the video and enjoyed his take on how the mind works.

[dannno]

Ya that is some interesting info when you put together all those studies.

[Original_Intent]

I enjoyed it. Not that different from what I had thought - there is evidence out there to support all different kinds of views and people tend to latch on and believe evidence that supports their view and disregard, avoid, or disbelieve anything that upsets the apple cart. I have tried to overcome the tendency in myself, I want the truth, no matter how uncomfortable.

[lester1/2jr]

unfortunately his solutions regarding resolving childhood traumas and so forth in order to be free remind me all too much of Scientology

[johngr]

unfortunately his solutions regarding resolving childhood traumas and so forth in order to be free remind me all too much of Scientology

He's a psychologizer. Believes in the bogus concept of "mental illness". It's his ersatz religion.

[Matthew Zak]

Finally someone who sees a lot of what I see.

However, I have to disagree with him (at least partially) about the childhood trauma aspect.

There's no way (absolutely no way) to prevent a child from traumatic experiences, unless you teach REASON to a child. I was "subjected" to many horrors in my early childhood, any one of which I could write a book about, but I realized growing up that my "legit" tragedy was only as traumatic to me as the worst thing that ever happened to another person, and vice versa. This isn't absolutely true for every person of course (it depends on a person's ability to reason -- some are taught -- and some have a more naturally ability to reason) but I have found in my 27 years that any bad thing that happens to a person can traumatize them -- no matter how insignificant it is generally believed to be.

So it's not providing a "better childhood" (as the narrator suggests) that will improve people's ability to overcome that cognitive dissonance (better childhood is too broad), and it isn't merely offering therapy to "brain damaged" adults that will change the world. The danger of this guy's video is that he is suggesting reason and evidence are ineffective. They ARE ineffective to "brain damaged" adults -- but NOT to children.

We need to teach reason and evidence to children, regardless how terrible or wonderful their childhoods are. A child equipped with the ability to think critically will not be "brain damaged" by traumatic experiences. Well, maybe to some extent, but reason and evidence will be effective to these people later in life.

[lester1/2jr]

It's his ersatz religion

I hate to say something as trite as atheists end up creating a religion anyway but the shoe kind of fits. I'm torn about religion but at the same time, at least established religions are ESTABLISHED and they have some sort of standard or reason to them that is scrutinized and forced to stand the test of time. There's somethign to be said for that.

and of course, the established religions have holy books full of strange and gory passages which is another plus

[Brian4Liberty]

However, I have to disagree with him (at least partially) about the childhood trauma aspect.

There's no way (absolutely no way) to prevent a child from traumatic experiences,

Yes, where is this mythical child that has not experienced any "trauma"? How would such a child react to "trauma" or stress if they popped out of their cocoon into the real world as an adult?

Some insight can be gained from Stefan's videos. The main gist of the video about reason and evidence not being enough to convince most people is very true, and relevant. To call those people brain-damaged and suggest that the only solution is intense therapy is ridiculous. The smug factor, which is always high in his videos, is off the chart here. His basic assumption is that everyone else is wrong, and they refuse to question themselves. As much as he says his own therapy has cured him of this "primitive" state, there is the possibility that he is wrong.

His use of conservative vs. liberal is an oversimplification, especially when interpreting how the brain works. Does he factor male vs. female? There are some huge differences based on that alone. He claims that a "liberal" brain is more "flexible", but is that the proper interpretation? Can the brain activities shown in the studies indicate a social adaptation, someone more in tune with others, their emotions, and their reactions? He says the "conservative" is driven by "fear", but is that an adaptation to playing the role of hunter or defender? The sixteen Myers-Briggs types would be much more appropriate for interpreting those studies than simple conservative vs. liberal categorization. He also seems very biased towards everything being "nurture" as opposed to "nature" or genetics. (It's a combination of both.) That would probably follow from his strong recommendations for therapy.

Calling the majority of the population "brain-damaged" is over the top. People are what they are, and their brains function a certain way, probably for good reasons.