WEBVTT - Listener Mail: Crab Sabbath 0:00:03.000 --> 0:00:05.840 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind from how Stuff 0:00:05.840 --> 0:00:14.720 Works dot com. Hey, welcome to stuff to Blow your Mind. 0:00:14.880 --> 0:00:17.279 My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick, and 0:00:17.320 --> 0:00:20.319 we're coming at you with new listener mail. It's a 0:00:20.360 --> 0:00:22.159 it's our listener mail round up, our first of the 0:00:22.200 --> 0:00:24.799 new year. Yeah. Yeah, the years starting to get away 0:00:24.800 --> 0:00:26.800 from us. Here, Wait a minute, did I just lie? 0:00:26.920 --> 0:00:28.560 I think maybe we did do one at like the 0:00:28.640 --> 0:00:31.240 very beginning of January. Yeah, but we probably recorded that 0:00:31.280 --> 0:00:33.120 one in the previous year. That's true. This is the 0:00:33.159 --> 0:00:36.599 first recording of nineteen. Okay, I'm sorry. Now I have 0:00:36.680 --> 0:00:39.240 to I have to say this. We always have assistance 0:00:39.360 --> 0:00:43.640 from our mail bought Carney. Say, hi Carney, and UH. 0:00:44.240 --> 0:00:47.720 Today we're having to just tiptoe around a couple of 0:00:47.760 --> 0:00:51.800 topics because um looking on robot egg shells exactly, because 0:00:51.800 --> 0:00:54.560 there's a there's a certain holiday coming up this week 0:00:54.840 --> 0:00:58.400 which we shall not name, that Carney has become very 0:00:58.480 --> 0:01:01.440 sensitive about, and it is UH is prone to U 0:01:01.560 --> 0:01:04.360 two bouts of rage if it is even mentioned now. 0:01:04.440 --> 0:01:07.880 It may have to do with a certain recent breakup 0:01:08.000 --> 0:01:12.360 with a certain office machine that say, makes copies of 0:01:12.440 --> 0:01:16.200 pieces of paper. Yeah, I think I think that's exactly 0:01:16.200 --> 0:01:20.320 what happened. Um, so he's a little touchy. Um. We're 0:01:20.319 --> 0:01:24.319 gonna try and avoid using the the L word and 0:01:24.400 --> 0:01:27.759 certainly the V word. Um, but I don't, I don't. 0:01:27.840 --> 0:01:29.160 I don't think it's gonna get in the way, but 0:01:29.200 --> 0:01:31.839 it let's just be very cautious as we proceed through 0:01:31.880 --> 0:01:35.839 these various bits of listener mail. All right, Carney's bringing 0:01:35.840 --> 0:01:39.080 one over right now, let's let's take a look at it. Okay, Now, 0:01:39.120 --> 0:01:41.160 this first one is I'm not going to read the 0:01:41.160 --> 0:01:44.400 whole message. It's just part of a genre of listener 0:01:44.480 --> 0:01:47.720 responses that Robert and I have gotten to. Uh. Back 0:01:47.720 --> 0:01:49.520 in the was in in the summer or last fall, 0:01:49.560 --> 0:01:51.240 we did a couple of episodes about the age of 0:01:51.280 --> 0:01:54.400 the Earth because listeners were asking about this, like how 0:01:54.480 --> 0:01:56.520 we actually know that the Earth is about four and 0:01:56.560 --> 0:01:58.960 a half billion years old, and so we talked about that, 0:01:59.040 --> 0:02:01.600 and then at one when in the episode we discussed 0:02:01.600 --> 0:02:05.800 how multiple scientists we were reading had used an expression 0:02:05.880 --> 0:02:10.000 I think was thousands of millions or something, and we 0:02:10.000 --> 0:02:13.519 were like, well, just why not billions? And multiple listeners 0:02:13.520 --> 0:02:15.280 got in touch with us to give us a very 0:02:15.280 --> 0:02:18.000 good answer to this question to say, the reason some 0:02:18.040 --> 0:02:21.519 scientists avoid using the word billion is because billion means 0:02:21.600 --> 0:02:25.520 different things in different languages. Now, isn't that confusing where 0:02:25.520 --> 0:02:29.160 different languages have different like words for orders of magnitude 0:02:29.160 --> 0:02:31.400 that are used to mean a different order of magnitude 0:02:31.400 --> 0:02:34.440 and another language that's horrible and not confusing at all. 0:02:34.680 --> 0:02:37.480 So I think, for example, in like in French and 0:02:37.560 --> 0:02:41.480 in Dutch, like a billion actually means in English a trillion. 0:02:42.000 --> 0:02:46.480 So just to avoid confusion, the term they would use 0:02:46.560 --> 0:02:50.000 sometimes would be they'd either like use scientific notation in 0:02:50.040 --> 0:02:52.919 the number of years, which is one reason. Scientific notation 0:02:53.000 --> 0:02:55.280 with like the tend to the power of something is 0:02:55.360 --> 0:02:58.359 very useful. But then also they could just say thousands 0:02:58.400 --> 0:03:01.520 of millions. So cleared that all right? Here's another one. 0:03:01.560 --> 0:03:04.160 This one comes to us from A C. J. C 0:03:04.360 --> 0:03:07.120 J Rides. Hi, Guys, I've been listening for years, but 0:03:07.160 --> 0:03:09.640 I haven't had anything interesting to comment on until I 0:03:09.680 --> 0:03:13.400 really listen to the episode un Biophilia. I've been working 0:03:13.440 --> 0:03:17.040 with horses for almost my entire life, about two decades now. 0:03:17.080 --> 0:03:20.120 It's my job to train grsage horses. Oh boy. One 0:03:20.160 --> 0:03:23.200 of the things I've noticed is horses are indeed terrified 0:03:23.240 --> 0:03:25.799 of anything that is shaped like a snake, even remotely. 0:03:26.600 --> 0:03:30.520 Here in part of Michigan, we only have very tiny snakes, 0:03:30.600 --> 0:03:33.040 so the horses really don't spook at real snakes, but 0:03:33.120 --> 0:03:36.560 objects on the ground like lead ropes, pitch four candles, 0:03:36.680 --> 0:03:41.040 electrical cords, large branches, pieces of plastic, rustling, leaves, their 0:03:41.040 --> 0:03:45.640 own shadow, and hoses especially scare them to death. The 0:03:45.720 --> 0:03:48.040 young horses are the worst with this, but all of 0:03:48.040 --> 0:03:52.920 them are susceptible to snake meltdowns. Leaping, snorting, bucking, stomping, etcetera. 0:03:53.120 --> 0:03:56.440 Is common. This earns them an annoyed glare and stern 0:03:56.520 --> 0:03:59.040 knock it off from me. It's so common that it 0:03:59.160 --> 0:04:02.640 really has zero fact on my fight or flight instinct anymore. 0:04:02.840 --> 0:04:05.440 Usually I can feel it in my hands way before 0:04:05.440 --> 0:04:08.280 they actually spook. Well, anyway, I thought you might get 0:04:08.280 --> 0:04:11.760 a kick out of the prominent example of biophilia that 0:04:11.840 --> 0:04:15.040 horses exhibit. Horses are also scared of puddles they look 0:04:15.080 --> 0:04:17.200 like black holes to them because they have very little 0:04:17.200 --> 0:04:20.360 death perception, or dark objects close to the ground, which 0:04:20.400 --> 0:04:23.760 I think resemble a crouching predator. I enjoy every episode 0:04:23.760 --> 0:04:26.200 that comes out, and it makes my long commute, much 0:04:26.240 --> 0:04:29.680 better keep it up. A firsthand account of biophobia. Now, 0:04:29.680 --> 0:04:32.760 I know, I can't remember if in that Biophilia episode 0:04:32.760 --> 0:04:36.400 we talked about the idea of like, uh, like sneaking 0:04:36.440 --> 0:04:38.400 up behind a cat with a cucumber in your hand. 0:04:38.600 --> 0:04:40.719 We may, I know we've I know I've brought that 0:04:40.800 --> 0:04:44.359 up on the show before. But yeah, I loved this. 0:04:44.560 --> 0:04:48.640 H this account here in part because my wife what 0:04:49.320 --> 0:04:52.520 is was a horse person and UH and her aunt 0:04:52.880 --> 0:04:55.200 UH still has horses and we go out and visit 0:04:56.000 --> 0:04:59.360 visit them in Arizona every so often. So I'm exposed 0:04:59.400 --> 0:05:02.720 to a lot of people telling me about horses. And 0:05:02.760 --> 0:05:04.720 the horses do come up a bit in our research 0:05:04.760 --> 0:05:07.800 as well. I mean when you when you consider the uh, 0:05:08.040 --> 0:05:11.480 the history of a humanity, and the horse plays a 0:05:11.640 --> 0:05:14.719 vital role, I mean, depending on who is doing the analysis, 0:05:14.720 --> 0:05:17.960 sometimes an essential role. Absolutely, so, thank you very much, 0:05:18.000 --> 0:05:19.800 c J. I mean, and then on top of that, 0:05:19.839 --> 0:05:22.640 there they are animals. We often kind of take that 0:05:22.680 --> 0:05:25.160 for granted. Those of us who do actually work with 0:05:25.240 --> 0:05:28.960 horses to realize that this is this is a like 0:05:29.000 --> 0:05:32.880 a a a sort of a herd based prey animal 0:05:33.400 --> 0:05:37.800 that we have domesticated for our use, but it is 0:05:37.839 --> 0:05:40.680 still a large creature. It is still a creature with 0:05:40.760 --> 0:05:44.360 a lot of hardwired responses to the natural world. Well, 0:05:44.400 --> 0:05:47.239 on that note, looks like there is another animal based 0:05:47.480 --> 0:05:50.240 listener mail coming in here. Oh yeah, So remember in 0:05:50.279 --> 0:05:52.960 our episode about thought experiments, we were talking about Isaac 0:05:53.000 --> 0:05:57.520 Newton using the you know, Cannonball Mountain to illustrate the 0:05:57.600 --> 0:06:01.040 idea of orbital mechanics. Why things an orbit in space? 0:06:01.440 --> 0:06:04.400 And so Isaac Newton, you'll recall, we discussed had an enemy, 0:06:04.520 --> 0:06:09.800 the Royal astronomer John Flamsteed, who Newton just mercilessly harassed. 0:06:10.360 --> 0:06:13.039 And there's this diary entry that we discussed in the 0:06:13.040 --> 0:06:16.640 episode where Flamsteed was complaining that Newton was coming at 0:06:16.720 --> 0:06:21.280 him with quote Navish talk and calling him quote puppy, etcetera. 0:06:21.560 --> 0:06:24.560 And we wondered what that meant. Well, our listener Dolly, 0:06:24.680 --> 0:06:27.560 got in touch to let us know, and Dolly wrote, 0:06:27.720 --> 0:06:30.120 I got to haul out my old friends. Slang and 0:06:30.279 --> 0:06:33.920 its analogs by Farmer and Henley, published in eighteen ninety 0:06:34.240 --> 0:06:38.120 And here's the entry for puppy and this is puppy 0:06:38.279 --> 0:06:43.920 pup or puppy dog colloquial a vain or unmannerly fool 0:06:44.480 --> 0:06:50.600 pop a coxcomb hence puppy ish, conceit or affection, puppy 0:06:50.720 --> 0:06:57.800 ish or puppie impertinent, puppy headed stupid. I love I 0:06:57.839 --> 0:06:59.840 love it. When we can we can find a bit 0:06:59.880 --> 0:07:03.919 of derogatory slaying that has gone extinct and kind of 0:07:04.200 --> 0:07:06.039 pull up the fossil and look at it again and 0:07:06.040 --> 0:07:09.400 try to imagine daily interactions in which this was the 0:07:09.480 --> 0:07:13.440 vile thing to say that somebody would like they like 0:07:13.520 --> 0:07:15.720 write in their diary about it, like this is really 0:07:15.720 --> 0:07:18.240 he called me puppy. I can't believe it. Yeah, or 0:07:18.280 --> 0:07:23.360 some yeah, someone drops puppy during a conversation. Everyone's like, whoa, WHOA, 0:07:23.920 --> 0:07:26.280 cool down there, buddy, don't need to get mean about 0:07:26.320 --> 0:07:28.760 all of this. All right, Well, we have a couple 0:07:28.760 --> 0:07:33.360 of listener mails here regarding demon Eaters and Possessed Tools 0:07:33.880 --> 0:07:35.920 or Lunar New Year episode. Yeah, I just came out 0:07:36.000 --> 0:07:38.080 the other week. This is probably one of the most 0:07:38.120 --> 0:07:41.480 recent episodes will be UH dealing with in this listener mail. 0:07:41.920 --> 0:07:45.680 The first one comes from Brandon. Brandon writes in and says, hey, 0:07:45.800 --> 0:07:48.800 Robert and Joe just finished listening to demon Eaters and 0:07:48.800 --> 0:07:52.360 Possessed Tools episode great topic. I loved it For whatever reason. 0:07:52.400 --> 0:07:56.040 The possessed tool portion or one of your thoughts about 0:07:56.080 --> 0:07:59.360 why they developed a personality or traits reminded me of 0:07:59.360 --> 0:08:02.360 a great short story by Arthur C. Clark called dial 0:08:02.560 --> 0:08:07.200 f for Frankenstone. In summary, the story is set in 0:08:09.080 --> 0:08:12.400 so pre interwebs. At O one thirty, all of the 0:08:12.440 --> 0:08:15.560 phones in the world start to ring. People pick up 0:08:15.600 --> 0:08:19.080 to hear strange inhuman noises. The following day, all the 0:08:19.120 --> 0:08:22.480 crazy happens. Everything is shutting down, planes crashing, electrical grid 0:08:22.560 --> 0:08:26.280 is erratic, missiles are launched. Then the protagonists figure out 0:08:26.520 --> 0:08:30.000 the world's phone system has become so large and complex 0:08:30.200 --> 0:08:33.320 it is now sentient. This is the plot determinator. But 0:08:33.480 --> 0:08:36.320 like more than ten years before Terminator, around ten years 0:08:36.360 --> 0:08:39.760 before he continues. It makes me think that over a 0:08:39.840 --> 0:08:44.360 lifetime of handling duty and maybe different owners or at 0:08:44.440 --> 0:08:48.120 least users would change the personality of these possessed tools, 0:08:48.160 --> 0:08:50.400 like if you used a knife strictly for cutting bread 0:08:50.640 --> 0:08:54.679 versus strictly for cutting meat. Uh ANYWOOSEL love the show? 0:08:55.080 --> 0:08:59.200 B Well, yeah, thank you Brandon. Yeah, I've never read 0:08:59.240 --> 0:09:01.720 that story. That is Terminator, right, like that you you 0:09:01.760 --> 0:09:05.440 connect enough machines together and they become too smart and 0:09:05.480 --> 0:09:09.880 become sentient. Essentially. Yeah, I think that's the basic concept. 0:09:10.120 --> 0:09:12.319 I will say, I do. I do love it. Anytime 0:09:12.559 --> 0:09:16.960 someone either writes in via listener mail or shares with 0:09:17.040 --> 0:09:18.880 this on the Stuff to Blow your mind to Facebook 0:09:18.920 --> 0:09:23.079 group the discussion module, uh, some bit of of old 0:09:23.160 --> 0:09:25.560 sci fi or recent sci fi that ties into a 0:09:25.600 --> 0:09:28.480 topic we've covered. It's always a joy because it's usually 0:09:28.480 --> 0:09:30.880 something I've I've never heard of, or I've heard of, 0:09:30.960 --> 0:09:32.400 but I don't really know about the you know, the 0:09:32.400 --> 0:09:34.800 details of the plot. You know, I can certainly see 0:09:34.800 --> 0:09:37.360 how obviously it sounds like this story is meant to 0:09:37.360 --> 0:09:40.560 be a little bit funny, but I can certainly see 0:09:40.559 --> 0:09:44.400 how in the seventies, before people had really tried this 0:09:44.480 --> 0:09:49.800 level of networking, you could wonder like, well, what would prevent, 0:09:49.960 --> 0:09:54.120 you know, just massive networking of machines from somehow getting 0:09:54.160 --> 0:09:57.760 some kind of emergent intelligent property that we couldn't predict 0:09:57.840 --> 0:10:00.440 from the beginning. Basically, all you need to start with 0:10:00.559 --> 0:10:04.840 is the idea that no individual neuron is sentient or conscious, 0:10:04.880 --> 0:10:07.160 but you network enough of them together in the right 0:10:07.200 --> 0:10:11.440 configuration and somehow the mind emerges. But then again we 0:10:11.440 --> 0:10:14.240 don't know, and that no individual neuron is conscious. Maybe 0:10:14.280 --> 0:10:18.040 it is. Maybe consciousness is additive, you just like concatinate 0:10:18.200 --> 0:10:20.360 enough of it inside the same skull. All right. This 0:10:20.400 --> 0:10:23.880 next one comes to us from Clarissa. Clarissa says, I 0:10:23.880 --> 0:10:26.559 really enjoyed the latest podcast on demon hunts and other 0:10:26.640 --> 0:10:29.200 lunar New Year themes. One of my favorite things about 0:10:29.200 --> 0:10:31.760 all the podcasts from How Stuff Works is is that 0:10:31.800 --> 0:10:34.480 while it's clearly a US based network, you cover topics 0:10:34.480 --> 0:10:37.280 from around the world. I love learning about other cultures. 0:10:37.559 --> 0:10:40.480 I've heard a few podcasts can't remember exactly which ones, 0:10:40.520 --> 0:10:43.840 but they were definitely from HSW that have reminded me 0:10:44.040 --> 0:10:47.199 of a favorite y A book, The Demon Hunter Story 0:10:47.240 --> 0:10:49.560 brought it to mind again, and I thought you two 0:10:49.600 --> 0:10:51.720 might really enjoy the book. It's a very quick read 0:10:51.760 --> 0:10:54.400 in plays with a lot of fun concepts about reality. 0:10:54.760 --> 0:10:58.760 It's called The Homeward Bounders by Diana Wynn Jones. She 0:10:58.840 --> 0:11:01.320 writes a lot of really good to early y A stories, 0:11:01.360 --> 0:11:04.280 the most well known being Howel's Moving Castle. Oh yes, 0:11:04.360 --> 0:11:07.520 this is this would be the book that Miyazaki based 0:11:07.640 --> 0:11:09.800 his movie house Moving Castle hun Yeah, yeah, I like 0:11:09.880 --> 0:11:12.840 that movie. Yeah, I've never I've never read the original material, 0:11:12.880 --> 0:11:15.400 but I absolutely adore that film. I didn't know there 0:11:15.440 --> 0:11:17.680 was original material. I guess I thought it was just 0:11:17.720 --> 0:11:22.000 a movie anyway. Uh, Clarissa continues, but I would recommend 0:11:22.080 --> 0:11:26.240 Homeward Bounders and the game. Homeward Bounders is about a 0:11:26.280 --> 0:11:28.959 kid whose entire world is being secretly run by people 0:11:29.000 --> 0:11:33.720 playing intricate RPG table games. The game is about Roman 0:11:33.760 --> 0:11:36.760 gods as kids in modern time and plays with themes 0:11:36.800 --> 0:11:40.439 that run through myth worldwide. Both are really clever illustrations 0:11:40.480 --> 0:11:42.800 of unique ways to imagine the world. I know Robert 0:11:42.800 --> 0:11:44.600 has a son who may be old enough to enjoy 0:11:44.640 --> 0:11:47.120 the books. I'd guess they're about the same level as 0:11:47.160 --> 0:11:49.640 the first couple of Harry Potter novels. Thank you for 0:11:49.640 --> 0:11:52.840 the show. Oh well, thanks for the recommendation. Yeah, indeed, 0:11:52.880 --> 0:11:56.040 my son is. My wife is currently reading my son 0:11:56.800 --> 0:12:00.319 um the Harry Potter novels. Indeed, they're on. I think 0:12:00.320 --> 0:12:03.080 they're about ready to start the fourth one. I read 0:12:03.160 --> 0:12:05.480 him The Hobbit. We started on The Lord of the 0:12:05.559 --> 0:12:07.800 Rings and we kind of petered out for the time 0:12:07.840 --> 0:12:09.720 being because there's a lot of there's a lot of 0:12:09.760 --> 0:12:12.320 not much happening at the beginning of that book. What 0:12:12.360 --> 0:12:14.400 was the story? He asked about the Hobbit, like, you've 0:12:14.440 --> 0:12:16.400 been reading it, awhile, and he said, like, when does 0:12:16.520 --> 0:12:19.920 the story started? The Hobbit was all gold, it was 0:12:20.000 --> 0:12:22.040 it was Lord of the Rings reading and you know, 0:12:22.080 --> 0:12:23.800 there is a lot of material at the beginning about 0:12:23.840 --> 0:12:26.480 the life of Hobbits and you know, their various meals 0:12:26.480 --> 0:12:29.200 and whatnot. And he was he asked me, he said, 0:12:29.280 --> 0:12:33.400 is it the Lord of the Rings yet? And so 0:12:33.800 --> 0:12:35.240 it will come back to that one. But I would 0:12:35.320 --> 0:12:37.640 love to have, you know, some some sort of good 0:12:37.720 --> 0:12:39.920 chapter book that I could read to him that I 0:12:39.960 --> 0:12:42.480 have some attachment to, or can you know something I 0:12:42.520 --> 0:12:45.160 can discover for the first time. So I've been I'm 0:12:45.200 --> 0:12:49.280 currently reading, uh like a kid's adaptation of the Ramin 0:12:49.400 --> 0:12:53.120 Yana to In and after that maybe yeah, maybe this 0:12:53.280 --> 0:12:56.000 maybe maybe the last Unicorn. I can't decide. That sounds 0:12:56.000 --> 0:12:58.720 like a good problem to have. Oh yeah, alright, On 0:12:58.760 --> 0:13:00.280 that note, we're going to take a quick right and 0:13:00.320 --> 0:13:05.960 when we come back, more listener mail than Alright, we're back. 0:13:06.480 --> 0:13:09.840 So this next group of emails came in about our 0:13:09.880 --> 0:13:13.480 episodes on the split brain experiments where the there were 0:13:13.520 --> 0:13:17.160 experiments in like the nineteen sixties on patients who had 0:13:17.200 --> 0:13:21.000 undergone a corpus callisotomy where their two brain hemispheres were 0:13:21.040 --> 0:13:25.120 severed in order to cure epilepsy, and that that involved 0:13:25.160 --> 0:13:27.840 the severing of the corpus closum and it produced these 0:13:27.960 --> 0:13:32.160 very strange effects. So this first message comes from our listener, 0:13:32.320 --> 0:13:37.200 Chris nij She says, Hey, Rob and Joe, I listen 0:13:37.240 --> 0:13:39.200 to your two party on the split brain and was 0:13:39.240 --> 0:13:42.480 amused with the parts regarding the nuances of language coming 0:13:42.520 --> 0:13:45.720 from the left brain versus a very rudimentary grasp of 0:13:45.720 --> 0:13:48.080 it from the right brain, and that is something we discussed. 0:13:48.080 --> 0:13:52.120 In most cases, most people's left hemisphere is very dominant 0:13:52.120 --> 0:13:57.120 in language. Uh, she continues, I have temporal lobe epilepsy, 0:13:57.200 --> 0:14:00.280 and one of the symptoms of that is aphasia, which 0:14:00.320 --> 0:14:03.800 is trouble with speech or understanding or generating speech, whether 0:14:03.840 --> 0:14:06.840 as part of an absence seizure or after a tonic 0:14:06.880 --> 0:14:10.360 chronic seizure. When others are around me after the seizure, 0:14:10.400 --> 0:14:13.960 including paramedics, I can understand them perfectly, but have a 0:14:14.080 --> 0:14:17.240 very hard time coming up with words. To communicate since 0:14:17.280 --> 0:14:20.720 the epilepsy affects the left side of my brain. Three 0:14:20.760 --> 0:14:26.600 things I usually can say though, are um and sorry, 0:14:27.000 --> 0:14:31.040 Yes I'm Canadian. Uh. I think it reassures people to 0:14:31.080 --> 0:14:34.400 hear me swear because they know it's me. Now, I'm 0:14:34.440 --> 0:14:36.920 glad I can explain to these people that these words 0:14:36.960 --> 0:14:39.760 are probably so ingrained in me that my right brain 0:14:39.840 --> 0:14:42.880 can handle them while my left brain no pork too good. 0:14:43.640 --> 0:14:46.160 Those were very fascinating episodes. I look forward to hearing 0:14:46.160 --> 0:14:49.680 more podcasts about the other topics touched on in these ones. 0:14:49.760 --> 0:14:52.080 All the best, Chris Nash, Well, thanks so much for 0:14:52.120 --> 0:14:55.280 sharing your experience. Uh yeah, this, uh, this seems to 0:14:55.320 --> 0:14:56.960 line up with a lot of what we were reading 0:14:57.000 --> 0:15:00.200 that like, in some cases it seems to very from 0:15:00.200 --> 0:15:02.480 person to person, and in some cases, the right brain 0:15:02.840 --> 0:15:06.160 can understand much more language than it can generate, like 0:15:06.240 --> 0:15:09.440 it can sometimes respond to speech but not really create 0:15:09.520 --> 0:15:11.760 much speech. It looks like you've got three words here, 0:15:11.760 --> 0:15:13.920 and I wish you great power in using them. All right, 0:15:13.960 --> 0:15:16.280 here's another one from Shannon. Shannon writes in and says, 0:15:16.320 --> 0:15:18.880 Dear Robert and Joe, thanks for the fascinating two parter 0:15:19.040 --> 0:15:22.080 unsplit brains. I've been interested in the topic ever since 0:15:22.120 --> 0:15:24.800 my sixth grade science fair, where I attempted to determine 0:15:24.960 --> 0:15:27.960 if left handed people are more typically right brain creat 0:15:27.960 --> 0:15:31.520 a visual, intuitive, etcetera, and vice versa. Only later did 0:15:31.520 --> 0:15:34.400 I learn the left brain versus right brain people concept 0:15:34.480 --> 0:15:37.120 is largely a myth, which explains why I found little 0:15:37.120 --> 0:15:40.520 to no correlation on the question you, Hey, I want 0:15:40.520 --> 0:15:42.560 to say a null result is a good result. It's 0:15:42.600 --> 0:15:44.840 worthwhile to do that. Yeah, it's It's still a good 0:15:44.840 --> 0:15:47.240 science experiment. On the question you raise of how it's 0:15:47.280 --> 0:15:51.480 possible that corpus calacotomy patients display such little behavioral change 0:15:51.520 --> 0:15:54.560 after the surgery, specifically when it comes to moral reasoning 0:15:54.560 --> 0:15:57.320 and theory of mind, I have two thoughts you brought up. 0:15:57.360 --> 0:16:00.800 How odd it is that these patients apparently not noticeably 0:16:00.880 --> 0:16:04.800 change in everyday moral decision making, where they are presumably 0:16:04.880 --> 0:16:07.480 using a system one reasoning. This made me wonder if 0:16:07.560 --> 0:16:11.440 perhaps the area in the right parietal lobe has been 0:16:11.520 --> 0:16:14.120 linked to this type of moral reasoning is in fact 0:16:14.200 --> 0:16:17.120 part of a system to mechanism, and maybe there is 0:16:17.120 --> 0:16:20.200 a separate system one process that is harder to replicate 0:16:20.240 --> 0:16:24.400 in a lab In other words, when calasotomy patients are 0:16:24.480 --> 0:16:27.960 making quick, everyday judgments, maybe they are using a different, 0:16:28.040 --> 0:16:31.280 quicker neurological process that is not affected by splitting the brain, 0:16:31.360 --> 0:16:33.280 and it is only when they are made to sit 0:16:33.320 --> 0:16:37.000 down and rationalize slowly through choices in an experimental hypothetical 0:16:37.560 --> 0:16:42.360 that this right brain process occurs or fails too. On 0:16:42.400 --> 0:16:45.000 the other hand, I also like the idea of various 0:16:45.000 --> 0:16:48.200 compensation mechanisms that work in real world situations but not 0:16:48.280 --> 0:16:52.320 in the lab. One of these might be experiential memory, 0:16:52.480 --> 0:16:55.120 as you touched on while discussing the band or snatch. 0:16:55.400 --> 0:16:58.200 We do make theory of mind related moral judgments every day, 0:16:58.200 --> 0:17:02.480 but perhaps not too many of our novel situations. For example, 0:17:03.080 --> 0:17:06.960 maybe you have a friend who sometimes makes inappropriate jokes, 0:17:07.000 --> 0:17:09.600 but you know not to take him seriously because you 0:17:09.680 --> 0:17:12.560 understand he doesn't mean to be insulting. Then one day 0:17:12.600 --> 0:17:15.600 your corpus colossum gets cut. The next time he makes 0:17:15.600 --> 0:17:18.200 an inappropriate comment. You might not be able to imagine 0:17:18.240 --> 0:17:20.800 his intentions in the same way, but you can still 0:17:20.840 --> 0:17:24.040 remember dismissing him as harmless in the past, and maybe 0:17:24.240 --> 0:17:27.800 you can even remember imagining his attention is his intentions 0:17:27.800 --> 0:17:30.600 in some way the neural pathway is already there, so 0:17:30.680 --> 0:17:33.040 maybe you don't have to rely on the same cut 0:17:33.080 --> 0:17:35.960 off right brain area to make that judgment. Just some 0:17:36.040 --> 0:17:38.760 wild speculations of mine. Hope they make some kind of sense. 0:17:38.760 --> 0:17:42.760 Thank you again for consistently delivering entertaining and thought provoking shows. 0:17:43.080 --> 0:17:47.720 And I'm loving Invention too, sincerely, Shannon. Oh, thanks Shannon. Yeah, 0:17:47.720 --> 0:17:49.600 those are some really interesting ideas. So one of the 0:17:49.640 --> 0:17:51.520 things when you talk about the idea of system one 0:17:51.600 --> 0:17:54.000 versus system too, that's sort of along the lines of 0:17:54.040 --> 0:17:57.119 what the authors speculate in their conclusion, though they might 0:17:57.119 --> 0:18:00.320 have had it inverted from what you say. Um, but yeah, 0:18:00.440 --> 0:18:03.679 I really like this idea of using memory. Like one reason, 0:18:04.560 --> 0:18:07.320 even if you can't access certain parts of the brain 0:18:07.400 --> 0:18:10.359 you would commonly use for moral reasoning, you might just 0:18:10.520 --> 0:18:13.840 rely on your memory of how you normally interact with 0:18:13.920 --> 0:18:17.119 certain people. And and the fact is probably most of 0:18:17.160 --> 0:18:20.320 the people you're making important moral judgments about throughout the day, 0:18:20.400 --> 0:18:22.439 or probably people you already know, unless you're like a 0:18:22.560 --> 0:18:25.040 judge or in a jury or something. Now, I love 0:18:25.080 --> 0:18:28.600 that she also mentioned that she's listening to Invention because 0:18:28.640 --> 0:18:31.000 we we have had some exciting episodes of Invention come 0:18:31.040 --> 0:18:33.720 out come out recently, including one on the Wheel, while 0:18:33.720 --> 0:18:36.160 we have two part are on the wheel actually, um, 0:18:36.200 --> 0:18:41.760 where we discuss, of course just key archaeological cultural evidence 0:18:41.840 --> 0:18:45.719 for the emergence of wheel technology, but also with you know, 0:18:45.720 --> 0:18:48.439 throw in some discussion of everything from Gary Larson's Far 0:18:48.520 --> 0:18:52.760 Side cartoons to you know, Tibetan Buddhism. Well, I'm gonna 0:18:52.840 --> 0:18:56.160 high five you across the table mime wise for remembering 0:18:56.160 --> 0:18:59.000 to plug invention. If you haven't checked out Invention yet, 0:18:59.119 --> 0:19:01.920 go check it out, check it out and subscribe. It'll 0:19:01.920 --> 0:19:04.560 do you good, It'll do us good. But anyway, let's 0:19:04.560 --> 0:19:08.160 get to the next message. This is from our listener Adam. 0:19:08.160 --> 0:19:10.960 So Adam writes and says, Hi, Robert and Joe, I 0:19:11.000 --> 0:19:13.120 was just listening to the episode Split Brain, Part two 0:19:13.160 --> 0:19:15.960 and wanted to share a thought no pun intended. I'm 0:19:15.960 --> 0:19:19.040 not sure if that's a pun, Adam, but okay, um, 0:19:19.080 --> 0:19:21.639 your final point was to encourage people to think for 0:19:21.680 --> 0:19:25.080 themselves rather than base their beliefs on someone else's, such 0:19:25.119 --> 0:19:28.080 as those of a public figure. I found myself pausing 0:19:28.119 --> 0:19:30.520 and thinking about this for a minute. On one hand, 0:19:30.560 --> 0:19:32.600 I agree that being able to think for yourself is 0:19:32.680 --> 0:19:35.679 very important, and that that skill is undertaught. On the 0:19:35.720 --> 0:19:38.240 other hand, there's been a very clear increase in a 0:19:38.320 --> 0:19:41.960 distorted faux critical thinking recently. I think I know where 0:19:41.960 --> 0:19:43.760 you're going with this, Adam, and I think I agree. 0:19:44.560 --> 0:19:48.359 This is manifested in Michael Gove's sick of Experts vision 0:19:48.400 --> 0:19:50.879 of the world, where people feel their feelings hold the 0:19:50.920 --> 0:19:54.640 same objective value as an expert's actual knowledge. In years 0:19:54.680 --> 0:19:57.800 of experience, we've seen the downsides of this in public 0:19:57.840 --> 0:20:01.280 discourse already. Worse we see in the failure to solve 0:20:01.400 --> 0:20:04.800 major problems such as climate change. I'm quite confident this 0:20:04.880 --> 0:20:06.960 isn't what you meant, but I thought it was worth 0:20:07.000 --> 0:20:09.480 bringing up, since to a degree, we must rely on 0:20:09.520 --> 0:20:12.080 others as a source of information. Since none of us 0:20:12.119 --> 0:20:15.679 can be an expert in everything or experience everything, the 0:20:15.720 --> 0:20:20.480 outside world acts almost as a third hemisphere to our brains. Unfortunately, 0:20:20.520 --> 0:20:24.919 it feeds in both necessary and incorrect information. Even the 0:20:24.960 --> 0:20:27.800 post talk rationalizations that you talked about being used to 0:20:27.840 --> 0:20:31.520 explain what the brain did unconsciously sounds a lot like 0:20:31.560 --> 0:20:35.639 the political and non political tribalism we're seeing so much of. Somehow, 0:20:35.680 --> 0:20:37.760 I feel this may tie together as one side of 0:20:37.800 --> 0:20:40.320 the brain responds to a message that the other side 0:20:40.359 --> 0:20:44.280 would not, but still needs to defend anyway. Apologies if 0:20:44.280 --> 0:20:46.440 I ranted too long. I just wanted to comment also 0:20:46.480 --> 0:20:48.240 and say thank you for the work you do. I 0:20:48.280 --> 0:20:50.800 started listening to podcasts to keep me occupied during my 0:20:50.880 --> 0:20:53.480 daily train commute, but now have so many that I'm 0:20:53.560 --> 0:20:56.040 rarely not listening to something. Stuff to Blow your Mind 0:20:56.080 --> 0:20:57.600 is a lot of fun and a good bit different 0:20:57.640 --> 0:21:00.439 than most of my economics, politics, news and side shows. 0:21:00.680 --> 0:21:04.160 Keep up the great work, best Adam. Oh thanks, Yeah, 0:21:04.200 --> 0:21:06.320 thanks Adam, and Adam, I think you make a really 0:21:06.320 --> 0:21:09.719 excellent point part of what I what I think I 0:21:09.760 --> 0:21:11.320 was trying to say in this episode has been a 0:21:11.320 --> 0:21:13.840 while now, but I remember talking about the idea that, 0:21:13.880 --> 0:21:17.640 you know, the the left brain. If Michael Gazzaniga's left 0:21:17.640 --> 0:21:20.119 brain interpreter theory is correct, it just sort of like 0:21:20.640 --> 0:21:24.919 immediately incorporates the deliverances of the right hemisphere into the 0:21:24.960 --> 0:21:27.240 idea of self and says, this is just me thinking, 0:21:27.720 --> 0:21:30.760