Response to Eagleman Interview

 Eagleman's explanation of the way our biology is trying to control our brain to make a decision paints very vivid imagery in my head. His usage of the words "rivals" and "political parties [attempting] to steer the nation," really help me to understand why I do feel like I fight with myself. I understand the stress of a secret but I never thought that a part of my brain was trying to look out for me by attempting to force me to let it go. When he says that you feel as though all of your brain is you, and in reality there are much smaller neural networks battling for control, I can begin to conceptualize why people act the way they do, and I feel as if I will be able to start recognizing more of my internal struggles, as well as when I interact with others. Additionally, it is a little creepy that my conscious mind is the last to know about what is actually going on in my brain.

I think that the questions Eagleman is asking are very intuitive and important to the way we perceive this topic. His consideration of what a secret is, as well as how we understand and process time within different situations is fascinating. I never thought that it was actually a scientific question of whether or not people could process time in slow motion, and hearing about an experiment in which this was tested allows me to visualize how and why this is an important question. It makes sense to me now that the brain writes down more information when it is in a high stress situation.

Eagleman's discussion of the afterlife and possibilianism really got me thinking. Almost the entirety of my life I have considered myself an atheist, mostly for lack of a better word, and I am now beginning to regard possibilianism as a better way to describe my thoughts. I love his view that our society has become so polarized on this topic and that there should be acknowledgement of other ideas. The way our world and afterlife might work challenges my brain on a daily basis and although I have accepted the fact that I might never know, I really think that saying anything is a possibility is not only a brighter outlook, but a wiser view.



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