Daniel Wolpert: The real reason for brains

Daniel Wolpert

My goodness, this guy get carried away. He is in principle right, the brain exists to move the body. This idea had been in serious scientific circulation since at least the 1930s, but each generation seems to forget it. See, for example Rhythms of the Brain by Gyorgy Buzsaki. Or better, give a listen.

Mr. Wolpert's problem is he tries to explain EVERYTHING from this point of view. No, sorry.

I sometimes wish I had not moved away from brain science. The bit which I have yet to see discussed in all of this "the brain is for movement" stuff is the role of the cerebellum. I believe it is critical to just about everything, but most people dismiss it.

Simon Cohen Zero Degrees of Empathy 6/14/2011

Professor of both psychiatry and psychology at Cambridge.

What strikes me is his motivation-- he begins by caring about people, and then moves to trying to understand what is going on in the mind.

Two kinds of zero empathy-- negative (hurts self & others), this is psychopathy. Positive (do not intentionally hurt others) autism, which has the bonus of attention to detail.

Empathy has a genetic component. So it should be present in other animals. Best monkey example is an experiment from the 60's. Train monkeys to pull a chain to get a food reward. They learn fast. Then change it, so when they pull the chain, they get the food AND they see a fellow monkey receive an electric shock. They soon stop pulling the chain. One monkey even starved itself for 12 days rather than hurt a fellow monkey.