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The "mind" and "self" were formerly the domain of philosophers and priests. But in this hour of Radiolab, neurologists lead the charge on profound questions like "How does the brain make me?"
Duration
1h 1m
Broadcast on
07 May 2007
Audio Format
other

The "mind" and "self" were formerly the domain of philosophers and priests. But in this hour of Radiolab, neurologists lead the charge on profound questions like "How does the brain make me?"


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- Recently, we interviewed a guy named Stephen Johnson, who wrote a book. And he tells this story of how the book came about. - There was one specific event, actually, that really kind of triggered it, which is that I tried a biofeedback experiment. - He had found a place where he could get hooked up to a bunch of sensors and probes and then see what was happening inside his body. In real time. - So I went in, having been kind of curious about this, and tried it out, and it's kind of a therapeutic environment where there's a kind of a doctor who sits there and talks to you, it's a bit like going to a shrink. And we started this session, and there was a little screen, and you see this little line kind of scrolling along. And initially, it's very even kind of flat line. And after about a minute or two of talking, the doctor actually said, you know, your adrenaline system seems very well regulated. Like I said, thank you very much. Thank you, I'm always suspected that it was. And then, for some reason, about a minute or two, after that, I decided, as I sometimes do, that I would make a joke, and so I tossed out

Transcription truncated.

The "mind" and "self" were formerly the domain of philosophers and priests. But in this hour of Radiolab, neurologists lead the charge on profound questions like "How does the brain make me?"