the enchanted loom reviews bruce hood's book, the self illusion

The Enchanted LoomTeasing sturdy threads from

neuroscience masterworks

Teasing 10 threads fromBruceHood’s …

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Thread 1:

One of the surprising discoveries in recent years is that the majority of neurons are found in the cerebellum. Only about 20% of the brain’s neurons are found in the cortex.(pg. 13)

Thread 2:

The big trouble with free will is that it just feels so real. We all think that our thoughts happen in advance of what we do. It turns out that this is completely wrong.(pg. 127)

Thread 3:

We all have two versions of the self – the experiencing self and the remem- bered self. We have about 600,000 three-second moments of an experiencing self per month. (pg. 172)

Thread 4:

Because we are so susceptible to priming cues, group pressure, stereotyping and cultural cuing, a true, unyield- ing ego-self cannot be sustained.(pg. 218)

Thread 5:

We like stories that are about journeys and conflicts, with goodies and baddies. The same is true for our own personal stories.(pg. 235)

Thread 6:

The problem with self-narratives is that we are the ones writing the story, which means we are open to all kinds of dis- tortions where we repress, deny, distort and ignore negative aspects of our lives.(pg. 235)

Thread 7:

Most of us think we are funnier, smarter, better-looking and kinder than the average person, which is statistically impossible. Some of us have to be below average.(pg. 236)

Thread 8:

Because of how the brain and the eyes work together, we are effectively blind for an average of two hours every waking day.

(pg. 295)

Thread 9:

Research has demonstrated a most horrify- ing reality: we can believe with all our heart things that are not necessarily true.(pg. 81)

Thread 10:

The brain hallucinates the experience of “you” by stimulating its own neural circuits to create that impression. It may be an illusion, but it is real as far as the brain is concerned.

(pg. 294)

Image Credits:

Title Page: http://www.rappler.com/science-nature/23193-personality-traits-brain-scans

Slide 3 - http://www.deviantart.com/art/cerebellum-517159230

Slide 12 - http://www.deviantart.com/art/My-Sins-109853970

Slide 2 - http://iai.tv/home/speaker/bruce-hood

Slide 6 - http://lightworkers.org/wisdom/deepak-chopra/191537/your-brain-universe-part-1

Slide 5 - http://bit.ly/1O3V8Ru

Slide 11 - http://franklycurious.com/LMNucleus/?itemid=8306

Slide 10 - http://www.deviantart.com/art/Blind-313520557

Slide 14 - http://www.rappler.com/science-nature/23193-personality-traits-brain-scans

Slide 9 - http://bit.ly/1LrE227

Slide 8 - http://bit.ly/1Rwy4kv

Slide 7 - http://thebarking.com/2012/03/a-mere-category-cannot-capture-a-cad/

Slide 4 - http://bit.ly/1JSYOWl

Mark Brady, PhDTheEnchantedLoom@gmail.com

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