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There was actually a story on NPR recently that mentioned such a brain operation where the patient needed brain surgery to alleviate some type of recurring seiz
by dtien 9y ago
There was actually a story on NPR recently that mentioned such a brain operation where the patient needed brain surgery to alleviate some type of recurring seizure. And he was also a music lover, and so there was an inherent risk the surgeons said that he might lose those abilities.
So rather than take that risk blindly, they had him play a guitar while they were doing surgery on his brain! And if at any point, while they were operating, if his playing ability was affected they would stop operating in that region of the brain.
The kicker was that the side effect of the surgery ( his second ), was that they inadvertently affected a part of the brain that is responsible for 'self-control, judgement' and he ended up becoming a child porn addict, which got him arrested and convicted.
There's about 5 different unbelievable parts to this story, worth a listen if you can find it.
The Human Brain.. continually amazed at how much we still don't know about this part of our anatomy.
- thepaulstella 9y agohttp://www.radiolab.org/story/317421-blame/ http://www.radiolab.org/story/317421-blame/
- jjw1414 9y agoThat's right - it was on the RadioLab podcast. I thought he was "listening" to music during the operation, and told the doctors to stop if his interpretation of the melody turned to white noise. The unsettling gist of the main story was the relationship between culpability and brain function. Worth a listen.
- dtien 9y agoah yes, that's it radiolab! good pull. I may have gotten a few of the musical details off, sorry! As for the main topic of the story of how brain affects culpability is an extremely interesting/debatable point. However, the even stronger point being made by one of the guests that free will itself is just a biological function was hard for me to swallow. As jjw1414 says, unsettling would be a mild description of some of the implications being made by the researcher on the piece.
- dTal 9y ago>they inadvertently affected a part of the brain that is responsible for 'self-control, judgement' and he ended up becoming a child porn addict, which got him arrested and convicted This really highlights the absurdity of a justice system centered around "punishing bad people" rather than "helping sick people". I suppose the surgeons were charged as accessories? Perhaps, rather than a "justice" system, we need a "social health" system. There are many injustices that lead to crime. Focusing only on the criminal is unjust.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]