4 ms·

Neuroscientist? He's just a psychiatrist. The video also mentions his "revolutionary theory" and that's just ... wrong. He writes a huge book based mostly on pi

Neuroscientist? He's just a psychiatrist. The video also mentions his "revolutionary theory" and that's just ... wrong. He writes a huge book based mostly on pioneering work by Roger Sperry and Michael Gazzaniga and fills it with nice-sounding nonsense that makes the backs of neuroscientists shudder, and that qualifies as a "revolutionary theory"? Comparisons to Freud and Darwin? When the only original contribution of his was to oversimplify scientific work done by others and wax poetic about how it explains everything? Spoiler: it doesn't. McGilchrist is nothing more than a pseudoscience influencer.

9387367 5y ago
Is his oversimplification true to the original researchers findings or is he inserting unproven claims? What makes it pseudoscience and what author’s would you recommend apart from the ones you already mentioned? Gazzaniga is featured on the documentary, is the documentary any good? What’s the real story here and what sources do you recommend for an outsider?
dang 5y ago
"When disagreeing, please reply to the argument instead of calling names. 'That is idiotic; 1 + 1 is 2, not 3' can be shortened to '1 + 1 is 2, not 3." "Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work. A good critical comment teaches us something." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
plutonorm 5y ago
Threatened much?
- Lyapunov_Lover 5y ago
  Honest question: if an anti-vaxxer said that to you, how would you react? I don't feel threatened by McGilchrist and I don't feel threatened by TikTok influencers. I mostly feel annoyed that people generally aren't interested in solid science but love sensational pseudoscience like the Law of Attraction and Geometric Unity. People use "revolutionary theories" as marketing tools. It's the reason why cults like NXIVM are able to attract so many followers. They have a leading figure with revolutionary theories and poor fools swarm to them like moths to flames. McGilchrist isn't a cult leader, of course. He's just exploiting the same tools that cult leaders do in order to make a profit. And in so doing he's undermining actual science, which is the main reason why I am annoyed. There's a bunch of science on hemispheric lateralization and it's fascinating. Divided Brains: The Biology and Behavior of Brain Asymmetries is a very interesting exploration of the subject. Michael Gazzaniga's autobiography Tales from Both Sides of the Brain: A Life in Neuroscience is another worthwhile read. There's no need to pretend that our hemispheres explain virtually everything about society, culture, and history. The real story isn't as sensational, but at least it's intellectually honest.

9387367 5y ago

Is his oversimplification true to the original researchers findings or is he inserting unproven claims? What makes it pseudoscience and what author’s would you recommend apart from the ones you already mentioned? Gazzaniga is featured on the documentary, is the documentary any good? What’s the real story here and what sources do you recommend for an outsider?

dang 5y ago

"When disagreeing, please reply to the argument instead of calling names. 'That is idiotic; 1 + 1 is 2, not 3' can be shortened to '1 + 1 is 2, not 3." "Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work. A good critical comment teaches us something." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

plutonorm 5y ago

Threatened much?

Lyapunov_Lover 5y ago
Honest question: if an anti-vaxxer said that to you, how would you react? I don't feel threatened by McGilchrist and I don't feel threatened by TikTok influencers. I mostly feel annoyed that people generally aren't interested in solid science but love sensational pseudoscience like the Law of Attraction and Geometric Unity. People use "revolutionary theories" as marketing tools. It's the reason why cults like NXIVM are able to attract so many followers. They have a leading figure with revolutionary theories and poor fools swarm to them like moths to flames. McGilchrist isn't a cult leader, of course. He's just exploiting the same tools that cult leaders do in order to make a profit. And in so doing he's undermining actual science, which is the main reason why I am annoyed. There's a bunch of science on hemispheric lateralization and it's fascinating. Divided Brains: The Biology and Behavior of Brain Asymmetries is a very interesting exploration of the subject. Michael Gazzaniga's autobiography Tales from Both Sides of the Brain: A Life in Neuroscience is another worthwhile read. There's no need to pretend that our hemispheres explain virtually everything about society, culture, and history. The real story isn't as sensational, but at least it's intellectually honest.